Paul Ryan

Paul Ryan's $700-Wine-Sipping Buddies: Hedge Fund Manager And University Of Chicago Economist

Susan Crabtree | July 9, 2011, 5:24PM

It didn't take long for TPM readers to identify the two likeminded conservatives with whom Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) shared two pricey $350 bottles of Pinot Noir Wednesday night.

The two names repeatedly flooded into TPM's e-mail since our story on Ryan's big spending night first ran Friday, and we spent the next 24 hours trying to reach the pair to confirm their identities and get their side of the story.

[TPM SLIDESHOW: Hey Big Spenders: What Else Could Wealthy Candidates Buy With All That Campaign Cash?]

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Topics: Clifford Asness, Debt ceiling, John Cochrane, Medicare, National Debt, Paul Ryan, Social Security, wine

George Bush

Bush On Social Security: 'Privatization' Was A 'Poll-Tested Word'

Rachel Slajda | November 10, 2010, 11:18AM

In the debate over his plans to partially privatize Social Security in 2005, "privatization" was "obviously a poll-tested word," says former President George W. Bush.

Bush, who has called the washout of his Social Security plans his biggest failure, told Rush Limbaugh yesterday that he was never out to privatize the program.

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Topics: 'Decision Points', George Bush, Social Security

Immigration

Feds Investigating The Source Of The Utah Immigrants List

Rachel Slajda | July 15, 2010, 12:40PM

At least one federal agency is now involved in the investigation into a mysterious list of the names of 1,300 purported illegal immigrants that was sent to state agencies and news outlets this week in Utah, TPMmuckraker has learned. But, despite the intention of the list-maker, the feds are investigating not the people on the list, but the person who generated it.

The Social Security Administration's Inspector General received a copy of the list -- which includes names, addresses, birth dates and, in 30 cases, Social Security numbers -- yesterday, according to spokesman Jonathan Lasher.

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Topics: Immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Social Security, U.S. Attorneys, Utah

NFIB

Getting Back On Grover's Good Side? Small-Business Lobby Joins Anti-HCR Suit

Zachary Roth | May 17, 2010, 3:10PM

Is a key business lobby group back on the right-wing reservation?

Earlier this year, Grover Norquist, the long-time majordomo of Washington's conservative alliance, called out the National Federation of Independent Businesses for not doing enough to fight President Obama's agenda. "The biggest hole in the center-right bloc is that the NFIB is not being the tribune of the masses on this," Norquist told National Journal in February. "Why is that? That is a fascinating question."

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Topics: AARP, Grover Norquist, Health Care Reform, NFIB, SEIU, Social Security

Textbooks

TX Textbooks Proposal: Students Must Discuss Gutting Social Security, Explain How U.N. Undermines U.S.

Justin Elliott | May 17, 2010, 9:00AM

With the long-running Texas history textbooks standards fight scheduled to end with a final vote by the State Board of Education Friday, arch-conservative board member Don McLeroy is proposing a new set of changes that read like a tea party manifesto.

The new amendment (.pdf), which is expected to get a vote on Thursday, would require high school history students to "discuss alternatives regarding long term entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare, given the decreasing worker to retiree ratio" and also "evaluate efforts by global organizations to undermine U. S. sovereignty."

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Topics: Don McLeroy, Medicare, Social Security, Texas, Texas Textbook Hearings, Textbooks, United Nations