Opinions on the U.S. federal government shutdown

[orangemoore]

I think that the real issue is that the politicians are forcing people out of work because they want something to happen. I'm sure that this sort of thing would't happen if their paycheck was on the line. Everything is fine when it doesn't affect them but it is a huge problem when it does.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by orangemoore

I'm sure that this sort of thing would't happen if their paycheck was on the line. Everything is fine when it doesn't affect them but it is a huge problem when it does.

Which is a good point to make.

Somewhat related: California for YEARS had trouble getting a balanced budget (required by state constitution--dunno why the U.S. constitution can't be amended for that!) on time. Voters got fed up and passed an amendment to the state constitution saying that if the budget wasn't on time as well as balanced, the state legislators wouldn't get paid, not even retroactively. Couple years back, the budget was on time but not balanced. No pay for lawmakers--they complained, the folks that cut the checks stood firm...and a balanced budget passed shortly thereafter, I want to say about a week. Haven't had any issues like that since that I can recall.


But for the U.S. Congress, there's a couple of things that might help. For example, if your friendly local representative or senator were to receive letters from a large number of constituents that if they didn't do something, they would not be getting your vote next election, that might get them moving. Telling them which direction you wanted them to move to get your vote would help them in negotiations ("My constituents want X. That is why I am voting the way I am voting. Would you care to join me at the next town hall when I tell them why I had to vote for Y?").


So far, hasn't affected me. Admittedly, the government is a customer of the company I work for, but they are not the only customer by any means.

[Michael Hill]

Well, I'm biased since I'm furloughed right now, but hey, it gives me more time to work on robotics stuff. I've been trying to work on some team CAD standards, so this isn't all that bad. Hopefully they'll give us back pay.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

Well, I'm biased since I'm furloughed right now, but hey, it gives me more time to work on robotics stuff. I've been trying to work on some team CAD standards, so this isn't all that bad. Hopefully they'll give us back pay.

That's the burning question.
My wife is lucky to have been spared, while others in her office were not.
Somber day at work for sure.

[synth3tk]

I was happy that they unanimously passed the bill to continue military pay.

Until Army National Guard units across the country cancelled/postponed drill weekends. I assume our normal training is non-essential. It's gonna be a tight month for me.

I'll refrain from going into details, but ultimately I'm extremely unhappy about the whole situation, even before I was directly affected.

[Tristan Lall]

In the poll above, 3 people say it's good now, and 3 people say it will be good in the future. I don't think we've haven't heard from those 4 people¹—what's the upside of this situation?

¹ 4, not 6, because some selected both in a single poll option. (Incidentally, the poll has 16 cross-tabulated choices because a simpler multiple-choice poll would eliminate the ability to correlate present and future outlooks.)

[DonRotolo]

Shutdown is almost negligible, but DEFAULT (around 10/17) will be a disaster of historic proportions.

I am a conservative Republican, not a fan of budget deficits, nor of Obamacare, but those IDIOTS in Washington have me ready to donate to the Democrats. I hired them to do a job, and they're not doing it, so I think it's time for them to get fired.

[synth3tk]

I should hope that this causes the general public to be more diligent about voting for more than just the President and Mayor.

[Anupam Goli]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

Shutdown is almost negligible, but DEFAULT (around 10/17) will be a disaster of historic proportions.

This is the real issue at hand. Defaulting on our debts could send our country into another depression.

The thing about the 27th amendment is interesting. i feel like it would definitely help, but plenty of politicians have external sources of income, to the point where getting rid of congressional salary would have a negligible effect.

I hope that everyone comes to their senses, and realizes that it's just wrong to hold the government hostage when you don't get your way.

[Invictus3593]

As long as they don't raise the debt ceiling again, the congress can afford to making interest-only payments on our debt.

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by Invictus3593

As long as they don't raise the debt ceiling again, the congress can afford to making interest-only payments on our debt.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Could you explain in more detail?

[Siri]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Could you explain in more detail?

On October 17, the "extraordinary measures" (desperate intra-government money shifting) that the Treasury's been taking will likely run out*, leaving around $30 billion plus the incoming tax revenue to pay the bills. There are of course a bunch of bills to pay after that (Social Security, military pay, Medicaid, etc), some of which may bounce if the debt ceiling isn't raised. The interest-only argument is that we could prioritize interest payments and still be able to pay them with incoming tax dollars, but even if so (which of course depends on interest rates), we wouldn't have enough money to pay everything else including mandatory and other -"bought" bills. This is why Speaker Boehner agreed that this isn't enough, instead pledging to raise the ceiling in order to avoid default. There's some debate on how bad default would be, its association with the 14th Amendment, and if it's avoidable other ways, e.g. unilateral Presidential action, but basically all of the outcomes range really bad-->worst. There are a few "so what's", but given that a lot of it depends on market confidence, and the IMF is warning it'd threaten the global economy...


*As alluded, the debt/default topic of this post is not the same as the government shutdown, though their chronological colocation has tied them together in some potentially dangerous ways.

[Invictus3593]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Could you explain in more detail?

Here you go!

[Madison]

Originally Posted by Invictus3593

Here you go!

It's just that easy. This outcome certainly won't have any devastating consequences at all, really, and it's a far better solution than behaving like reasonable adults and managing our spending in a professional, measured way.

I'm sold.

[Travis Hoffman]

Food for thought:

http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...-thomas-sowell