The US is shut down today for the first time in almost 20 years. And we’re shutdown today for the same reason we were shutdown back then: the struggle for power between We the People and a few super rich greed-crazed pigs. Progressives represent the first caucus, conservatives stand in, like always, for the pigs. It’s a natural fit, conservatives fan a deep-seated hatred of government, when they’re not in the WH and/or running it into the ground.
Like it or not, Obamacare is up and running!
I’m not sure what those conservatives were thinking, but judging by some of my conservative friends, they’ve been led to believe we would actually toss away Healthcare in trade for a six-week extension in government discretionary spending. It’s strange, but that’s the con that’s been run on the Teaparty grassroots. Conservatives in the House are now scrambling to figure out how they can get the nation running again without it being too obvious they were lying and fleecing their base the whole time:
CBS News — Though employees of firms that contract with the federal government won’t be furloughed the same way that federal employees are, there will be employees on standby who receive their salaries even as the contracts are temporarily on hold. And those contractors will ultimately get paid or get an equitable adjustment when the shutdown ends, said former Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., who is now the Director of Federal Government Affairs for Deloitte. Like federal government managers, contracting officers have already lost work time going through all of their contracts to determine which ones will be affected by a shutdown and how they can keep things running.”
You’re paying for stuff that is not getting done,” Davis said of a shutdown. On top of that, he added, “the morale costs on this to federal workers and contractors is huge.” Federal workers were paid retroactively in past shutdowns, but there’s no guarantee that will happen this time around. Those effects will be outsized in Maryland and Virginia where tens of thousands of people work for government contracts. Maryland officials told the Washington Post the state would lose $5 million a day in lost income tax revenue.
I remember just a few years ago when merely criticizing the government during a time of war for any reason was tantamount to treason most foul. I wonder possibly could have changed? Alas, same as before, we’ll clean up the messes left by Republicans and get things on an even keel again. Hopefully this time the nation won’t turn the reigns over to a President Crazy Pants who messes it up all over again.
While Rethgs prance and preen for Teaparty photo ops today, I know several dedicated HHS and related dev personnel who worked through the night and will work through the entire day, the entire week, the entire month if need be, even though they are now furloughed and working without pay. Because Obamacare is already up and running. The same non sequitor bozos who invaded Iraq to get Al Qaeda are trying to burn down government to stop Obamacare. No doubt some of them, who a few years demanded another six months and another six months and another six months and … before the public made up its mind on Iraq, will be gleefully pronouncing Obamacare dead-on-arrival one minute into day one of the program.
The nation is in the hands of a few radical extremists, the closest thing to a good guy, the one we’re counting on in that fight, is John fucking Boehner, the same corrupt weasel who handed out checks from the tobacco lobby on the floor of the House.
On the bright side, these clowns have given the roll-out an excellent excuse for site crashes and slow loading speeds.
I’m not so sure about that. Wasn’t there a report not too long ago that showed that while the Democrats do indeed vote more with the middle class than Republicans do, they also actually vote more with the rich than Republicans? It also showed that neither party votes with the poor. I can’t seem to find it, anymore though. Any combination of keywords I can think of gets way too many hits for other stuff.
But yeah, I’d love to hear the Republicans trying to explain how the government shutdown is compatible with their fiscal responsibility, wasting tax dollars by letting resources go unused. I just read elsewhere that even Curiosity has been put in sleep mode. I hope they’re proud that their shutdown now reaches all the way to Mars.
@Deen :
ABC (TV) news Australia reports that the shutdown will close all of NASA but for mission control. Adding insult to injury, it was illustrated with the launch of a Space Shuttle that no longer flies due, I think, to bean-counters and lack of upgrades or replacements. It was a wonderful space plane rocket hybrid while it lasted.
Can’t Obama do something? Is there no mechanism to resolve this – no snap election, no emergency dissolution, nothing?
If not, I’d say political reform is way overdue but, of course, getting it to happen in the current circumstances will be difficult – or will it? Something has to give and change and that something should be the Republicans and Congressional power to do this.
@StevoR: There are actual several initiatives in the US to get the states to call for a constitutional convention to try and pass amendments to take money out of politics. It’s either that or something a lot more disruptive, like nationwide protests and strikes, or worse. Last time when inequality was so high didn’t go so well…