If we quit giving money to countrys that hate us we could probably have a pretty decent affordable health care system.
We're now in the so called "shutdown", which actually is nothing more than trying to slow the "burn rate" at which we are going through the resources available, now that the borrowing authority limit has been exceeded (that occurred, according to news reports, in May, already; but, by shifting money around, just as families do when there's not quite enough to make ends meet, default has been postponed, just a little longer). If the spending hadn't been reduced in this way, we would have already reached "default" (failure to make payments on obligations of the government), and had to deal with this just a little sooner- in fact, five months sooner! Just as anarchists everywhere believe- if we blow something up (in this case, the financial house of the U.S., and perhaps the rest of the world at the same time)- something better will be built in its place: that, just ain't necessarily so.... The suffering, added on top of what everybody but the wealthy in the U.S. are already experiencing, will be magnified to Great Depression levels if the politicos allow the extremists to push us to default.
Here is a good explanation of the process. In reality, it shows us that the Constitution is working. http://www.shreveporttimes.com/arti...0018/Who-shut-down-government-?nclick_check=1
Red Baron, that was an excellent write up and does put things in a different light. I never thought about just the pure Constitutionality of the dispute. Funny how we get so tainted by the media, on both sides of the aisle, that we don't go back to the basics of what our government is SUPPOSED to do.
Another Canadian view on American politics. lol. American spending is out of control. Its not just Obamacare although that is part of it. The overall size of the government needs to be reduced dramatically. And by dramatically, I mean you're going to have to cut defence spending too. And pretty much every other program that you have going. US already (pre-ObamaCare) spends more per capita on public healthcare than Canada does. Your problem isn't that you need another program and more spending. Your problem is that you aren't getting value for your existing spending. And the 2 party system sucks. Democrats are going to spend you into bankruptcy if you leave them in power. Republicans are so back-country and old that they are completely unpalatable to the younger generation. And the younger generation is anybody under 50 by this point. So to answer the original poster. I think the Democrats are responsible for spending ridiculous amounts of money that you don't have, which paints the Republicans into the corner and makes them fight it tooth and nail. Amd to fight it, they are shutting down the gov't right now. Which i'm not real sure it a bad thing. Somebody does have to take a stand and this is pretty much their only means. But the root of the problem is the general population always demanding that the government do more.
In an attempt to keep the government open just a little longer and preserve essential functions, there have been cutbacks in government spending, recently: referred to as a "shutdown" it is clearly not that, as most of what government does goes on, as we speak; but, the irony to me, given that the stated goal of many is to reduce government spending, is that those same people have been busy in the Republican controlled House of Representatives, passing bills to restore the spending for those things that have been cut back. The list is long, but includes things like paying government workers, even thought they didn't work, back wages for the time they miss from work during this shutdown. Hypocrisy runs deep with those who shout the need to reduce government spending when those cuts would hit their constituencies.
Sometimes it is just better to watch cartoons! Keeps your mind off the way the country is being run. Very depressing.
How much is the shutdown affecting the Average Joe if you don't work for the gov't? I'm not sure how much difference I'd really see here in the short run if the federal government stopped providing services for a week or two.
