Ryan is operating from a naive approach to the budget that would have states raise all their revenue directly without federal assistance. Interestingly, the Great Recession demonstrated that states who were not afraid of raising property tax rates had no service interuptions while those that would not based on a conservative ideology fared poorly.

Health care reform primarily benefits the medical community. It makes sure they get paid and that their customers don’t die without their services. Single payer would be better, although it would force price cuts (cost cuts happen all the time to squeeze out more profit).

The taxes on the wealthy in the ACA come from a promise by Obama not to raise taxes on the bottom 98%. It would have been better to have a more general levy, which eventually must come with Single Payer.

I like that the bishops have come forward. Lacing the bill with Stupak amendment language did not deter them.