Paul Ryan Changes His Story on “Makers and Takers”

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rubbertoe/8087660053/sizes/c/in/photostream/">rubbertoe</a>/Flickr

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is taking back what he said about “takers”—well, kind of.

In his second inaugural address Monday, President Barack Obama told Americans, “The commitments we make to each other through Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, these things do not sap our initiative, they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great.” My colleague David Corn called that line a slap in the face of the tea party, but it was targeted at one person in particular—Ryan, Mitt Romney’s ticket-mate, who has a long habit of decrying the gap between the “makers and the takers” in America.

On Tuesday, Ryan took the president’s bait during an appearance on Laura Ingraham’s radio show. When guest host Raymond Arroyo played a tape of one of Ryan’s “makers and takers” comments and asked Ryan about Obama “implicitly” attacking him, Ryan responded that Obama had set up a “straw man.” He insisted that he believes Social Security and Medicare are “not taker programs.”

One problem: These assertions contradict what Ryan has said in the past about “makers” and “takers.” When my colleague Brett Brownell and I reported on Ryan’s “makers and takers” comments in October, we reviewed multiple examples of Ryan’s use of the phrase. Here’s how he used it in a 2011 interview with conservative Star Parker [emphasis added]:

Right now, according to the Tax Foundation, between 60 and 70 percent of Americans get more benefits from the government than they pay back in taxes. So, we’re getting towards a society where we have a net majority of takers versus makers.

The Tax Foundation study that Ryan is referring to includes government benefits “from all sources,” including Medicare, Social Security, and even national defense. This covers many benefits that go beyond actual checks—the Tax Foundation study derives its “60 to 70 percent” figure in part by assigning Pentagon spending as a “benefit” to each American family proportional to that family’s income. If the Tax Foundation hadn’t included Medicare and Social Security (and national defense, which Ryan might also hesistate to categorize as a “taker program”), the “between 60 and 70 percent” statistic Ryan cited would be significantly lower. Ryan can’t claim that 60 to 70 percent of Americans are “takers” and assert that Social Security and Medicare don’t count as taking. 

The Parker interview wasn’t the only time Ryan talked about makers and takers in a way that suggested he thinks Social Security and Medicare recipients are takers. Here’s another example, from Ryan’s June 2010 appearance on “Washington Watch” with Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.)—a clip that’s on Ryan’s official YouTube page:

Right now about 60 percent of the American people get more benefits in dollar value from the federal government than they pay back in taxes. So we’re going to a majority of takers versus makers in America.

Again, the only way to claim that 60 percent of Americans are “takers” is by including Social Security and Medicare in your calculations. Clearly Ryan, who is a potential 2016 presidential candidate, now doesn’t want to deride those pillars of the social safety net as “taker programs.” But he can’t remake his record.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate