Competing Deficit Reduction Plans: Simpson-Bowles vs. Paul Ryan

Unlike the President's 2012 budget (which was rejected unanimously by both the House and Senate in May), both the 2010 Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction Commission plan and the 2012 House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan plan, called the Path to Prosperity, earned respect for their serious, bipartisan efforts to bring federal deficits under control. 

William Beach of The Heritage Foundation praised Simpson-Bowles for getting "the right conversation started."

Yes, the final report would have benefited from no tax hikes, more entitlement reform and bigger spending cuts. But it was encouraging to see political appointees and politicians finally engage in the necessary work to save this country from the future we see in France, Great Britain and Greece. As these and other nations are showing, when the government runs out of other people's money, it can be a very bad thing. This is particularly true if you are under 30 and have your entire economic life ahead of you...

And Erskine Bowles praised the Ryan plan and its author:

President's Deficit Plan: $1.5 Trillion in Taxes & Fees

"It's not just millionaires who'd pay more under President Barack Obama's latest plan to combat the deficit," reports the Associated Press. Airline passengers, for example, would see federal fees doubled to $10 per trip, tripled to $15 by 2017. And new mortgage applicants would pay an additional fee—averaging $15 per month for the life of the mortgage—for the care and feeding of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

One AP reader summed the plan up well: "So millionaires will be taxed, the rest of us will just pay fees."