Shutdown coming

I will greet this RepubliQ-caused clusterfuck with great glee. It will cost them thousands and thousands of votes. I only feel bad for the people whose lives it will disrupt. But thankfully, this is the Biden administration, so unpaid government workers will earn and receive back pay, unlike during the 2018 Orange Turd shutdown.

We're the only major nation that actually DEBATES whether or not to pay its bills. The RepubliQ make excuses for their subversions by calling it a spending issue. It's not. It's a paying our bills issue. It literally should not be contested or debated.

It's just another element of the dishonor the RepubliQ have brought to our country, and the damage they have done to its reputation.

The unpaid workers always receive back pay after every shutdown.  But it shouldn't come up every year, shouldn't be at all.  Some years they solve it at the buzzer, some years...not so quickly.   Usually they come up with the "continuing resolution" where it is technically shut down but pay for most goes on.  I remember CRs of six months or more.  What a joke (bad one).

Where I worked a "food bank" was established where employees would donate non-perishables (for each other?).   But I don't recall much complaining, so maybe I'm only remembering the good years.  Furloughed employees could choose to stay home, but I think most came on to work anyway, some of it having to do with caring about patient services/Veterans, etc.  Rather amazing when you think about it. 

Not everyone was subject to the furlough.  I guess nurses weren't, as I never was.  Some departments created furlough rotation systems.  An employee might have pay withheld for only one or two days at a time.  How much that helped the lowest paid ones...I'm sure it was significant to miss even one day's pay for some, even knowing it would come back later.

Those where I worked who suffered the most were the timekeepers and payroll employees, who had to keep up with the furloughing mess, who was, who wasn't, correct all the time cards once it was over, bigger headaches than you can imagine, PLUS they were subject to having their own pay withheld!  I presume that is the case with just about every government agency, especially the large ones like VA, which I think is the largest, though that could be wrong.  Just my recollections...I retired in 2014.

I agree the lawmakers should be ashamed that this is allowed to happen, but it never stopped them before.

Candy

If you live paycheck to paycheck then getting back pay doesn't help .    One missed rent, credit card, or car payment is enough to kill your credit rating.    

Yet we are told how successful bidenomics is

Joe Biden doesn't support shutdowns.    You are on the record supporting the debt ceiling hostage negotiating that led to a downgrade of the country's credit rating.   That's Tom enomics.   Too bad people like you vote for like minded congressmen

If you live paycheck to paycheck

bidenomics

downgrade of the country's credit rating

$30T+ in debt was a factor.

The debt ratio is over two-and-a-half times higher than the 'AAA' median of 39.3 percent of GDP and 'AA' median of 44.7 percent of GDP. Fitch's longer-term projections forecast additional debt/GDP rises, increasing the vulnerability of the U.S. fiscal position to future economic shocks.

tom writes: "$30T+ in debt was a factor." Wow, tom is really about the slimiest guy around . If KY Jelly was a human, it would be tom.

It turns out Fitch's very first factor in the downgrade was "Erosion of Governance: In Fitch's view, there has been a steady deterioration in standards of governance over the last 20 years, including on fiscal and debt matters, notwithstanding the June bipartisan agreement to suspend the debt limit until January 2025. The repeated debt-limit political standoffs and last-minute resolutions have eroded confidence in fiscal management."

In other words, the number one factor in the Fitch downgrade was the easily predicted failure of House Republicans to agree with other House Republicans to produce a budget.

And now I'm just piling on, but if we didn't have the Trump presidency, we'd have $7 trillion less deficit. And if we'd maintained Reagan era personal income tax and business tax rates, we'd have zero deficit.

The 'conservatives' ( liberals, wash your ears out with a caustic cleaning agent and a high pressure hose if you need to) have generally been behind these shutdown events from a historical perspective. Long-standing philosophically corny conservative axioms that I personally ascribe to include limited government and fiscal responsibility (don't spend beyond your means; arguments are based on a means to an end in an attempt to curtail spending).

On the surface these current House R holdouts are standing their ground on these principles ...and they're also hard-line on some of the spending bill unrelated 'earmark ' attachments that routinely accompany these appropriations bills on both sides of the crooked, meandering aisle. I haven't seen any arguments in this thread that addresses the latter as a critical part of the overall current fight. Grandstanding by a few is a part of the theater, unfortunately.  The reality of R actions hasn't always backed those long touted philosophical axioms in practice despite vocalized public arguments. I support the basic intent / principle of curtailing govt influence and profligate govt spending practices ( which has been in effect for decades, partially due to population growth) ; yet, accommodations / compromise have to be attained or else  the divide expands and future political cost can/ will be measured. In the end, we get nowhere and this displays the continuous mirror image of division we're up to our necks in. Nobody gains / avoids considerable costs. So it's my hope that these within-party factions can STFU and sacrifice a bit and come to an agreement by Sat. night. The juice ain't worth the squeeze, imo. Then we can resume across - party dart flinging on multiplicative alternate issues..it'll be fun and unavoidable. Can't wait. 

Previous shutdowns have affected daily American lives for certain government employees and in some cases certain  agency service levels they routinely provide for the public. One could argue that the efficiency of those routinely provided govt agency services is poor in some instances, but that's another argument / issue that we can debate ad infinitum...starting next week. Currently, there's a bigger hump to scale.

According to an internet source (FWIW), the average length of these shutdowns is about a week's time, with many lasting just a few days. That average is greatly skewed upward by a limited few longer shutdowns (35 days under Trump, 21 days under Clinton..as examples).

From a glass half full perspective ( which is hard for me personally to align with when  govt action is involved), I think they'll either agree before Sat night or within just a few days of any official shutdown. The R party members might just calculate the political cost of a prolonged event. Regardless, I don't think it will be an apocalyptic event as routinely advertised..and limited sufferage by involved affected employees and their families along with any impaired agency services should be a paramount consideration / goal.

And send money, of course...

the number one factor in the Fitch downgrade was the easily predicted failure of House Republicans to agree with other House Republicans to produce a budget.

Does mp realize that democrats get to vote also.  Because they won't go along, they are as much at fault as the Republicans.

but if we didn't have the Trump presidency, we'd have $7 trillion less deficit..  

When did the democrats vote for a balanced budget?  Most of that huge deficit was passed by huge margins.

And if we'd maintained Reagan era personal income tax and business tax rates, we'd have zero deficit.

Continuing to repeat the lie as that statement doesn't take into account increased economic spending due to people having more money to spend on themselves & in turn more tax revenue is realized.  Right now spending growth is exceeding revenue growth.

Check out the luxury boat tax example from the 90's.  25,000 jobs were lost, companies went out of business & the anticipated revenue was never realized.

https://boatingindustry.com/blogs/2022/02/01/the-luxury-tax-myth/

And finally, mp's #1 factor was actually #2

https://www.fitchratings.com/research/sovereigns/fitch-downgrades-united-states-long-term-ratings-to-aa-from-aaa-outlook-stable-01-08-2023

To avoid this problem both sides need to compromise & realize that unlimited deficits are bad.

Tom...I figured I'd beat on my own party as a key factor in the current hoorah. McCarthy likely can't summon enough D votes to settle the current appropriation fight..who knows? But, yeah...the D's have also generally exhibited poor skills at compromise over the years ( especially recently but also  historically). On both sides, it's often just about the contentions..and the associated camera ops/ reelection, etc. DC's broken, unfortunately. And the entire lot of us suffers. There's always cold beer, though.