Is Paul Ryan on to something with his "Universal Credit” talk?

As part of the general effort among Republicans in Washington to prevent President Obama’s focus on inequality from painting them as the party of plutocrats, Rep. Paul Ryan appeared at the Brookings Institution this week to talk about poverty. 

The Wisconsin Republican and 2012 vice-presidential nominee discussed how the poor could be “reintegrated” into society, and as part of his speech, he proposed that the United States consider adopting a “Universal Credit” scheme that would both streamline the various social safety net payments and tax credits the poor receive and, rather than cutting off abruptly when recipients cross a certain income threshold, would taper off as income rises, thereby reducing the disincentive to finding work.

To be clear, Ryan has not suddenly changed his mind about the need to cut entitlement costs. He firmly believes that the U.S. is spending itself into economic oblivion and that the main drivers of the problem are our healthcare and entitlement programs. What’s happening here is that Ryan, having taken a couple of runs at entitlement reform, with no success, is changing his approach.

His series of budget proposals over the past several years, one of which memorably described the social safety net as a “hammock” in which the unemployed lounge, have all contemplated serious cuts to benefits programs. But none of them were enacted, and all of them earned him copious obloquy from the left. Popular liberal blogger Charlie Pierce, for example, always refers to Ryan as “the zombie-eyed granny-starver from Wisconsin.” 

By advocating a Universal Credit benefit system, Ryan is taking a much smarter approach to his ultimate goal of reducing what we spend on entitlements - one in which spending cuts aren’t his first order of business.

The fact is that the system under which Americans apply for and receive government benefits is extremely complex and wasteful. A recent Fiscal Times article, for example, pointed out that just a handful of programs waste more than $100 billion a year by making payments that are later determined to have been inappropriate. 

Streamlining the system so that agencies could communicate better would go a long way toward preventing “double-dipping” and other problems that result in improper payments.

Read the rest of the story HERE. If you'd like to hear Ryan at the Brooking's Institute, I have the video for you HERE.

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