Ryan to give speech on upward mobility in Cleveland

Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan is set to deliver a speech Wednesday that will argue President Obama's policies have done little to promote upward mobility and help the poorest Americans. The speech comes less than two weeks before the election, as Republicans make a final push to show that their tax plan can lower tax rates and cut the deficit without hurting middle- and lower-class Americans.

"Ryan will make the case that Americans stuck in poverty cannot afford four more years like the last four and that Mitt Romney offers better a pathway for low-income Americans to improve their lives through opportunity and upward mobility than the failed policies of President Obama," a Ryan aide said of the speech, which Ryan will give at Cleveland State University. Before the speech, he will meet with community leaders in Ohio for a roundtable discussion.

Ryan will argue against top-down federal programs and promote cooperation with civil-society groups who take a grassroots approach. The message will undoubtedly be tied to a need for economic growth, which Ryan has argued throughout the campaign is the most successful way to fight poverty.

"There is no other system that has done more to help the poor, that has done more to rise people out of poverty and onto lives of self-sufficiency than the American system of freedom and free enterprise and there is no rival for it anywhere in the world. We are proud of that," he said in Carnegie, Pa., in August.

He will also likely criticize President Obama for a memo that allows states more flexibility in how they meet work requirements in the federal welfare program, a move that Republicans have said "guts" the 1996 welfare reform law. The Wisconsin congressman returned to Washington in late September to join House Republicans in voting to block the change.

"Ryan has been delivering variants of this message for years," the aide said, citing Ryan's mentor, former congressman, housing secretary and vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp.

Kemp "cared passionately about bringing the message of growth and prosperity to inner-city neighborhoods and building relationships between the Republican Party and advocates for the poor," the aide said.

[mikesfilms]

The toxic duo: Per Economic Policy Institute, Medicare-voucher-Ryan's plan would mean 1.3 million fewer jobs next year, and 2.8 million fewer in 2014. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities estimates Ryan's Roadmap would push public debt to over 1.75 times the GDP (almost double) by 2050.
Romney's business "expertise": His baby Bain Capital now outsourcing 170 jobs to China at Sensate Technologies that is now dismantling and shipping the plant to China. Consolation: some American workers will work temporarily training Chinese replacements. Now R&R want to sneak in the WH to continue their nefarious job on the nation.

[marychgo]

The single piece of legislation that moved the most Americans out of poverty was Medicare -- and Paul Ryan wants to turn it into vouchers. Alas, Rep. Ryan doesn't know enough about the pressures poor Americans, old and young, face to offer them/us advice about upward mobility!

[cubscout09]

Ryan attained upward mobility by brown nosing the Koch Brothers.
I don't think that that is going to work for the rest of us.

[nancy_naive]

The greatest thing about this country is the equity of its laws; begging in the streets and sleeping under bridges is prohibited to rich and poor alike.

[nancy_naive]

Start a business... go to college... borrow money from Mom & Dad...

[Bobr79]

Way to connect, Paul. Inner-city folks faced with figuring out where their kids' next meal will come from are obviously dying to know more about school vouchers.

[mulwillie1]

Romney/Ryan are going to help the poor by eliminating taxes on capital gains, dividends and interest income. You might think - The poor don't have capital gains or dividends or interest income how is this going to help them? Romney/Ryan have told you that it will work,as Mitt told Candy Crowley "of course it will work I'm a businessman" (don't question him), they just don't have time to tell us how right now.

[sueb45]

Just read where Ryan said he doesn't understand the bayonet remark....so in addition to being an inveterate liar; he's stupid.

[jnostromo]

No matter how the repubs paint it it is still the old trickle down theory...It has never worked....the billionaires got that way from hoarding their money and gains not dispersing it....American businesses will never create jobs for Americans when they can pay for foreign slaves...$10 to a chinese or indian worker is like a small fortune, especially given the fact that in china they use child labor and if a worker is unhappy, they are made to disappear. In india you still have the caste system and the inidan govt is quite content with keeping people in their place. America has been sold out by the politicos and businessmen....our enemies are now our trading pals....Sad state of affairs that this country has sunk to...Our grandparents knew the difference between an enemy and a friend , today people are blind.

[jnostromo]

No matter how the repubs paint it it is still the old trickle down theory...It has never worked....the billionaires got that way from hoarding their money and gains not dispersing it....American businesses will never create jobs for Americans when they can pay for foreign slaves...$10 to a chinese or indian worker is like a small fortune, especially given the fact that in china they use child labor and if a worker is unhappy, they are made to disappear. In india you still have the caste system and the inidan govt is quite content with keeping people in their place. America has been sold out by the politicos and businessmen....our enemies are now our trading pals....Sad state of affairs that this country has sunk to...Our grandparents knew the difference between an enemy and a friend , today people are blind.