Grasping Reality on TypePad, by Brad DeLong

Do you like magic tricks? Paul Ryan's budget is about $1 trillion MORE MAGICAL now. bit.ly/Z1oOqa

— Matt O'Brien (@ObsoleteDogma) March 13, 2013

Matt O'Brien:

Paul Ryan's Tax Math Just Became More Magical :

There's something breathtaking about any Paul Ryan budget. There are the savage cuts to healthcare and safety-net spending for the young and poor. The deep cuts to education, research, and infrastructure. The way current seniors are spared from any of this fiscal pain. The increased defense spending. And the tax cuts -- heavily tilted towards the rich, of course -- that will supposedly be paid for by eliminating loopholes….

Ryan wants to radically simplify the tax code… radically reduce rates…. Oh, and he wants revenue to average 18.8 percent of GDP for the next decade. The only way to do all of this is to radically cut tax expenditures too. But Ryan doesn't name a single expenditure he wants to cut. Instead, he bridges the gap with a magic tax reform asterisk. This isn't a new magic trick for Ryan. It's just a bigger one… his magic asterisk needs to be even more magic…. About a trillion dollars more….

You're not alone if you think magic is more fun than math. Paul Ryan certainly agrees.