The Government Shutdown Countdown Lowdown MEGATHREAD

[Ed Anger]

I'm still waiting for Oklahoman independence.

Is that feeling similar to the 'secret'* feeling us English have towards Scottish independence ? 



* It's a sort of shush, no one say anything or get into the debate in anyway and hopefully they'll separate from us in a burst of 'sunlit uplands' fervour.

No, it's I'm still waiting for the collapse of America that was supposed to happen 5 years ago.

And the Oklahoma thing was Martim 'rapey' Silva's BS.

[mongers]

I'm still waiting for Oklahoman independence.

Is that feeling similar to the 'secret'* feeling us English have towards Scottish independence ? 



* It's a sort of shush, no one say anything or get into the debate in anyway and hopefully they'll separate from us in a burst of 'sunlit uplands' fervour.

No, it's I'm still waiting for the collapse of America that was supposed to happen 5 years ago.

And the Oklahoma thing was Martim 'rapey' Silva's BS.

Who was predicting that ?

Still can't remember the Oklahoma thing.

[Ed Anger]

Various shitheads on the Internet.

Oklahoma was part of Martim's greatest hits. Like Grant owned slaves as President and my favorite, French restaurants being forced to close across America by the US government.

[Razgovory]

Where do you get the glee from, I just posed a question based on a prediction I'm making.

Trust me I'm not at all happy that within our own lifetimes were looking at the possibility that the Chinese communist party is The power in the world.   

And actually I think you can guess, it's with some disappointment that I say the above because today's America could be so much better than it is, a lot of resources have been wasted in the last 40 years and potential improvements missed.   

So to my mind round 3, or whatever it is, of this stupid political game is just another example of the pissing away of political and legislative capital in the USA.

The thing is, the US still is the hub around which the the rest of the world economy spins.  If the US economy collapses, then so does the rest of the world's.  It would hit the world worse then 1928 did.  I imagine the Chinese would be in worse trouble then the US due to the unstable nature of a one party government.

[KRonn]

My view is that of course they need to raise the debt ceiling to keep things going but what's greatly needed is to then address the fiscal issues very seriously. I'm more concerned over the casual attitude by too many politicians of the continuing increase in the massive debt, about 17 trillion dollars now. That figure is absolutely astounding, and should unnerve all of us. Not blaming either party since all are responsible for it and the poor economy shares the blame as well, but the spending has to be looked at and something done. We need some taxes too but we could tax all the wealthy of all they earn and still wouldn't put too much of a dent in this debt. I keep seeing reports that in a few years the government will have a hard time just paying the interest on the debt. This is a major issue for the country and when we talk about the power of the US domestically or abroad, being so heavily in debt is hugely limiting in so many ways.

Our feckless politicians don't do much, sadly. Those who try to address it get slammed by the opposing party. Even a sequester of a few percent was greeted as the end of government as we know it! And even the sequester was setup in the worst possible way to require agencies to cut across the board, not streamline spending nor cut back where they could cleanly do so. Yet the ramifications of sequester have been rather lame instead, and included some grandstanding by a few govt agencies to try and make sure that even this tiny cutback was felt by taxpayers. I can't imagine what will happen if this government ever tries to seriously reign in costs, including the raising of taxes to help balance finances out. We've already had a lot of noise over these issues and the gnashing of teeth and acrimony have been pretty huge, preventing anything from getting done as this fiscal nightmare continues.

[Sheilbh]

The deficit's gone from over 10% of GDP in 2009 to around 5.5% now, on current trends going to 3.5% next year and 2% by 2015. Your politicians have done too much too quickly. They weren't feckless but they did panic.

[Admiral Yi]

The deficit's gone from over 10% of GDP in 2009 to around 5.5% now, on current trends going to 3.5% next year and 2% by 2015. Your politicians have done too much too quickly. They weren't feckless but they did panic.

Agreed.  Just doubling the national debt was wimpy; we should have gone for a triple or a quadruple.  Interest rates are going to stay at 2% forever.  Unemployment at 7.5% is genocide.

[Caliga]

Various shitheads on the Internet.

Oklahoma was part of Martim's greatest hits. Like Grant owned slaves as President and my favorite, French restaurants being forced to close across America by the US government.

I thought it was some Russian professor.  He was predicting a fracturing of the US that looked kind of like the Shadowrun map.

[mongers]

Various shitheads on the Internet.

Oklahoma was part of Martim's greatest hits. Like Grant owned slaves as President and my favorite, French restaurants being forced to close across America by the US government.

I thought it was some Russian professor.  He was predicting a fracturing of the US that looked kind of like the Shadowrun map.

Actually he's Timmay's Eastern European 2nd cousin. 

[Ideologue]

How often before has a leading world power pissed away it's hegemony this quickly?

France, maybe.  But that's unfair to France, since they were actively and physically challenged for three decades by the five runners-up.

[Ideologue]

We need some taxes too but we could tax all the wealthy of all they earn and still wouldn't put too much of a dent in this debt.

$8.01 trillion wouldn't put a dent in it?  I think it might.

[Admiral Yi]

$8.01 trillion wouldn't put a dent in it?  I think it might.

I sincerely doubt that the wealthy earn 8 trillion a year.

[Ed Anger]

Various shitheads on the Internet.

Oklahoma was part of Martim's greatest hits. Like Grant owned slaves as President and my favorite, French restaurants being forced to close across America by the US government.

I thought it was some Russian professor.  He was predicting a fracturing of the US that looked kind of like the Shadowrun map.

Not even that weak shit.

The BRICS are the future man! America is the past! bullshit.

[Ideologue]

It's definitely in the trillions.  What figure should I multiply the 48% share the top 10% receive by?  GDP?  GDI?

[Admiral Yi]

Ah, you're counting top 10% as wealthy.