PAUL RYAN has released a budget proposal. That's what Paul Ryan
does. The nagging question is why. His latest is much like his
last, except that the new plan, which Mr Ryan has dubbed "The
Path to Prosperity", proposes to balance the budget even faster
than he previously proposed to do. (Ezra Klein offers a concise
overview of the plan's main outlines with an illustrative
companion chart.) If you've noticed that Paul Ryan is not
actually vice-president, and that the Republicans do not
actually command a majority in the Senate, releasing such a
budget may seem a vexing and quixotic exercise. "To take Ryan
seriously", writes Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post, "is
to believe that legislation repealing the landmark Affordable
Care Act would be approved by the Senate, with its Democratic
majority, and signed by Obama. What are the odds?" Long.  Even
conservative commentators sympathetic to Mr Ryan's earlier
fiscal blueprints are put off. Ross Douthat, a right-leaning New
York Times columnist, observes that Mr