Hold The Mayo

How about, for a change, I don't use this space for prattling on about our "President's" Twitter account? Instead, I will test everyone's patience with the Twitter feed pouring out of the head of Speaker of the House and all around nice guy, Paul Ryan.

This past weekend, as evidence of just how well the Republicans rejiggered tax cuts were going over, he offered this piece of evidence: “A secretary at a public high school in Lancaster, PA, said she was pleasantly surprised her pay went up $1.50 a week ... she said [that] will more than cover her Costco membership for the year.” To absolutely no one's surprise, the tweet was deleted shortly after the cries could be heard coming from the Bastille.

This is the measure of the fix Republicans have offered us all? An extra dollar and a half a week sure seems like more money, doesn't it? That translates to seventy-eight dollars a year, which should more than cover an individual membership at Costco, but not at the Executive Level. For that, she would need to be bringing home something in the neighborhood of an additional two and a half dollars a week. Of course, once she got into that cavernous warehouse full of values, pushing that oversized cart, she still might find it hard to come up with the thirteen dollars necessary to buy that one gallon jug of mayonnaise. Maybe if she pinched her pennies and went without some of those pesky medications that her doctors told her would keep her alive, then the deal could probably be made. 

As I mentioned, the public outrage was such that Speaker Paul took his short-sighted comment off Al Gore's Internet, but he left this: “I have heard time and again that the middle class is getting crumbs, but I’ll take it!” Okay, except that is he really hearing from the middle class? This is a guy who is paid for his service to the country in addition to other business interests earning him somewhere between two and eight million dollars a year, depending on who you believe. Or trust. I don't expect the Ryans have or require a membership to a warehouse store to track those extra nickels and dimes. Instead, he could probably swing a deal for the adults in his district to get individual memberships at Costco. Or at the very least buy them all a gallon of mayonnaise. Because it beats the suggestion that they eat cake crumbs.