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News Release Archive | Paul Ryan | Accuracy.Org

Romney Campaign’s Claims About Paul Ryan’s Stock Trade Inconsistent with Disclosure Form

August 15, 2012

At a meeting with Congressional leaders on September 18, 2008, then Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke famously broke the news to leaders of Congress that they would have to approve a giant bank bailout to avert a meltdown of the financial system. Since last weekend, reports have circulated that Congressman Paul Ryan sold stocks of major banks that day and bought shares in Goldman Sachs. The Romney campaign has denied this, claiming that the stock sales reflected index trades, that the meeting took place after markets closed, and that anyway Ryan didn’t directly control the portfolio. Many commentators appear to have been fooled by these claims and jumped to the conclusion that the story must be false.

AlterNet reporter Lynn Parramore has closely examined these issues and finds that none of them are compelling.

In particular, she quotes nationally known money-in-politics expert Thomas Ferguson, who looked closely at the disclosure reports: “Ryan did own some index based securities, but they stand out in the summaries. They are different from the many trades Ryan was making in individual stocks. It is perfectly obvious that he sold shares in Wachovia, Citigroup, and J. P. Morgan on September 18 and he bought shares in Paulson’s old firm, Goldman Sachs, on the same day. If these were index trades, what’s on the form is nonsense.”

Parramore’s article reports that word of the meeting circulated to the leaders well before markets closed at 4 p.m.; “If you knew that Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke were coming to brief you as stock markets fell around the world, that’s really all you needed to know to do the trades in Ryan’s portfolio.” The article draws on her earlier research into Congressional stock trading:

Parramore comments: “As to the claim that Ryan was not legally in control of his investments, let’s just say that this idea gives the notion of the ‘Invisible Hand’ new meaning.”

LYNN PARRAMORE, lynn at alternet.org
Parramore is contributing editor at AlterNet.

THOMAS FERGUSON, thomas.ferguson at umb.edu
Ferguson is professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, senior fellow of the Roosevelt Institute, and contributing editor at AlterNet.

Tagged With: AlterNet, Paul Ryan, Paul Ryan Stock Trade, Romney Ryan 2012,

The Ryan Budget Plan

August 13, 2012


WILLIAM HARTUNG, whartung at ciponline.org, www.ciponline.org
William Hartung is a fellow at the Center for International Policy. He said today: “Over the next decade, Paul Ryan’s budget plan would throw hundred of billions of dollars at the Pentagon beyond what the department is even asking for. While posing as a budget cutter who makes the ‘tough choices,’ Ryan favors wealthy donors and overpaid Pentagon contractors at the expense of everyone else.”

MIRIAM PEMBERTON, Miriam at IPS-dc.org, www.ips-dc.org
Miriam Pemberton is a research fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and co-author of the annual Unified Security Budget report. She said today: “What do you do when your ‘shrink government’ mantra conflicts with your party’s ‘grow the Pentagon’ convictions? If you’re Paul Ryan, you turn around and embrace the contradiction: advocate increased military spending, more tax cuts for the rich, and more cuts for Medicare, foreign aid, infrastructure repair, and everything else.”

ELLEN SHAFFER, ershaffer at gmail.com, healthjustice.centerforpolicyanalysis.org
Ellen Shaffer is co-director at the Center for Policy Analysis. Today she said: “Make no mistake about it: Paul Ryan’s new plan to end Medicare is basically the same old plan to end Medicare, exposing seniors to enormous financial instability at a time in life when our incomes and our health are already risky. It would slash federal financial contributions to Medicare from 6.5% of GDP to 4.5% of GDP, and make up the difference out of our individual pockets. Instead of improving the guaranteed coverage we now enjoy at age 65, Ryan would roll back eligibility to age 67, and then set us loose with limited dollars to negotiate individually with insurance companies. This isn’t ‘patient-centered’ anything, it’s a direct attack on seniors, a financial austerity program dressed up with a fantasy of creating a free market in health care.”

Tagged With: Center for International Policy, Center for Policy Analysis, Paul Ryan, Paul Ryan Budget Plan, Paul Ryan Defense Contractors,

The Ryan Choice: “A Collective Gasp from Wisconsin”

August 13, 2012


ROBERT KRAIG, robert.kraig at citizenactionwi.org, www.citizenactionwi.org
Kraig is executive director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. He said today: “Paul Ryan is a smooth politician, but beneath the optimistic rhetoric, genial demeanor, and wonky reputation, the substance of his budget proposals would have devastating consequences for the freedom to have a fair shot at the American dream and establish a secure life for our families.

”Like Mitt Romney, Congressman Ryan claims that his radical budget proposals are needed to reduce the national debt. Under the guise of the discredited trickle down approach to the economy, Ryan’s budget actually slashes federal revenue by $4.6 trillion in order to give massive new tax breaks to the wealthy. Under Ryan’s budget the average millionaire, who already pays $129,000 less in taxes due to the Bush tax cuts, will get an additional tax break of $265,000. To pay for these new tax breaks to the wealthy, Ryan proposes unprecedented cuts such as student loans, school lunches, research and development, investments in infrastructure, and other commitments to giving everyone a fair shot at the American dream.

“To pay for these new tax breaks for the rich, Ryan proposes to turn Medicare into a voucher program that will shift new costs onto seniors while further enriching the health insurance industry, and slash Medicaid in half which will causes 14 to 27 million moderate-income Americans to lose their health care and long term care.

“One example of the Romney-Ryan approach is their proposal to raise the Medicare eligibility age to 67, while also repealing health care reform. Without the guarantee that people with preexisting conditions can purchase insurance at an affordable cost, 66 and 67 year-olds would be at the mercy of health insurance industry. The result would be millions of seniors in their early retirement years forced to go without coverage when they are likely to need it most, greatly increasing their risk of early death or losing all of their hard earned retirement savings to medical bills. This is much too high a price in freedom and security to pay for unnecessary and undeserved tax cuts for the wealthiest among us.”

MATT ROTHSCHILD, mattr at progressive.org, progressive.org
Rothschild is the editor of The Progressive magazine, which is published in Madison, Wisconsin. He said today: “When Mitt Romney chose Paul Ryan as his running mate, there was a collective gasp from Wisconsin.

“The far right of the business class in America seems to like the aw-shucks, basset-eyes, folksy Wisconsin frontman. But President Obama hasn’t been firm on defending Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, so the contrast is not as great as many people are saying.

“Paul Ryan is the boyish face of primitive capitalism. He is a cover for some of the crudest cuts to the safety net and sneakiest money grabs for the wealthiest.”

Video of Ryan backing TARP:

Tagged With: 2012 Elections, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Paul Ryan Budget Proposals, Paul Ryan Vice President Choice,