GOP’s House Budget Chair: Not Wall Street, Rather Homeowners Caused Economic Collapse

MADISON, WISCONSIN-In a Dec. 28th op-ed for his hometown paper, Paul Ryan discussed the federal budget deficit, the economic crisis and his upcoming role as chairman of the House Budget Committee.

Read the article here.

Ryan, one of Wall Street’s greatest allies on the hill, notably states that American homeowners, not the big banks that pursued predatory subprime lending practices allowed by Republican deregulation, are responsible for the housing collapse that sent the economy into a downward spiral.

And in a thinly-veiled attempt to strike fear in the hearts of Wisconsinites [and all American], Ryan also states that, in Europe, “generations of welfare-dependent citizens are hurling Molotov cocktails because their governments can no longer fund their entitlement programs.”

From the Center for Responsive Politics:

“We know that Paul Ryan has long been one of Wall Street’s best friends,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Wednesday. “But this desperate attempt to deflect the blame onto the American people, instead of the big banks that actually fleeced America with their predatory lending practices, and the Republicans who allowed it to happen, is simply outrageous. And to add insult to injury, Ryan goes on to suggest that the thousands of struggling Wisconsinites in his district who rely on programs like Social Security, Medicaid and unemployment insurance compensation to make ends meet would resort to rioting and criminal behavior.”