Much is being made lately...

...of the Republican Party's "Young Guns": Kevin McCarthy, Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan (above). The three Congressmen are supposed to be the up-and-coming leaders of the GOP.

Ryan, you may have heard, is a wonky intellectual whose Roadmap for America's Future has gained attention for balancing the federal budget by essentially cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Conservatives everywhere are hailing it as a courageous document.

Paul Krugman, on the other hand, says that Ryan's plan:

...would massively redistribute income upward, raising taxes and slashing benefits for most Americans, while providing huge tax breaks for the top 0.1 percent of the population.

And:

...an excuse to dismantle social programs.

Either way, it's important to remember that Ryan's "courageous" plan doesn't even balance the budget until 2063 in a best-case scenario. 2063!

And this is the GOP's brilliant plan to balance the federal budget? And these are the party's "Young Guns?"