U.S Government Shutdown Looms

reply to post by yadda333


Great find, I really think this should become its own thread. But just how much can we reply on past experiences to guide us through this next shut down? How similar or how different could it be?

This is an important post

Here's some more historical perspective:

Top 10 Knockdown Congressional Battles CNN

Memories of 1995 haunt GOP as shutdown talk grows CBS

Few memories haunt Republicans more deeply than the 1995-96 partial shutdown of the federal government, which helped President Bill Clinton reverse his falling fortunes and recast House Republicans as stubborn partisans, not savvy insurgents.

Many Democratic and Republican lawmakers say it's almost inevitable, and essential, that Obama step in to avert a shutdown. Only a president, they say, has the stature, clout and public megaphone to craft a compromise when congressional partisans seem dug in. And for now, they seem deeply dug in.

Another thing to consider is a lot of the world is currently undergoing social upheaval, so how wise would it be to put 1000s of U.S. government employees on furlough?

Morocco to China: A Hemisphere in Revolt AntiWar

reply to post by Regenmacher


Imaginge if you had $2,171 bucks to spend on your car every, but running the Car with Fuel costs you $3,492.
You decide to keep the car because you reeealy like this car instead of getting a cheaper car.
So you come up with great plan of driving 5 mph less so you can save $61 a year, Who Hoo I saved $61 bucks.
And to celebrate your $61 win, you go out and buy a nice pair of shiney new tires.

How long can you afford to drive this car?
Now If it's a Government Car no problem, somebody is paying is paying for it.

Originally posted by don rumsfeld
reply to post by dnvrliz

 

Hopefully it won't be so chaotic. This has been done before when the Republicans & Dems can't agree on
a budget. All non-essential services are put on hold. It's happened 4 or 5 times in the last 29 or 30 years.

edit on 19-2-2011 by don rumsfeld because: (no reason given)

edit on 19-2-2011 by don rumsfeld because: can't type

Exactly!!

it has become a standard tactic...and in the end, there will be a whole lotta Pork
added to the budget deficit funding increase.

this has absolutely nothing to lose sleep over... its mostly hype & hyperbole

Originally posted by St Udio
it has become a standard tactic...and in the end, there will be a whole lotta Pork
added to the budget deficit funding increase.

this has absolutely nothing to lose sleep over... its mostly hype & hyperbole

The usual method, before they wise up, is to have an epic train wreck like we did in the 30s.
Which in turn, lead to World War II before we rose out of the Depression.

Reprinted from Urban Survival

My friend Howard sent this:

Here's the language from the bill. Note that it exempts the sales or operating contracts from any consideration whether the sales will be in the public interest or even economically justified.

"16.896 Sale or contractual operation of state−owned heating, cooling, and power plants. (1) Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state−owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b)."

Sell power plants and such on the cheap? Oh sure! You bet'cha, I'll make enough leveraged investments by ways of...er... campaign contributions, eh? WTF people? Is anyone awake in WisconnedSIN? Where's the recall election to toss out Walker and his double-dealing ilk



If this is true... The Union/Teacher crap is a smoke screen.
Selling off assets to private businesses without any appovals should be investigated.

White House: Government shutdown plans in place

Federal agencies are ready to operate at reduced levels if a government shutdown occurs, the White House said Tuesday.

Agencies are supposed to maintain plans "for an orderly shutdown in the event of the absence of appropriations," according to Office of Management and Budget guidance issued to agencies each year. Any revisions or changes must be reviewed by OMB and the plans must include:

-- Estimates (to the nearest half day) of how long it would take to complete a shut down.
-- The number of employees necessary to be working before the plan is implemented.
-- The total number of employees to be retained during a shutdown.

Any employees on the job during a shutdown must be engaged in military or law enforcement duties, providing medical care or protecting other lives and property -- essentially prison guards or building security officers, according to OMB. Other agencies may keep employees on the job if their compensation is paid for through a different appropriations process. OMB would not provide details of the updated plans Tuesday.

Looks like they are beyond the rumor stage and into planning. Just it time for rocketing oil prices too.

Regen? Thanks for sticking with the thread... Seems pretty important to ME!! You too.
Good.

Originally posted by BlackOps719
reply to post by Wildmanimal

 

So very soon millions of vulnerable American citizens wont be able to feed or shelter themselves or their families, but hey! At least they will have cheap oil and gas prices, right?

Who cares if the working class suffers...... just as long as the banking tycoons and oil company executives arent too inconvenienced

Greetings:

I have a jump from my one of my few threads to this one per my friend gringoboy. Your very first sentence speaks directly to this thread, and an interesting part of the series is this one.

These two are being followed up by another that details the interweaving of the three-legged stool of food/energy/fuel - where if you break any one of the legs when the 800-lb gorilla is sitting on it, there may be catastrophic results.

And the dream where it is all a mish-mash of images - sometimes - sometimes crystal-clear - I feel it all somehow fits with the project I'm working on regarding the "Loss of Command and Control" (for any reason - start with fuel/food/energy "uprisings") as a reason for invoking the full force of the Patriot Act, enforced by FEMA/NSA/DHS - and the blackops boys we don't even know of, but see them through the mists of time, always hovering in the background, sometimes the cleaning crew.

And this ties in with my OP on the set-up for the coming food riots in the USA and what will be considered "appropriate response."

This all ties in with my (forthcoming) thread about the
"October Surprise - Triple Threat From Space
Foretells Disaster!"

I shall await further communication from you should you be interested.

Onward through the fog!

Thank you for your time and consideration.

In Peace & Light
tfw

reply to post by niceguybob


Thanks, I think a government shutdown will have more effect on economy than many people are presuming. Global markets react to events such as this, especially when they see the U.S. as the world's police.


Congress: The game of chicken begins… MSNBC
Social Security Prepares For Possible Government Shutdown NewsOne
White House preparing for shutdown if deal can't be reached The Hill

Salon reports this fat lady has already sung.

Government shutdown: No way out for GOP Salon
The Republican decision to turn the budget fight into a culture war makes it impossible to cut a backroom deal

But in The New Republic, Jonathan Bernstein argues that that Boehner's tactics have made it much more difficult to reach any kind of deal with the White House. The much lauded "open amendment" process orchestrated by Boehner on the House spending bill ended up stuffing the Republican budget cut plan with high profile assaults on Democratic priorities.

And so far, in public, Boehner's not budging. His latest proposal, to avoid a government shutdown that could start at the end of next week, is to tell Senate Democrats that they would have to accept a Mini-Me version of the House plan, pro-rated over the length of however long the temporary extension of the current continuing resolution might be.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg news says go back to sleep.

Psst. No shutdown during a 'government shutdown' Bloomberg

Social Security checks would still go out. Troops would remain at their posts. Furloughed federal workers probably would get paid, though not until later. And virtually every essential government agency, like the FBI, the Border Patrol and the Coast Guard, would remain open.

That's the little-known truth about a government shutdown. The government doesn't shut down.

So we're talking fewer than one in four federal workers staying at home. Many federal workers get paid on March 4, so it would take a two-week shutdown for them to see a delay in their paychecks.

i dont think its such a big deal. let them do what they want their going to anyway

Originally posted by SonoraUndergroundLabs
i dont think its such a big deal. let them do what they want their going to anyway

That sounds like passive sheeple banter. Why post it on ATS?

As you can see , the country is fairly polarized with many firmly entrenched in the left-right paradigm.


Public sharply divided on who to blame if government shuts down: poll

Thirty-six percent say Republicans would be at fault if the two sides aren't able to strike a budget deal, while 35 percent would fault Obama in such a scenario. Seventeen percent said both, 10 percent said neither, and 1 percent had no opinion.

Polarization leads to paralysis, stagnation and economic death.

reply to post by Regenmacher


Just politicians playing politics. The US will never shut down.

It seems they just passed an extension till March 18... well the house did anyway.

U.S. House passes budget extension

Doesn't really matter since the US will hit the debt ceiling around March 20...

So everyone focuses on the ``budget extension``... when the US government is gonna hit the debt ceiling and nobody is talking about it.

Quite a joke really.

reply to post by Vitchilo


Good point Vitchilo, since default is not much of an option.


Senate Republicans Fail in Bid to Prioritize Interest Payments if Debt Ceiling Hit Wall Street Journal

"If we default, we default," said Sen. Max Baucus (D., Mont.). "Just because bondholders in China get priority over our troops overseas or get priority over tax refunds doesn't mean we're not in default."

Vitter said that forcing the U.S. to prioritize payments to investors and retirees would "take some of these scare tactics and hysteria out of this debate." He said that "no one should want the U.S. government to default on its debt and no one should want a stoppage immediately or any time of Social Security checks to seniors--so first of all it's legimtate to rank those two functions as an absolute top priority."

FACTBOX-U.S. Treasury's tools to delay hitting debt limit Reuters.

reply to post by proximo


Hey Proximo, I am saying there needs to be cuts Across The Board. Not just the military, not just S.S.
Lo and behold ,a government budget spending oversight committee finds redundant spending of 100-200
BILLION Today. That is only a preliminary study covering, at most, 1 third of spending. Once the fraud,over
billing,redundancy,etc. in entitlements ,military , and more are brought to the surface. You will be shocked.
And this has been going on for years. We as a people and OUR Government Representatives have got to
get a handle on this once and for all if we as a Nation do not want to sink like a ship of fools in the History
of The World. If we get this under control, we could compensate our soldiers and citizens properly and secure our nations future. Furthermore, the leaders who accomplish this will come out Shining Like a 1912 Brilliant Silver
Dollar, and again restore The United States Of America to its proper position as a beacon of this world.

John Boehner and the GOP does not have the guts to follow through with this threat. They could not stop Obamacare and just like all the other promises they broke, they will not shut down government.

reply to post by TarzanBeta


Good for you, because citizens helping each other survive is what it would take. But "Shutting Down The Government" in this context would not mean that. Can you imagine leaving hundreds of thousands of WW 2
veterans,widows, and more without their monthly stipend that they paid into? That will not happen on our Presidents
watch. If I can tell time correctly. But a scenario like that could happen, down the road, very easily if we do not
get a grip on this unacceptable financial mess. That goes for ALL of us Republicans,Democrats,Independents,
Libertarians, and the like. We are ALL on this ship together.