The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.- Thomas Jefferson
Guys, I don't know why you fear the government. You should let the government into your heart. Might I suggest going to the DMV to confess your sins?
Thats because American politics is lying, misinformation, and "my party is better than yours! *sticks out tongue*" mentality.
Just quoted one of your posts, I read all of them and you spoke as in third person regarding democrats, so I am assuming you aren't one, or just trying to be unbias. Plus the administration I THOUGHT you were talking about was Obama... So... As I said above, let's try to stay away from politics because, people do have differences in opinions. I just... find it a bit strange. >_< It's also where we come from and being raised how we understand something as simple as "the government shut down". It in some ways did, but other didn't. As most of you know, I live in California, and in a part that is mainly democratic (northern).
I feel that, yes, Obama is a big reason this administration is a failure. However, It was due to both democrats and republicans acting childish. Though, when their big leader is acting that way, I guess you can't really blame them.
The government shutdown is a ruse. Many Americans are fooled by the Democrat versus Republican pretend battle. They even think they have a vote that counts. Meanwhile the USA and other governments continue with heavy manipulation of the financial markets. The winners: Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
Yes this is true but you can't blame the guy completely. If you were to look through the second article of the Constitution, you'd find that the president has very little lawmaking power, especially after the Tenure of Office act was passed against Andrew Jackson. Ultimately, the power, and the responsibility for its inappropriate use lies with Congress. Not in one house or another, or due to a single party, but both of them, collectively screwing up. And I'm not saying that its this administration specifically thats been wrong, it's just that things have been getting worse and worse, and despite the efforts of a few, we have now ended up in this state.
Right, I completely agree with that. However, people in those respective sections in Congress are still going to look "up to" the President for guidance and advice and when you have Obama using the official Twitter account to act out like a teenage girl against anyone he's supposed to be working good, it doesn't look good for him or our country as a whole for that matter.
Believe me, it is not pretend. Money is power. The more money you have*, the more power you have. It makes sense that countries with more money have more power over financial markets, since it is mostly their money in the market. Manipulation isn't the word I would use, but yes, the US and other countries do have more power in the financial markets. * GDP is really all that matters.
Yep. He screwed up. Big time. I just don't like it when other people attribute screw ups that aren't his to him. He may not be an angel, but he's far from a devil. Anyway, I'm more concerned with how long it'll take for congress to fix it.
Found an interesting article: http://benswann.com/what-does-a-government-shutdown-actually-shutdown-what-you-need-to-know/
Very true. In fact, its actually beneficial for countries with high GDP's to be in debt, for a semi-complicated economic reason. But, this debt is only really minor, the type that, should the country wish it, could be payed off with little change to basic policy. The US understood this, and tried to do just that. The problem is, they misjudged the debt/paying off cycles, and are now in more debt than they can currently handle, which is disturbing their economic and political foothold.
I see that the thread has wound down to people posting pictures at this point but thought I would post anyway in case anyone is still serious about it. I've skimmed though some of the posts here so I hope you'll excuse me if I misrepresent any ideas that have been expressed here. I know the thread started with the shutdown, and there have also been a couple of other topics that have come up. I think some people have formed their opinions about these issues without really researching them very deeply. Possibly also they are parroting their parent's/friend's opinions, what they see on media, or are allowing themselves to be distracted by partisanship. I don't blame the Republicans or the Democrats for this problem. Well, actually I blame them all, and include ourselves since they are supposed to represent us. One side got the Affordable Care Act to pass without funding and the other side is refusing to allow it to be funded through the budget. Both sides are playing a game of chicken and I'm not surprised at all that this has happened. And of course it won't hurt them a bit. It is projected that this shutdown will actually cost us over a billion dollars minimum because of the way things are funded. But it won't hurt the politicians who have orchestrated the whole thing (R) and (D) alike. They, by law, are among those who will continue to be paid. Even if they lose their jobs over this next election, can then move on to the next government job as well as look forward to their pensions. Our last balanced budget was in 2001. Since then our expenditures have increased while tax revenue has decreased. A common peasant like myself would have tried to find a better job or would have moved into an apartment or looked for any way to cut costs or increase my income. What our government has been doing mainly is passing Continuing Resolutions, which means that we continue on without changes to the budget. No increases in spending, but no reduction in spending either. All independent of whether the tax income goes up or down. They go out and borrow money from pawn shops to get them by until tomorrow like a desperate junkie would do. The current debt limit is set at 16.7 trillion dollars. According to our Treasury Secretary we will hit that limit by the middle of this month. Which means that even though we are still funding essential government services, they will have no LEGAL funding after that point. Even if the debt limit is raised, we are likely to reach a point eventually where the interest is large enough that we can cannot ever repay it. So yeah. This time things might truly shut down. Our leaders know this so in the next two weeks one side or the other is going to cave in and we will have some sort of half-assed agreement that fixes nothing and absolutely no one is happy with. It won't be the end of our problems though. The real underlying problem is the fact that our government is simply spending more revenue than it takes in and can't stop. Our leaders can't agree on what to do about it mainly because what really needs to be done will make their constituents unhappy no matter what is done. So they do nothing unless it is to spend more. If the Affordable Care Act is not broken at this point, I hope that this change will force insurance and health care providers to compete more. I am afraid though that it won't change the real problem of health care costs. Government providing people with insurance and forcing others to pay for it still leaves the fundamental cost problems untouched. For many years families have gotten group coverage from their employers and I think this is one reason to blame for the costs. We don't look at the cost of items because insurance(read this as "someone else") pays for it. We also are at fault for allowing unnecessary tests and procedures expecting insurance to cover it. Don't forget lawsuits. Someone has to pay and everyone wants to get paid. What we have now is a big merry-go-round. We have co-pay on items like medication which is really sort of a lay-away plan as people are guaranteed to take some form of medication as they grow older. We have coverage for yearly checkups, regular doctor visits, xrays, dental, and so forth. Insurance is supposed to cover catastrophic costs. I can handle paying for teeth cleanings and tests. Just take care of me when I really, really need it so that I am not put into a position where I lose everything I own in order to recover from an illness or accident. Nowadays even people who are insured get put into that position and often end up declaring bankruptcy because of the costs of an illness. It shouldn't, and I don't think it has to, be that way. I would like to see insurance policies based on individuals rather than family or group plans as they are now. I would also rather not see them offered as employment compensation packages. I think that if people were paid extra money instead and had to shop for their own insurance they would be more choosy about both the cost of the insurance as well as the cost of the health care they are using it on from the health choices they make from day to day like exercising to end of life decisions like when and whether to use life support. This bill addresses none of that. I live pretty frugally. I haven't taken more than a few days off for a vacation since 1998. I have paid off my house and am debt free. I don't own a bunch of toys like boats and we don't go out much. I also haven't been buying health insurance and have instead been paying medical costs out of pocket since we are relatively healthy. I know I have been taking a big risk and have been wanting to buy insurance in spite of the cost, but it has meant making a choice between that and retirement savings or my kids' educations. I hope we will be able buy insurance and still find a way to save for our future and take care of our basic needs. Over the years I have made too much money to be eligible for tax credits so I don't expect any help from the government. Now I will just be spending the money I was saving on insurance that I hopefully will not have a reason to use except to pay what I have been paying all along anyway. The bottom line is that many things need to change and we are doing nothing because our leaders don't have the guts to do what's right. Not just health care or government spending. There are other problems that just are not being addressed. Resource issues like energy and water are just being ignored or the solutions delayed. This shutdown will pass like the others with some sort of "solution", but the cause won't be addressed. I expect we will continue to avoid the painful decisions now and let them go until they get to the point where we have no choices left to make. I see this fault in our politicians and our people, and it is a worldwide problem, not just specific to our country.
The real problem is the Federal Reserve, a private bank owned by a consortium of other private banks, many of which are outside USA. They have been robbing the American people since 1913. Several trillion of the USA debt is actually owed to the Federal Reserve. The President could wipe that debt with his signature, but he won't because he is a puppet. The last President to try and shut down the Federal Reserve was JFK, we know how that ended.
