Shutdown!

GOP got their shutdown finally. The spin machine begins!

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Simple solution. Hold them accountable. Require by law that important tasks (like passing a budget) have a deadline. The budget starts on 1 Oct each year, so make the deadline 60 days prior. If congressional staff have not agreed and the prez has not signed off, the Supreme Court issues a reprimand to ALL of them giving them 7 days to be done. If after 7 days it is still not done, a second letter goes out and they are docked pay and benefits with 7 days to comply. If after the 7 days it is still not done they are put into lockdown in a central location and have up to 14 days to have it done. If, it is still not done, every one of them receives a memorandum from the Supreme Court stating that they cannot run for public office ever again and they are investigated further to determine if this was done with intent to defraud the Taxpayer or prevent the judicial process from being completed. Any found guilty in this case would be immedietely removed. For all of the others, when their term is up, they are done. The final budget is then worked and approved by the Supreme Court in 21 days which will mean that it is in place 7 days prior to 1 Oct. This may seem extreme, but keep in mind that this is the same process that is used for Govt employees and Military members so it must be solid on the legal front. All elected officials work for us. (The taxpayers) There sole job is to negotiate and find ways to agree. Whether you are on the left or right and whether you agree with the Affordable Healthcare Act or not, you all have to understand that 800,000 or so innocent bystanders are waiting to go back to work for you. What is in their way are a bunch of elected officials that can't agree or work together. (Which again is what we pay them to do) That is a travesty for all of us!!! The Affordable health care act is 800 pages long. That is 8 reams of paper. Does it need to be included in the budget discussion? Yes. Does it need to be resolved? Yes. The problem is that we are 4 Trillion in Debt which is 3 trillion more than it was when the current prez and many of our elected officials took office. The bottom line is that we don't have all of the money to move forward with it. That is not a budget issue. Example: If your vehicle broke down tomorrow, you would have to buy a new one. You might vote for a Ferrari when in reality you can only afford a Geo. Your options at that point are to either buy the Geo or not drive. The people that we have elected have opted to not drive at our expense. Hold them accountable!!!

Amos Umwhat

Thinking about it, if the government is shutdown, shouldn't all taxes be suspended until they resume?

beatnic

I'm curious as to how much money they are saving. Think about it. If they have stopped cutting checks, maybe we won't need a debt increase.

KevinFitts

Ummmm..... We aren't saving a dime. They are paying all furloughed employees. It was a unanimous vote on Saturday. (As they should since the decision to not work is out of their control) So yes...... Govt workers are not allowed to work but they are still gonna get paid. (Just not until the elected folks can agree)

dr_frankenstein56

does this suck? oh yea.... BUT: I have enjoyed sooooo many nice cigars with the time to myself... I would almost say this was entirely worth the time off to just sit flat out and burn a stick for 2 hours and stare at the desert.

jgibv

Amos Umwhat:
Thinking about it, if the government is shutdown, shouldn't all taxes be suspended until they resume?

I asked my accountant the same thing, LOL
But unfortunately --- nope --- they still want their $$$$.

But if you're expecting a refund check in the mail, you'll have to wait!
Since there's no one there to process the forms, etc. and issue a refund check for you - you'll have to wait until the employees get back to work .... then wait until they get through all of the "back logged" paperwork.

Go figure.....

KevinFitts

dr_frankenstein56:
does this suck? oh yea.... BUT: I have enjoyed sooooo many nice cigars with the time to myself... I would almost say this was entirely worth the time off to just sit flat out and burn a stick for 2 hours and stare at the desert.

X2 bro. This is the only upside!!

dr_frankenstein56

KevinFitts:
dr_frankenstein56:
does this suck? oh yea.... BUT: I have enjoyed sooooo many nice cigars with the time to myself... I would almost say this was entirely worth the time off to just sit flat out and burn a stick for 2 hours and stare at the desert.
X2 bro. This is the only upside!!

After the last furlow that happened, me and the ol'lady started saving and planning for the next one... we were ready for this! So you have to treat it like a vacation..... just breaks my heart though.... I love this country... and to have to be prepaired for a govt failure? thats just unacceptable to me. This is friggen America!

Amos Umwhat

Well, I haven't read the particulars, but it looks like the Senate has come up with a plan to kick the can on down the road. What a surprise.

It's been interesting. The divisions in America have come to the forefront in all the surrounding conversation, revealing how little attention we pay to facts, and how determinedly we cling to our cherished ideals. An example is how often I've heard on the radio that it's all Obamas fault. The legislation never even reached his desk! That is quite revealing of the way that hate can poison ones thinking.

How about another proposal for a Constitutional Amendment?

Here's one,
IF the sitting government hasn't approved a working plan for the coming fiscal year by midnight of September 30th, all holdings and assets of every member of Congress and their immediate families shall be frozen, any moneys coming to the aforementioned will be held in escrow until such time as the government is liquid for the coming year. No member of Congress shall leave the chambers, except for weekly bus-rides to the nearest Salvation Army center, where they may stand in line and wait their turn for showers, after which they shall put back on the clothing they wore to said center. If a resolution is not reached by October 15th, all family members of every Congressperson shall be removed to Guantanamo holding facility until the crisis is solved.

Well, I liked it.

Vulchor

With you on each and every comment Amos.

beatnic

Amos Umwhat:
Well, I haven't read the particulars, but it looks like the Senate has come up with a plan to kick the can on down the road. What a surprise.

It's been interesting. The divisions in America have come to the forefront in all the surrounding conversation, revealing how little attention we pay to facts, and how determinedly we cling to our cherished ideals. An example is how often I've heard on the radio that it's all Obamas fault. The legislation never even reached his desk! That is quite revealing of the way that hate can poison ones thinking.

How about another proposal for a Constitutional Amendment?

Here's one,
IF the sitting government hasn't approved a working plan for the coming fiscal year by midnight of September 30th, all holdings and assets of every member of Congress and their immediate families shall be frozen, any moneys coming to the aforementioned will be held in escrow until such time as the government is liquid for the coming year. No member of Congress shall leave the chambers, except for weekly bus-rides to the nearest Salvation Army center, where they may stand in line and wait their turn for showers, after which they shall put back on the clothing they wore to said center. If a resolution is not reached by October 15th, all family members of every Congressperson shall be removed to Guantanamo holding facility until the crisis is solved.

Well, I liked it.

Here are the government guidelines for a budget. It seems no one want to follow any rules these days

http://budget.house.gov/budgetprocess/http://budget.house.gov/budgetprocess/

perkinke

jgibv:
Amos Umwhat:
Thinking about it, if the government is shutdown, shouldn't all taxes be suspended until they resume?
I asked my accountant the same thing, LOL
But unfortunately --- nope --- they still want their $$$$.

But if you're expecting a refund check in the mail, you'll have to wait!
Since there's no one there to process the forms, etc. and issue a refund check for you - you'll have to wait until the employees get back to work .... then wait until they get through all of the "back logged" paperwork.

Go figure.....

the other thing to remember is that this year's operations are funded by and large (there are some exceptions) by LAST year's collections. that's one reason why in local government you always have to make sure you have cash on hand to cover your bills between the end of a fiscal year and the next November.

As to Amos's point, I'm with you except for the family part, not their fault their parent/spouse and their d-bag colleagues can't do their job. California has a law suspending the Assembly's pay if they do not pass a budget by a certain date. This year they did that but it had a huge hole in it so the state comptroller refused to issue their paychecks in accordance to his interpretation of the law. The Assembly members sued....but also passed a proper budget in less than a week. The lawsuit is still in process and I'm curious to see the result.

The Governor of Illinois refused to issue paychecks without a comprehensive pension reform bill of some kind being passed (he didn't even specify a particular bill, just SOMETHING to help resolve the issue) but a judge ruled he'd violated the Illinois Constitution banning the altering of the pay of a legislature in session. I'm a little surprised no one in my state has put forward an initiative along these lines (and i'd certainly take a very hard look at it), but our legislature has been fairly good at working together.

the_barber

its over....for now

Amos Umwhat

perkinke:
jgibv:
Amos Umwhat:
Thinking about it, if the government is shutdown, shouldn't all taxes be suspended until they resume?
I asked my accountant the same thing, LOL
But unfortunately --- nope --- they still want their $$$$.

But if you're expecting a refund check in the mail, you'll have to wait!
Since there's no one there to process the forms, etc. and issue a refund check for you - you'll have to wait until the employees get back to work .... then wait until they get through all of the "back logged" paperwork.

Go figure.....
the other thing to remember is that this year's operations are funded by and large (there are some exceptions) by LAST year's collections. that's one reason why in local government you always have to make sure you have cash on hand to cover your bills between the end of a fiscal year and the next November.

As to Amos's point, I'm with you except for the family part, not their fault their parent/spouse and their d-bag colleagues can't do their job. California has a law suspending the Assembly's pay if they do not pass a budget by a certain date. This year they did that but it had a huge hole in it so the state comptroller refused to issue their paychecks in accordance to his interpretation of the law. The Assembly members sued....but also passed a proper budget in less than a week. The lawsuit is still in process and I'm curious to see the result.

The Governor of Illinois refused to issue paychecks without a comprehensive pension reform bill of some kind being passed (he didn't even specify a particular bill, just SOMETHING to help resolve the issue) but a judge ruled he'd violated the Illinois Constitution banning the altering of the pay of a legislature in session. I'm a little surprised no one in my state has put forward an initiative along these lines (and i'd certainly take a very hard look at it), but our legislature has been fairly good at working together.

The family part was mostly just hyperbole, especially the guantanamo bit, although, in seriousness, if you didn't freeze their families assets as well, well, how many crooks have put their stuff in their wife's names? And, their actions cost a lot of peoples families a lot of grief, didn't they?

In all seriousness, though, even though I disagree with the extremity of the tactics and don't think they (Ted Cruz & Co.) should have done it, I can almost see myself doing the same thing in their shoes. It's just too extreme, though. The "Ship of State" cannot be stopped, turned, and started again that easily. I use the ship metaphor intentionally, because what our Tea Party friends seem to want is to manipulate it like a Yamaha YZ-1 at a hooligan bike exhibition. Just can't be done like that.

raisindot

Jeez...now even the House stenographers are getting into the act...

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/16/20997927-house-stenographer-has-outburst-during-debt-vote?lite

With the NSA peeking into every aspect of our privacy, wouldn't you've thunk they might've screened this looney?

phobicsquirrel

Amos Umwhat:
Well, I haven't read the particulars, but it looks like the Senate has come up with a plan to kick the can on down the road. What a surprise.

It's been interesting. The divisions in America have come to the forefront in all the surrounding conversation, revealing how little attention we pay to facts, and how determinedly we cling to our cherished ideals. An example is how often I've heard on the radio that it's all Obamas fault. The legislation never even reached his desk! That is quite revealing of the way that hate can poison ones thinking.

How about another proposal for a Constitutional Amendment?

Here's one,
IF the sitting government hasn't approved a working plan for the coming fiscal year by midnight of September 30th, all holdings and assets of every member of Congress and their immediate families shall be frozen, any moneys coming to the aforementioned will be held in escrow until such time as the government is liquid for the coming year. No member of Congress shall leave the chambers, except for weekly bus-rides to the nearest Salvation Army center, where they may stand in line and wait their turn for showers, after which they shall put back on the clothing they wore to said center. If a resolution is not reached by October 15th, all family members of every Congressperson shall be removed to Guantanamo holding facility until the crisis is solved.

Well, I liked it.

love it