Here's the storyline - the government has shut down due to the fact that the Democrats initially refused to endorse the Ted Cruz-led GOP proposal to defund Obamacare (ie - we'll agree to a 2014 proposed budget set to begin October 1st 2013, but there will be no funding granted for the Affordable Care Act). That ruffled some feathers, rightfully so. Democrats were not cool with this, so they refused to negotiate further. Oh wait, they refused to negotiate even BEFORE the GOP proposed defunding ACA. Ted Cruz filibustered for 21 hours, saw his approval ratings shoot through the roof, and made the main establishment guard of the party a little uncomfortable. I couldn't be happier. But that was merely a symbolic gesture. The proposal was soundly defeated by the Senate and effectively, the 'Defund Obamacare' proposal ended September 27th/28th. Republicans have not brought it up since. Instead, they have backed off and offered countermeasures:
- Make Congress get the same type of healthcare that everyday citizens are forced to get if they go on the open exchange. If the law is good enough to pass, they should be forced to be on it.
- Delay the individual mandate for another year, just like the corporate mandate. Obama already did so with small companies so he could make the Dems look better going into 2014 mid-terms, so why not do that for the everyday people?
- Drop the 2.3% tax on medical devices. Like, forever.
- Continue to fund 'piecemeal' select government agencies that warrant ongoing funding (200+ NIH children with cancer, park services for WWII veterans, other memorials, etc). Dems have said no, but Harry Reid went a step further when asked if he would fund NIH and even help one child with cancer by responding, "Why would we want to do that?" Party of the little guy. The Democrats.
At this point in time, as of this writing (Sunday, October 6th), we are still in shutdown. By shutdown, I mean '67% of the government still works as planned, but 33% actually shuts down'. The earth is still turning, the sun has been coming up, and millions of women have gotten their periods this week (although a few thousand Obama supporters of barely-voting age DID NOT get their periods this week, so expect some bloody abortions/unwanted pregnancies due to poor decision-making. Party of the little guy. How's THAT for a left field remark?). We are 11 days away from the dreaded October 17th TRUE deadline, where we would be in technical default and unable to actually pay our bills, and neither side is budging.
Now this is the 17th government shutdown since 1977, but this one's a little different. Tip O'Neill/Ronald Reagan would meet frequently to work through their differences. Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich would meet frequently to work through their differences. And guess what? Each time, monuments would remain open, barracades of open space memorials would be nonexistent, and veterans had access to sites dedicated to them. This time around is different. No surprise. Democrats don't want to negotiate. Republicans keep giving counter proposals and get rebuffed. Obamacare is going to be 16% of GDP. We never got to vote on it. It is wildly unpopular (Mickey Mouse polls are probably being conducted by George Soros progressive thinktanks to drum up support). Yes, Obamacare is the law of the land. But we are paying for it, so God forbid someone steps in to formulate a better plan to implement it, a plan that doesn't involve it being shoved down our throats like Ron Jeremy's dick.
The main idea in play here is to further divide the country. Go for the emotional site closures. Block roads that technically shouldn't be blocked because they aren't technically federal property. Blame the pussy Republicans for the umpteenth time, just like they allowed themselves to be blamed for the sequester, the fiscal cliff, the prior debt ceiling debate, the current debt ceiling debate, and of course, the 2008 Financial Crisis. I left the party because the Republicans don't defend themselves and can't define 'rape' like normal people and can't tell an airhead morning tv host what magazines they read. They run large budget deficits for ill-conceived wars, do nothing on immigration, overspend on the military industrial complex, and refuse to keep the banksters in line. Now the firebrand upstarts like Cruz, Rubio, Paul, and Lee finally grow a backbone and the establishment pussies want nothing to do with it. Keep it up, I say. Piss off the old guard. Remember - this is the old guard that got their dicks kicked in by Obama twice. The old way ain't working. You suck, you must step aside. The Ted Cruz filibuster was aimed at setting up 2016 and splitting the Republican party into two factions - old guard blueblood RINOs destined to lose, and the new wave of electable libertarian-leaning, non-blueblood winners who actually give a shit about the American people. You know what side I'm on.
So what's going to happen? Who wins? Who loses?
The Democrats - Short Term Win, Long Term Loss
Every indication is that Obamacare will make costs go through the roof. We are already seeing large increases in monthly payments, premiums, doctors threatening to leave the industry, actual death panels, dropped coverage, and more 'surprises'. It's called unintended consequences. Government's specialty. But the media belongs to the Democrats (except for Fox News and Talk Radio, but even then the odds are still stacked against conservatives, ratings notwithstanding). Dems can get away with saying the Republicans want the government to shut down. They can blame it on the GOP all they want, and the sheeple will believe it. Regardless of who wants to negotiate, regardless of intent. Remember, back in January during the fiscal cliff crisis, the Democrats got a shitload of additional taxes passed on the American people. Here's the truth - Obama cut payroll taxes in 2010 (which resulted in savings of about $26 per paycheck as a result of the 'Making Work Pay' initiative - not enough to move the dial in my household, but much appreciated). Once that expired in January, my payroll taxes shot up to the point where they completely ERASED the temporary cut and became an $80 per paycheck INCREASE. We were lied to, and now the middle class is bearing a large burden of our deficit spending. To get back to my point - those fiscal cliff concessions by the Republicans were a strategy aimed at gaining leverage during the debt ceiling crisis. Well here we are, Obama said he would consider cuts as a result of his January fiscal cliff victory, and VOILA, the Muslim Brotherhood operative LIED again. As I've said before, when Dems promise compromise now with spending cuts later, they NEVER follow through. And here we are. But when the chaos hits in January 2014, and Obamacare is brought to bear on the struggling, drug-infused US economy, silly Americans will start to become hip to the game. They'll realize after the fact that they were indeed fleeced and their paychecks will continue to be raped. Whatever, you assholes voted for it.
The Republicans - Short Term Loss, Long Term Win
As I said above, the GOP will be blamed by the lamestream media (per usual), and they will do nothing to defend themselves. They will allow the Dems to dictate their policy, play the emotional card, trot out kids with cancer and say 'Hey look - you want this kid to have cancer because you allowed the government to be shut down.' Like the child would have been immediately cured had the government NOT shut down (but that's neither here nor there). But again - Republicans offered to fund NIH, and Harry Reid clearly said no. But the brainless sheep don't hear that part. They operate in five second sound bytes, because they can't be bothered. What will ultimately happen is we go down to the wire, October 13th-16th, barely eek out a deal and we all trumpet the success of both parties in 'working together'. Remember when Obama claimed he would unite everybody? Complete opposite. But who's reporting that? Anyway, we get some type of budget deal (when was the last time the democrat leaning senate passed a fucking budget anyway? This shit is unprecedented). Has ANY budget been passed under Obama? Of course not! No wonder we are well on our way to third world status. Budget passes, delays to individual mandate, medical devices taxes dropped, but Obamacare funded. Life is good.
THEN..............S&P fucking DOWNGRADES us. Again. China and Russia dump US Treasuries. Quantitative Easing starts to taper in October/November. Bernanke escapes and his replacement is caught holding the bag of monkey shit. Bond yields shoot up to 4%, and suddenly 40% of all tax revenue goes to paying interest on the ever-increasing debt. That's how I see this debacle playing out. All roads lead to a dollar collapse, the question is HOW. Could be government shutdown leading to a default, could be relaunching the case for an attack on Syria, could be another fiscal crisis, could be an epic cyberattack that former DHS head Janet Napolitano warned us about. Something is coming down the road, so be ready for anything and everything. The world changed for a few of us this week - no paycheck means anger, anxiety and feelings of desperation. Imagine that on a wider scale as this shutdown drones on? It will eventually make its way to all of us, not just those immediately impacted. Shutdown is good for nobody except those in power, because it's all about optics. Which party can make the other party look worse. Crisis Politics, with really shitty actors that we re-elect at a rate of over 90%. This is the America we've chosen for ourselves, I sincerely hope you're proud!
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