Tea Party protesters are average Americans who are paying the price for the unrestrained power of corporations. They pay three-quarters of their income for fixed expenses. Those higher costs include taxes -- the cause of much Tea Party anger -- but they include mortgage, health insurance and transportation.

Compare that with their parents' experience. Fixed expenses only consumed half of their parents' income in the 1970s -- and it's likely only one of their parents worked.

Protesters blame "big government" for their woes, but their anger is misdirected. It's the big conglomerates that are fleecing them. The fact is that institutional power has moved away from government to Wall Street and large corporations.

SNIP

Some of the Tea Party protests are quietly funded by right-wing groups that in turn are financed by large energy and banking conglomerates. These corporate giants have no loyalty to America and no sense of public purpose. The Tea Party protesters are being manipulated by the very same conglomerates that are causing their problems.

Rep. Paul Ryan's tax and spending "roadmap" is a fascinating critter: conservatives all praise it to the skies but none of them want to actually commit to supporting it. The reason for their hesitation is obvious: Ryan's plan would cut spending dramatically, and supporting it would mean having to explain what, exactly, they'd cut. That would be electoral suicide and they know it. They much prefer their usual game of loudly denouncing "spending" without ever having to say what spending they're actually opposed to.

However, their reason for supporting Ryan's plan is also obvious: it would cut taxes on the rich dramatically, and there's nothing conservatives like better than cutting the tax bills of America's wealthy. But how much would it cut taxes on the rich? Citizens for Tax Justice has run the numbers and the answer is: a lot. The very richest of the rich would see their tax bills go down by an average of over $200,000, a whopping 15% of the income. Ka-ching! To make up for that, everyone with an income under $100,000 would have their taxes increased by about $2,000 per year.

It's a sweet deal for the rich. But even with all the tax increases on the middle class, Ryan's plan still raises less revenue than today's tax code. "It's difficult to design a tax plan that will lose $2 trillion over a decade even while requiring 90 percent of taxpayers to pay more," says CTJ acerbically. "But Congressman Ryan has met that daunting challenge." Details are in the table below, where you can find out how much more you'd have to pay under Ryan's plan. Enjoy.

David Dayen's take?

I've watched the White House elevate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as a serious man of ideas with real substance over the last couple months. The media has picked up on this and anointed him "Barack Obama's favorite Republican." This undercuts any effort to tell the real story about Ryan's ideas for the federal budget, which would involve serious hardship for everyone but the rich, and an unbalanced budget, in the end.

Paul Ryan's budget would raise taxes for 90% of Americans, lower revenues by $2 trillion dollars and not balance the budget. And he's seen as the "idea man" in the Republican caucus! Not to mention the fact that, should the Republicans take the majority in the House at any point, he would chair the House Budget Committee and would actually have the means to put this plan into action.

You'd think that there would be a larger campaign to discredit such toxic, socialism-for-the-rich ideas, rather than call them "serious" and "legitimate."

Guy was in SoCal somewhere, Orange County or San Diego, and his car sped up to over 90 mph and he couldn't stop it.

Guy said h was standing on the brake pedal with both feet with all his strength to no avail.

Tried reaching down and pulling up on the gas pedal in case it was stuck, but no dice.

Went on so long he was able to call 911 and have a CHP officer catch up to him and drive along side of him yelling instructions to him through their open windows.

Cop finally suggested he try both the brakes and e-brakes, and apparently that finally slowed him down.

I suppose he could have tried shifting into lower gears too...