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Federal Government Begins First Shutdown In 17 Years
181–190 of 233 posts
Re: Federal Government Begins First Shutdown In 17 Years
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
You do realize that America is a major player in the global economy. If we go down, we are taking everyone with us.
Probably not as much as you seem to think. The last banking crisis originated in the US, but it didn't hit the non-US nearly as hard. In many ways, the US is actually very self-contained and in the backlash from its recent crisis, many countries have kind of separated themselves a bit. But it would be bad, yes. Though I don't hink the US would 'take down' Asia or Europe.
You're incorrect.
The Fed made emergency loans totaling trillions to banks throughout Europe (including Germany). It took down the economies of Spain, Portugal, Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, France, Greece and others. It forced China to implement trillions in unnatural and extreme stimulus, that has unbalanced their economy. It crashed the commodity markets, destabilizing all sorts of poor countries (and so did the prior Fed driven inflation of commodities, helping to cause food based chaos in the third world).
Just take a look at the stimulus measures, interest rate policies, and growth rate of Britain since the crisis. Ditto France and Italy on growth and EU stimulus (two of the largest world economies obviously) - both are just a small slip away from a Greece style disaster on their debt, with zero growth to help it out and a rather stern (rightfully or wrongfully) Germany unwilling to be as loose as the Fed.
Re: Federal Government Begins First Shutdown In 17 Years
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
No. There is no monarch or governor general. There are no reserve powers. There is no provision for early general elections. The President is not a Prime Minister, and Congress is not a parliament. Neither is responsible to the other. The House of Representatives and the Senate can each freely block the other indefinitely. The only Constitutional mechanisms available for breaking a deadlock are Congressional election…
We get half senate elections, not 1/3, but a similar result with the senate being out of step with the reps. Which is why in a crisis the double dissolution is a whole senate election to try and get things moving again. It seems odd that the President, being head of state, would not have similar powers to the Crown/GG to dismiss a dysfunctional parliament to resolve deadlocks. Too much power wrapped up in the preside…
It is worth remembering that the framers of the Australian Constitution were informed by, among other things, the United States' century of experience with their Constitution. They had a chance to fix some of the bugs.
Re: Federal Government Begins First Shutdown In 17 Years
#184I've actually had time over the past few weeks to spend time watching the various duscussions in the Senate. In other words, I chose to go to the source and take the time to understand rather than get fed a bunch of ideologically loaded bullshit by various news outfits. Here's reality: Obamacare is a complete disaster. Don't take my word for it, go research what unions are saying, what businesses are doing an go figu…
> It is an absolute disgrace that we are plunging this country deeper and deeper into debt.
You mean since Bush slashed taxes to create massive debt?
Re: Federal Government Begins First Shutdown In 17 Years
#185We all spend so much time focusing on the Federal Government but I doubt many of us will even notice the "shut down." Compare that with what would happen if your local and state governments shut down: Trash would pile up. Criminals would run free in the streets. Fires wouldn't be put out. Water and electricity would stop. Sewage systems would back up. Schools would close. We're talking about services that are the ver…
Mother Jones has a good summary of what this means for us http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/who-gets-screwed... Some things that surprised me: * Campers: People living (or vacationing) in national parks and forests will have 48 hours to relocate. * People who make money off tourists: Shuttered national parks are bad news for the hotels, restaurants, and other attractions that feed off them. * Employers: The…
Also NOAA: http://governmentshutdown.noaa.gov/
Re: Federal Government Begins First Shutdown In 17 Years
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't there a lot of flexibility in Commmonwealth countries with regard to dissolving government and calling for a new election? In Canada you usually just proclaim "this parliament is dysfunctional" and then call a snap election.
I am not a parliamentary expert but there are lots of ways I think. Not passing a supply bill (equiv to the budget crisis) would trigger an election, not passing a non-supply bill repeatedly can be a trigger, a motion of no-confidence in the government. Or governments can resign. Not being able to pass bills required to finance the government would be seen as equivalent to the government having lost the confidence of…
In fact the "classic" no-confidence motion was a motion to amend the budget by an amount of 1 pound / 1 dollar.
Re: Federal Government Begins First Shutdown In 17 Years
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
They feel pretty confident, because they gerrymandered the hell out of the country's electoral map in the 2010 redistricting. That's how they currently have a majority in the House: there is a significant overall preference among the voters for Democrats, but the electoral map has been drawn so as to concentrate Republican voters and break up blocs of Democratic voters, ensuring that they will have enough "safe" dist…
If you don't want to look like a conspiracy theorist, you should probably stop making such hyperbolic claims about gerrymandering. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/17/r...
There's nothing "hyperbolic" about it. The party that's in power during redistricting always does this. It so happens that this time around it was the Republicans, and they've set up the districts so that they feel safe in pursuing an unpopular agenda.
The actual hyperbolic conspiracy-theory angle on redistricting is that the long-term plan, funded by the Kochs and others, was to ensure that only the most extreme Republicans are safe, and that moderate Republicans will be in danger of primary challenges from extremists.
Re: Federal Government Begins First Shutdown In 17 Years
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
In my experience, pointing out the hysterical racism involved does contribute to the understanding of the situation by non-Americans. And you don't get to accuse me of absurdities when the other side's motto is "Keep the government out of Medicare!". You just don't.
I don't really know how to respond to this. No one in this discussion said "Keep the government out of Medicare". In fact, as far as I know, no one in the leadership of the Republican party has said it, either, so it would be an odd sort of "motto". But of course you know this. In contrast, you did ascribe vile racist motives to more or less half the country. Indeed, so racist they'd be willing to destroy the country…
We've heard all their professed arguments every time the minimum wage has gone up, or emissions standards have been tightened, or safety regulations have been increased. Same talking points every time the government does anything, always wrong. It's not even a smokescreen, it's transparent reflex.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart bumps 35,000 to full-time, and another 35,000 temps to permanent part-time. This besides the 55k seasonal they're about to add. So much negative effect on hiring!
Re: Federal Government Begins First Shutdown In 17 Years
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
By "disasters like in Tennessee," you're referring to a family that lost their home in a fire due to not paying a business for their fire-fighting services. It's not as if they paid the firefighters, but the firefighters refused to act--if that were the case, there would be a serious civil lawsuit to recoup the cost of the lost home, its sentimental value, and punitive damages. He didn't pay for fire-fighting. He did…
Yes, the family had not paid the insurance. But why does that matter in the context of the blanket claim that private companies can always do at least as good of a job as a government organization with less waste? A city firefighting crew would not refuse to put out this fire so it is an example of a service that was provided at a lower quality in the private market due to market incentives.
The firefighters in the Tennessee case you cited were city firefighters. There were no private firefighters or private firefighting companies involved.
Re: Federal Government Begins First Shutdown In 17 Years
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
Instability is volatility (sigma). check it out. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100630193942AA...
I didn't even mention volatility or stability. I was challenging your assertion that risk was agnostic to direction. It is not.
Try this refresher on Risk and Uncertainty
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2010/06/ris...