By MARGARET PLEVAK, Walworth County Today

DELAVAN--What’s Rep. Paul Ryan’s economic forecast? Storm clouds from Europe are headed our way, and our time frame is short to avoid the kind of austerity Europe is dealing with now.

Ryan touched on Europe’s economic troubles when he stopped at CSI offices in Delavan to sit down for an impromptu Q&A with editorial staff Monday afternoon.

Dan Plutchak | Walworth County Today Rep. Paul Ryan and his driver Rick Jacobson of Janesville stand in front of Ryan's mobile office in Delavan. Ryan uses the office as a place where constituents in outlying rural areas can bring issues to his attention.

More precisely, he stopped by as a reminder of the upcoming schedule of his “mobile constituent services center,” an office-on-wheels his staff uses to meet with constituents in outlying rural communities.

He estimated last year alone his office helped 7,000 people dealing with issues ranging from Social Security and Medicare to veteran’s benefits.

“Seniors don’t want to get in a car and drive to Janesville, Kenosha or Racine (where constituent offices are located). We can even photocopy any of their documents and bring them back to our offices,” Ryan said, adding that the mobile office is a way to help people “get through the maze of bureaucracy.”

Fresh off a tour of listening sessions in the 1st Congressional District, Ryan knows what voters are seeing as the biggest issue in the room: the still struggling economy. They’re also pressing him for answers.

“At town hall meetings, it’s all about economic anxiety,” he said.

“If we take steps now to cut spending, we can pre-empt the austerity that’s caused Europe’s problems,” he said. Ryan gives the U.S. an 18 to 24 month window to straighten out the debt ceiling before it’s too late. “Clouds are coming over the Atlantic…it’s a race against that.” If Greece collapses, he said, that speeds up our timetable.

Not surprisingly, Ryan finds the current administration an obstacle to reform, and accuses Democrats of cutting down his budget proposals without offering alternative solutions.

On the other hand, he liked the new blood in Congress. “Tea party people are not career politicians. They are ‘cause’ people,” he said. “We got more done this year with 87 newly elected freshmen.”

Ryan insists he’s not an extremist in his party. “I think I get framed by the left that way,” he said.

But he’s not sure of being labeled ‘moderate,’ either, although he said he’s offered bipartisan ideas. He isn’t against raising taxes on big business, for instance, but said he wants to make corporate taxes fair—not a matter of special breaks for special interest groups.

“Success should not be based on who they know in Washington,” he said.

He said he’s more concerned about keeping taxes low for small business owners who he sees as being too concerned about the uncertainty of the future to do any hiring.

“It creates a chilling effect when businesses don’t know what the tax rates will be next year,” he said.

He also noted that U.S. businesses are competing globally with countries whose corporate tax rates are much lower. A competitive tax rate could spur the economy, he said.

“There’s no substitute,” Ryan said, “for economic growth.”

http://www.walworthcountytoday.com/news/2012/may/15/us-can-avoid-europes-economic-pitfalls-acting-now-/