As we get closer and closer to the moment when Paul Ryan may be named veep–mere hours from now we’ll know!–this is just a reminder to everyone, especially the half of everyone who has been Pavlov-trained to worship at the feet of Randian titans of business-slash-“job creators”: Paul Ryan has not worked a single day of his adult life full-time in the private sector.
Not one.
He left college, worked as a far-right pol speechwriter*, and went to work as a US Senate staffer, then returned to Wisconsin and ran for Congress. That’s his whole career.
As much as I, a public school teacher grading papers on a weekend instead of quaffing $300 wine, get slammed as a remora on the teat of the taxpayer, I fully expect the same treatment for Ryan, professional moocher.
* Note, an earlier version of this post left out his writing duties for the likes of Jack Kemp and anti-tax non-profits.
According to Charles Benson, TMJ4, NBC is now confirming that they believe Paul Ryan is the VP pick.
Thanks for mentioning the IMPORTED bottles of FRENCH wine. Paul’s a typical wingnut, do as I say, not as I do.
The question is: What have we done to deserve another McCarthy demogogue? How have we failed so badly to allow this disasterous takeover by the coal and oil industries of our minds and hearts. I think it is the polarization of the religious and anti-religious as much as it is of any other elements of our society. As the left lead the revolt against the religious right, they have left themselves open to a rejection by people of faith of all important progressive thought and movement. To simply reject people of faith as behind the times or mearly stupid is itself very stupid. Some of the best thinkers in human history have been and still are people of faith. I’m afraid that until the left learns to appreciate this intelligence and belief we will continue to be losers in the struggle for a better future for mankind.
The fact that Romney introduced Ryan as “the next president of the United States” should tell us a lot about his stress level concerning this VP pick, and should be added to the long list of gaffs that will no doubt continue if, God forbid, he should be elected in November.
Sorry for my gaffs in spelling. They won’t stop either, I’m afraid.
God save America.
Obama made the same gaff when he introduced Biden:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0808/Republicans_jump_fast_on_.html
So I don’t think the dems are going to pounce on Romney.
“He left college…”
True, but Ryan returned to earn a BA.
It’s also true he is short on experience in the real world beyond that of a politician.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ryan
Same amount of corporate sector experience as Scott Walker. Notice how all those GOPs who talk big about the “altruism” of the private sector are political lifers who have never worked in a real job and seen how this works in real life?
Walker and Ryan- Proving that grifting and fronting for greedheads really does beat working in the 21st Century.
Maybe a great question for Ryan in a debate is whether or not he can remember sending in his final payment for his college loans. (All of us who have had loans remember quite specifically the moment we were able to mail our final payment.) I remember the apartment where I lived in Chicago, the type of envelope, and the absolute relief that the monkey was finally off my back.
Oh wait…..Paul Ryan didn’t have any student loans. He socked away his Social Security Survivor’s Benefits (as the result of his father’s death) and paid his college tuition completely.
On the public dime!!!
He is Ayn Rand reincarnated. (Rand, when diagnosed with cancer late in her life, reversed her earlier thinking and accepted social security payments and benefits.)
Yeah, accept Rand was militantly pro-choice. Paul’s a run-of-the-mill cafeteria conservative.
everything your wrote on here is an outright LIE! You should be ashamed of yourself!
This nation needs honesty at this point – not smearing lies.
The truth about Paul Ryan can be read here:
http://www.policymic.com/articles/12627/who-is-paul-ryan-a-humane-look-at-mitt-romney-vice-presidential-nominee
He did finish college – and he did work in the private sector. True, he was a benefit of SS, but it was because of the burdens his family had with the loss of his father @ only 5 (Rep Ryan was only 16 a the time), and other serious illnesses in the family.
Read the whole bio on policymic – get the truth!
This cracks me up.
So you don’t see a certain amount of hypocrisy in Paul Ryan wanting to dismantle the very same social safety net that he was a beneficiary of after his father died?
Where in the “private sector,” did he work, the weinermobile for Oscar Meyer?
RoJo, SW, and Paul all married 3rd base. AFAIK, SW’s father-in-law made his money with the mob. RoJo’s father-in-law was a billionaire. Ryan married the daughter of an Oklahoma oil tycoon. Do you see a pattern?
Let’s look at the irony of the new political power in the United States. Paul Ryan’s family’s wealth was built up largely from the huge construction of the interstate system. Translation: The US taxpayer built the Ryan family.
The lucky sperm Koch twins inherited their wealth from their father. And he built his fortune by refining oil for Russia and was paid by . . . wait for it . . . STALIN!
If AngryAmerican wants to claim I lied, let us see the proof.
(By the way, the Ryan family now makes a fairly nice income from renting land they own to oil companies. And guess how Ryan voted on continuing subsidies for big oil?)
” Ryan married the daughter of an Oklahoma oil tycoon. Do you see a pattern?”
Another outright lie….just because someone is from OK, does not make them an “oil-tycoon” – check your facts:
http://www.littlelaw.com/our_team/3
http://www.legaldirectories.com/Little-Dan-104938-Atty.aspx
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2187009/Janna-Ryan-Wisconsin-time-mom-thrust-vice-presidential-spotlight-The-woman-gave-career-lawyer-marry-Paul-Ryan–family-ready-glare-national-media.html
It is rather interesting on how her background was in “Democratic” politics.
and is rather interesting on how swift you liberals are at criticizing Ryan’s private sector experience, while looking the other way @ POTUS’s lack of it.
You should probably check your own glass house before tossing stones at other’s
Obama was a full-time private sector employee for years (depending on how you define the UofC, which is in the education sector but a private school) as an attorney and law lecturer. Ryan waited tables sometimes.
You can’t say Obama has less experience in the private sector than Ryan does. You just can’t.
Also, let’s not forget Paul Ryan and his wife hold ownership in four oil companies.
Oops.
Check your mutual funds, You’ll likely find you have ownership in the same four
Big oil, Koch Bros money, and corporate greed are A-ok as long as they’re fattening public employees pensions.
Sure, but I don’t have a direct ownership stake, unlike Paul Ryan and his wife. While I can’t necessarily control what companies my mutual fund chooses to invest in, Paul Ryan can certainly pick and choose which companies he’s going to have a direct ownership stake in.
While I provide proof – you provide none
If you take two seconds to look at the links provided, you might actually find it…
Emphasis mine:
“Ryan earned his bachelors in 1992, then briefly worked as a marketing consultant for a construction company founded by his paternal great-grandfather in 1884…”
That’s from your link.
That seems to be the extent of Paul Ryan’s private sector experience, which contrasts sharply with President Obama.
Angrychild,
if you were remotely conservative, you’d be “angry” about this:
“Ryan attended a closed meeting with congressional leaders, Bush’s Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on September 18, 2008. The purpose of the meeting was to disclose the coming economic meltdown and beg Congress to pass legislation to help collapsing banks.
Instead of doing anything to help, Ryan left the meeting and on that very same day Paul Ryan sold shares of stock he owned in several troubled banks and reinvested the proceeds in Goldman Sachs, a bank that the meeting had disclosed was not in trouble. This is the guy Republicans want one heartbeat away from the presidency? He seems more than a little shady to me.
Have a look at Ryan’s financial disclosure form for 2008–you can click on each page to enlarge them. The “Transactions” section begins on page 12–scroll through and look at all the trades Paul Ryan made on “9-18-08″:” http://politiscoop.com/us-politics/wisconsin-politics/1467-romney-vp-pick-paul-ryan-insider-trading-or-morally-bankrupt.html
I guess my proof was too much for you to handle.
Again AngryAmerican. Where did I lie? Paul Ryan paid for his entire college education with US tax dollars. And now he would begin to gut the medicare program for future generations.
Ryan = career politician. (And a very wealthy one at that!)
One more point AngryAmerican. I can remember the absolute day and place when I wrote the check for my last payment for my college loans. That tends to be a rather important and very memorable moment in many peoples’ lives. Ryan has never experienced that. Ever. And yet his budget would strip funding for scholarship programs that would help millions of students who want to go to college.
“After graduating from high school, Ryan attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and pursued a degree in economics and political science. During the summer months, he worked as a YMCA camp counselor to earn money to pay for tuition and other college expenses.”
so some of his tuition expenses did come from private sector employment – not entirely from social security.
of those of you that are criticizing his social security benefits, how many of you received college education grants from the govt? and other freebees like scholarships?
I’m sure a lot of us here received government-subsidized loans or other help to go to college. The difference between us and Paul Ryan is that we don’t want to eliminate those programs for current and future students.
@Angry child, Ryan wants to “socialize” all the 1%’s losses and risks onto the 99%. That, along with avoiding taxes, and subsidies (JP Morgan Chase administers Food Stamps using software developers in Bangalore, India), are why Wall Street loves him. He claims to admit he made a mistake in leading the charge to repeal Glass-Steagall in 1999. He’s in the House leadership. Why didn’t he get the REPUBLICAN majority to pass a bill that re-instated Glass-Steagall. Answer, because that would prevent Wall Street from playing with “House money,” accounts that are GUARANTEED by the FDIC (taxpayers). Jamie Dimon and the rest would have to gamble using THEIR OWN money.
Here’s a concrete example of Wall Street “socializing” risk onto the taxpayers.
“Bank Of America Dumps $75 Trillion In Derivatives On U.S. Taxpayers With Federal Approval”
http://seekingalpha.com/article/301260-bank-of-america-dumps-75-trillion-in-derivatives-on-u-s-taxpayers-with-federal-approval
To put $75 TRILLION into perspective, in 2010 the entire GDP on the US was around $14 TRILLION.
That $75 TRILLION is just a fraction of the total derivative EXPOSURE that Wall Street wants to put on the taxpayers. Where is the allegedly fiscally responsible Ryan?
For Paul, taxes, like accountability and individual responsibility are for the “little people.”
Angrychild, who in the House gets more money from Wall Street than Paul Ryan?
FWIW, there’s very little daylight between either parties on this.
@AA: That’s not the point. None of us are running for vice president. Ryan has positioned himself as a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” kind of guy who wants to dismantle programs that help the less fortunate. That’s why his hypocrisy is exposed here.
Does anyone know if there is a connection between the Banking family of Ryans and the Paul Ryan VP? I noticed that all information about Paul Ryans paternal roots seem to be never mentioned? I also noticed that both Ryan mention Irish roots to coming here in 1851 shortly after the potato famine. Is this just coincidence or is Paul Ryan a paternal relative to the Banking Family of Ryans? Thomas Fortune Ryan, and Virginia Fortune Ryan holders of significant reserve banking stock holders?
Who cares.
He actually graduated w a double major and got his B.A.
Biden graduated at the bottom of his class. 76th out of 84!!!!!!!! Ha on you!!
And your point is…?