PAUL RYAN AND HIS BUDGET

Paul Ryan’s approach to saving Medicare and Social Security reminds me of a farmer raising veal calves. Sometime ago, farmers fed baby calves only milk or milk replacer until they were market weight for veal, no expensive hay or grain. This farmer knew milk is low in iron therefore the calf was very anemic because there was not enough iron from the mother at birth to sustain it over the growth period. The anemic condition meant the flesh was pale, which was a highly desirable trait for veal; just what the farmer wanted. This gave him a good idea. He figured that if fed the calf less and less milk every day it would eventually end up being even more desirable. The last time I talked to him, he was still trying but had never reached his goal because the calves kept dying just before he got them to where he wanted them to be. Paul Ryan has just put together another budget to make Medicare and social security more desirable to old people.