Official 2013 Budget/Debt Limit/Obamacare Crisis Thread

Repubs really need to sit down and start figuring out a future where the party starts helping this country. If this lasts too long it could be the final nail in the coffin to winning back the white house in 3 years. Clinton(s) already have one foot in the door.

 

so it happened huh lol

 

I don't think it's because of ObamaCare. I think it's because of ObamaRace.
Anybody want to educate me?

 

So the Republicans are now making their party even more irrelevant nationally ostensibly in objection to a policy that was their idea in the first place. They are crying about presidential intransigence when the ACA is possibly the one legislative matter on which Obama made a real effort to secure bipartisan concord.

With the average Republican I necessarily allow for quite a bit of behavior that impacts their own self-interest in a negative dimension and often in association with spectacular ignorance but all of this really is pretty special.

 

6 hours in, and the world has yet to collapse into itself. I think we can make it.

 

The Tea Party and other right wingers wanted the shut down. The rest of the GOP allowed it. Any of their attempts to point the finger of blame elsewhere is disingenuous at best.

 

Any ground conceded by Democrats this time would just mean we'd get to do this all over again in a few weeks. We'd be virtually certain to eventually default as Republicans would continue to overplay their hand more and more each time. A clean bill to keep the government running, no strings attached, is all that should be on the table, because both parties' rhetoric suggests they recognize that's preferable to a shutdown.

 

It's abundantly clear who is working for the country.

 

If you give a mouse a cookie...

 

The better question is ... Could the Republicans not threaten to shut down the government as a way to avoid government shutdown?

The answer by Republicans... NO.

 

Sure, I know this is a fave Randian talking point: I heard it put identically by a Tea Party talking head yesterday. And yes, widespread panic and looting and burning will be avoided.

But it does matter. We do look like jackasses, rightfully, in the eyes of the world. Our standing takes a hit. And our economy certainly will take a hit.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/09/30/news/economy/shutdown-economic-impact/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
"His firm estimates that a three to four week shutdown will cost the economy about $55 billion.
That would mean that the economic impact from a month-long shutdown would be roughly equal to the combined disruption caused by Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy, not counting the property damage that accompanied those storms."

Personally, if Congress can't function at all, their salaries should be the first thing cut. Also, we should not have to pay federal income tax for each work day for which they've shut down the government. I would rather invest that tax money at the local level. The less of my hard-earned money I effectively send to crazy red states, the better.

 

And whoever the hell Chris Moody is, he's tweeting disingenuous questions.

ACA is the law of the land. When have we tied debate of an existing law to basic government operation? If we're going to operate that way, we'll be paralyzed from here on.

The great majority of Americans see it for what it is: a petty pout-fest for people who can't have their way.

 

Don't know much about "Randian talking points" (did she even ever comment on a so-called government shutdown?) but I'm with you on the Congress getting their salaries cut. The phrase "government shutdown" is entirely inappropriate to describe what happened. The NSA, FBI, and CIA are still spying; the TSA is still groping; the drones are still bombing; the taxes are still being collected; and on and on and on.

 

Yeah, we're mostly on the same page here.

Sorry about the Randian jab. But since a lot of people I know stopped getting paid today, while the groups you list KEEP getting paid, by taxes I pay... it makes me mad when people are blase about it. Cheers.

 

It's more like a government slow down.

Like the president said, the mail will still be delivered, Medicare is still working, government officials are still going to get paid, homeland defense is still in operation, law enforcement is still in operation, vital civil services are still in operation, the CIA is still working, the NSA is still violating you, and on and on.

It's bad for the economy I don't deny that, nor do I support it. Maybe if we structured the government shutdown going forward in a way where none of the services in DC operate, no Congressmen get paychecks, etc. then everyone will be a little more cautious about it.

 

Go educate yourself.

 

A. When someone takes the village idiot seriously - who's the bigger idiot?
B. I don't leave anonymous rep comments. Sucks that someone did that to you. Don't be a bigger douche by falsely accusing others.

 

If your teachers tried and failed and your parents tried and failed, why would we be more successful here?

 

An interesting historical tidbit on government shutdowns here at home.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/09/23/225462813/8-things-to-know-about-a-government-shutdown

The government has shutdown 17 times in my lifetime. Won't someone think of the children!?