So anyone personally affected by this government shutdown/debt ceiling nonsense?

[vivalarevolución]

Bueller?  Bueller?

[rowdy]

What has he done?

[demik]

i thought i wasn't..

until I just tried to get tickets for the endeavour 1 year anni show and it's not happening.

****ing congress *******s

[noisyturtle]

I've been unable to view the panda cam, thus putting quite the damper on my erotic activities.

[Game Theory]

Well the federal courts will shutdown on the 17th if it continues so .... more days of sweet freedom ...

[bueller]

You rang?

[MKULTRA]

Well the federal courts will shutdown on the 17th if it continues so .... more days of sweet freedom ...

ANARCHY

[microsoft windows]

I don't care about the government shutdown. They'll never shut down Microsoft!

[Tarzan]

Lot of families in my Northern Virginia neighborhood work for the government.  Already some after-school activities at my son's elementary school have been canceled, not enough parents willing to spend the $40/$60/$75 fees right now.  If this keeps up, there will be mortgage payments missed, car payments, credit cards, etc.  I can only guess which local businesses are hurting; cleaners, coffee shops, gas stations, and the like.

Having assurances that you will get back pay is not the same as getting a regular paycheck.

[The_Beast]

I'm not too sure about financial aid for school yet, which is a real bummer

[kenmai9]

Furloughs doe

[CPTBadAss]

i thought i wasn't..

until I just tried to get tickets for the endeavour 1 year anni show and it's not happening.

****ing congress *******s

I'm so sad

[Glod]

The SEC, DOJ, and the courts are still open during the shutdown so as long as the litigation keeps flowing, i still have work to do

[Tym]

Why you American's no riot?

Look what I grabbed during the London 2011 riots.



Although I thoughts for sure there would be some American Public "something"... But I suppose you're all more civil than I realised.

Jokes aside, I can see this is hurting some public sector workers hard, and I hope that you get something in place as soon as possible.

[Leslieann]

Many things won't be immediately noticed...
Many essential programs are running on emergency money, such as WIC. However that money will run out come Monday, at which point, states will begin having to pay for all of it, or cutoff funding (anyone seen the cost of baby formula lately, sheesh!). The same applies to food inspectors, it takes a bit for contaminated food to make it into the supply and start rearing it's head. And again with nuclear inspectors, you can stop inspections for a short time before something happens, that's why you do inspections, to find trouble before it starts. As for furloughed employees, they also are in a bind, it just hasn't really hit them yet, it will next payday though.

Give it time, it will rear it's ugly head, it's always slow to start, this is why politicians can act so calm for the time being. However, they know things are coming to a head quickly. Even the Koch brothers issued a statement, they did it because they want to make sure they are ahead of the wave that's coming.

[Tarzan]

Many things won't be immediately noticed...
Many essential programs are running on emergency money, such as WIC. However that money will run out come Monday, at which point, states will begin having to pay for all of it, or cutoff funding (anyone seen the cost of baby formula lately, sheesh!). The same applies to food inspectors, it takes a bit for contaminated food to make it into the supply and start rearing it's head. And again with nuclear inspectors, you can stop inspections for a short time before something happens, that's why you do inspections, to find trouble before it starts. As for furloughed employees, they also are in a bind, it just hasn't really hit them yet, it will next payday though.

Give it time, it will rear it's ugly head, it's always slow to start, this is why politicians can act so calm for the time being. However, they know things are coming to a head quickly. Even the Koch brothers issued a statement, they did it because they want to make sure they are ahead of the wave that's coming.

There was a massive snow storm that hit South Dakota earlier this week.  It killed four people and somewhere between 5% and 50% of the cattle in the state.  Quite a range, eh?  Yep, government services normally track livestock losses, not to mention managing livestock loss insurance.  Of course, NOAA is shuttered, so forecasting major storms like this are considerably more difficult.

Didja read about the tainted chicken meat coming from three Foster Farms operations in California?  Food safety inspectors are furloughed, so there's no one conducting inspections.

Shutting down the government is hostage-taking on a grand scale.

[SpAmRaY]

All of a sudden all the conspiracy/survival nuts are starting to make sense.

[Tarzan]

All of a sudden all the conspiracy/survival nuts are starting to make sense.

Except that most of them start with the flawed assumption that government is the problem.  Government is us.

[vivalarevolución]

You rang?

That was not my intention.  Forgot we had somebody with that screen name.

[davkol]

Meanwhile, \keyboardlover is having a celebration.

[Leslieann]

Didja read about the tainted chicken meat coming from three Foster Farms operations in California?  Food safety inspectors are furloughed, so there's no one conducting inspections.

Shutting down the government is hostage-taking on a grand scale.

I agree, though my point was that it's a slow buildup, not an immediate "OMG THE RAPTURE IS HERE" sort of thing. Some people point out little change as proof nothing happened, when in reality, it's is, it just has yet to reach them yet.

Except that most of them start with the flawed assumption that government is the problem.  Government is us.

All of these people who think that any/all government is bad, don't realize how much it's actually does for us as well. 

All anyone of them needs to do is take a trip to a country where the government doesn't do anything and see how living conditions are.  Our government doesn't need to be euthanized, it just needs a leash.

[demik]

Meanwhile, \keyboardlover is having a celebration.

That paranoid arm chair activist is pathetic.

With that said, that little trick tea party/Republicans pulled a day before the shut down should not go unnoticed. Sadly I'm on mobile or else I'd link to what I'm talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0Jd-iaYLO1A

There we go

[tipo33]

Um yes. As some of you know, I 'm active duty stationed overseas.   Now I still get paid, which is nice. But a lot of things are closed on base.  The renewal of my passport stopped dead in it's tracks.  Our APO/FPO post office is closed, no mail    Not to mention everyone's whining....

[SpAmRaY]

So now it is 'over' but it is still only a band-aid and temporary....won't we just do this all again in February?

Hopefully everyone gets to go back work!

[fohat.digs]

All of these people who think that any/all government is bad, don't realize how much it's actually does for us as well. 

All anyone of them needs to do is take a trip to a country where the government doesn't do anything and see how living conditions are.  Our government doesn't need to be euthanized, it just needs a leash.

Well said indeed.

Although I feel like a libertarian at heart, in today's world only a pathetic Luddite would actually think of damaging his own country to prove (?) a point.

[Glod]

So now it is 'over' but it is still only a band-aid and temporary....won't we just do this all again in February?

Hopefully everyone gets to go back work!

it will happen again, and again, and again

[Tarzan_]

So now it is 'over' but it is still only a band-aid and temporary....won't we just do this all again in February?

Hopefully everyone gets to go back work!

it will happen again, and again, and again

I sure hope not, but I'm afraid you're right.  There are essentially no real down-sides for the Republicans, nothing to stop them from trying this stunt again.

[davkol]

Ummm, why don't you use your right to carry guns to satisfy its original purpose?

[Tarzan_]

Ummm, why don't you use your right to carry guns to satisfy its original purpose?

The "original purpose" for having guns in the home was a sop to the slave-owning signatories to the US Constitution.  This specifically allowed them to muster up private militias to chase down escaped slaves.

Not quite sure this applies today...

[dante]

Why you American's no riot?

...

Although I thoughts for sure there would be some American Public "something"... But I suppose you're all more civil than I realised.

You'll see Americans riot when you take away their Internet and Cell Phones.

[Krogenar]

From my perspective, the federal government is deeply in debt, and the Democrats/Progressives just want to keep piling up the debt, expanding the dependency state, and just generally digging the economic hole we are in that much deeper. Given a choice of the U.S. defaulting now, or defaulting later, I would prefer to default now; a decade or two from now it will have gone from catastrophic to disastrous. Or, maybe the federal government would get it's spending under control if conservatives choked off the endless line of credit? Yeah, right. That will never happen, so long as Democrats are in control of the government and the media. It makes me start to believe that an economic collapse is their plan.

[Tarzan_]

From my perspective, the federal government is deeply in debt, and the Democrats/Progressives just want to keep piling up the debt, expanding the dependency state, and just generally digging the economic hole we are in that much deeper. Given a choice of the U.S. defaulting now, or defaulting later, I would prefer to default now; a decade or two from now it will have gone from catastrophic to disastrous. Or, the federal government would get it's spending under control before we defaulted on our debts. That will never happen, so long as Democrats are in control of the government and the media. It makes me start to believe that an economic collapse is their plan.

The Republicans have done a fantastic job of cutting taxes, that's true.  Get taxes back to where they should be, and we'll be back to Clinton-era surplus levels before you know it.

[mauri]

They're making a big show how they're "doing" something and won't take any more debt however they'll just increase the debt ceiling like they always do, haven't they done it like 10 times now in a span of a few years.

[Tarzan_]

They're making a big show how they're "doing" something and won't take any more debt however they'll just increase the debt ceiling like they always do, haven't they done it like 10 times now in a span of a few years.

Bit of trivia; do you know of any other nations in the world that have a "debt ceiling?"

[Tym]

No other countries have an American Style government  )

[mauri]

They're making a big show how they're "doing" something and won't take any more debt however they'll just increase the debt ceiling like they always do, haven't they done it like 10 times now in a span of a few years.

Bit of trivia; do you know of any other nations in the world that have a "debt ceiling?"

Yeah, most countries do it beforehand, it's called budgeting

[Krogenar]

They're making a big show how they're "doing" something and won't take any more debt however they'll just increase the debt ceiling like they always do, haven't they done it like 10 times now in a span of a few years.

We're in debt to the tune of 16 trillion dollars (and that doesn't even account for unfunded liabilities like Social Security, which balloons our debt to ridiculous levels) -- we should be finding ways to reduce our spending, get entitlements under some semblance of control, and make America more friendly to business again. Conservatives and libertarians don't want no government, we want less government -- since it seems to do nothing well.

[dante]

It makes me start to believe that an economic collapse is their plan.

I'm not so sure. If a collapse were to occur it would provide many opportunities to break away from the government and let everyone go their own separate ways.  Imagine how difficult it would be to have any entity corral and convince many splintered factions that "things will be better this time."  The government loves their control over people too much to let this happen.

[Tarzan_]

They're making a big show how they're "doing" something and won't take any more debt however they'll just increase the debt ceiling like they always do, haven't they done it like 10 times now in a span of a few years.

Bit of trivia; do you know of any other nations in the world that have a "debt ceiling?"

Yeah, most countries do it beforehand, it's called budgeting

The debt ceiling is an arbitrary construction.  Refusing to raise it, after setting a budget that calls for certain expenditures plus borrowing, is insane.  Seriously.

[Krogenar]

They're making a big show how they're "doing" something and won't take any more debt however they'll just increase the debt ceiling like they always do, haven't they done it like 10 times now in a span of a few years.

Bit of trivia; do you know of any other nations in the world that have a "debt ceiling?"

Insane not to raise it? Is it really a ceiling at all when we just keep raising it higher and higher anyway? We should have a Constitutional Amendment explicitly stating that the federal government may not (except in the event of outright war) to spend more than... I dunno, 18% of GDP. Period. Don't let Congress vote on 19% of GDP, just no. There should be a hard ceiling on how much the government can cost. Or, at least have the balls to say, "We're going to spend like a pimp with one week left to live." and abolish the limit entirely. Stop pretending to be fiscally responsible.

[SpAmRaY]

They're making a big show how they're "doing" something and won't take any more debt however they'll just increase the debt ceiling like they always do, haven't they done it like 10 times now in a span of a few years.

Bit of trivia; do you know of any other nations in the world that have a "debt ceiling?"

Is it really a ceiling when we just keep raising it higher and higher anyway? We should have a Constitutional Amendment explicitly stating that the federal government may not (except in the event of outright war) to spend more than... I dunno, 18% of GDP. Period. Don't let Congress vote on 19% of GDP, just no. There should be a hard ceiling on how much the government can cost.

They will cause a war anyways just to have another distraction.

 Something will happen between now and February very bad to distract us again.....

* sPaMrAy get his Bible, Guns and tinfoil hat ready

[Tarzan_]

They're making a big show how they're "doing" something and won't take any more debt however they'll just increase the debt ceiling like they always do, haven't they done it like 10 times now in a span of a few years.

We're in debt to the tune of 16 trillion dollars (and that doesn't even account for unfunded liabilities like Social Security, which balloons our debt to ridiculous levels) -- we should be finding ways to reduce our spending, get entitlements under some semblance of control, and make America more friendly to business again. Conservatives and libertarians don't want no government, we want less government -- since it seems to do nothing well.

If we're in debt, then the sensible thing to do is to raise taxes to pay for those debts.  How do you think we went from budget surplus in 2000 to major debt in 2009?

Reducing spending is a canard.  Refer to the chart above for how much "spending" we've been doing lately.

Entitlements out of control?  Oh, right.  Social Security might run short and start cutting some benefits in 20 years, so obviously we must start now to cut benefits for everyone.  Sounds sensible. 

And "make America more friendly to business?"  For heaven's sake, why?  The US stock market always does better when a Democrat is President, it's been returning insane rates of returns for the robber baron class, and yet wages for the working class are stuck at 1985 levels.  Exactly how "friendly" should we be for business to pay people real living wages?

Oh, and by the way; libertarians and conservatives are just code words for Republicans.  Just like the Tea Party, crazy people who claim to be bi-partisan but vote a straight Republican ticket.

[fohat.digs]

The debt ceiling is an arbitrary construction.  Refusing to raise it, after setting a budget that calls for certain expenditures plus borrowing, is insane.

The Republicans have done a fantastic job of cutting taxes, that's true.  Get taxes back to where they should be, and we'll be back to Clinton-era surplus levels before you know it.

The "debt ceiling" concept needs to be abolished. It has been a bizarre anachronism since the Eisenhower administration.

Until wealthy people (and "people" includes corporations thanks to a corrupt Reconstruction-era Supreme Court decision) no longer control our government, they will expend vast resources to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

At the minimum ending offshore tax havens and corporate welfare is something that 90% of "meat" people would likely endorse if the question was put to them openly and fairly.

[mauri]

They're making a big show how they're "doing" something and won't take any more debt however they'll just increase the debt ceiling like they always do, haven't they done it like 10 times now in a span of a few years.

Bit of trivia; do you know of any other nations in the world that have a "debt ceiling?"

Is it really a ceiling when we just keep raising it higher and higher anyway? We should have a Constitutional Amendment explicitly stating that the federal government may not (except in the event of outright war) to spend more than... I dunno, 18% of GDP. Period. Don't let Congress vote on 19% of GDP, just no. There should be a hard ceiling on how much the government can cost.

They will cause a war anyways just to have another distraction.

 Something will happen between now and February very bad to distract us again.....

* sPaMrAy get his Bible, Guns and tinfoil hat ready

The reptilians are coming!!11

[Tym]

Woops, accidentally deleted the point here. And i can't remember it.

But im glad your government sorted things out as I don't think the global economy could have supported it.

[SpAmRaY]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/17/oliver-stone-on-the-tyranny-of-obama-s-exceptional-america.print.html

Not sure what to make of this but perhaps some of you would be interested

It mentioned the government shutdown so hopefully it's not considered too off topic


I knew it Tym

[dante]

One thing that needs to be (mostly) tossed in a fire are food stamps.  There are many families that definitely need them but there are also too many people that are milking it and turning them into some sort of cool kids hipster culture.

[mauri]

One thing that needs to be (mostly) tossed in a fire are food stamps.  There are many families that definitely need them but there are also too many people that are milking it and turning them into some sort of cool kids hipster culture.

Spending billions upon billions in invading foreign countries but god forbid if something has to go it'd better be the food stamps

[Tarzan_]

One thing that needs to be (mostly) tossed in a fire are food stamps.  There are many families that definitely need them but there are also too many people that are milking it and turning them into some sort of cool kids hipster culture.

Yes, of course.  No time like mid-recession to start thinking of more ways to take food stamps away from people who need them.

You do know that half of food stamp recipients are children, right?  Along with seniors, military families, and people out of work with no prospects for jobs in the near term?

It's easy to prescribe austerity for others when you're personally affluent.  Funny how no one suggests cutting salaries for people like Jamie Dimon, to pay for a few more months of food stamps for millions.

[dante]

Both of you clearly didn't read my post thoroughly enough.  Try again.