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Post by ShivaTD on Oct 5, 2013 14:47:34 GMT
Back to the most important fact of all related to the government shutdown.
72% of Americans oppose shutting down the government because of the Affordable Care Act!!!!
If Republicans want to debate the Affordable Care Act then do it after funding the government and after raising the debt limit. In the meantime fund the authorized expenditures which includes funding for the Affordable Care Act.
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Post by JP5 on Oct 6, 2013 2:50:01 GMT
Do these people know that 83% of the government is STILL open and running?  The only reason they would think it's more of a problem than that is that we have a vindictive, mean-spirited president who is giving orders to put up barricades and blockades for outdoor monuments that have NEVER been closed before in all our history!! Never!!! Just as he did with the Sequester, he WANTS to "make it hurt." Because he believes that the people will then put the pressure on Republicans for him to get done what he wants done. But just was the case in the Sequester, the people are soon finding out that most of government is open anyway. "Non-essentials" is nothing but government fat anyway. Most of them are simply enjoying their paid vacation. So.....big deal!! |
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Post by ShivaTD on Oct 6, 2013 9:49:12 GMT
Do these people know that 83% of the government is STILL open and running? But just was the case in the Sequester, the people are soon finding out that most of government is open anyway. "Non-essentials" is nothing but government fat anyway. Most of them are simply enjoying their paid vacation. So.....big deal!!
That 17% of government that is shut down affects people's lives.
Yesterday, outside of the café where I had breakfast, I was reading a headline story about how the shutdown was adversely affecting the real estate market. Many people are already in the process of purchasing homes but essential government offices that need to provide information for their loans are closed down. A few days may only delay their loans insignificantly but if it lasts they could lose the purchase. In many cases they've already given notice to the apartments where they live or have sold their current homes and they'll be out on the street if the federal government isn't operating soon. HUD repossessions and VA loans are on hold. FHA financing is on hold. Fannie Mae loans are on hold.
Elsewhere we're already reading stories of life saving medical procedures that have been put on hold where experimental medical trials have been stopped. Medical research grants are expiring and if not renewed it could set back medical research for decades to come.
Land development projects that require EPA approval have been put on hold causing major setbacks for corporate expansion. Every day that goes by exacerbates this problem.
It is also hard to believe that the same person that mentioned long term unemployment brought up the effects of the Sequester. Federal Emergency Unemployment Insurance (EUI) was slashed by about 21% for Tier I and by about 40% for Tier II and Tier III. These benefits are provided in three-month increments for those that remain unemployed for longer that the States' 6-month benefit. "Conservative" economics says that a person should have about 6-months of financial reserves and the family has already used this during their first 6-months of unemployment. After that they have to pull anything that they might have invested for retirement, start selling possessions, and often they are forced to sell their homes because they can no longer afford the mortgage. The effect of the Sequester slashing of EUI benefits merely provided these long term unemployed with a Express Ticket to Poverty.
According to a Republican anything that actually "Helps Average Americans" is a non-essential expenditure.
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Post by smartmouthwoman on Oct 7, 2013 14:36:55 GMT
If all that is true, why isn't Obama willing to negotiate?
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Post by maniacalhamster on Oct 7, 2013 14:44:13 GMT
What if the U S govt closed... and nobody noticed?  5 days ago this was your response....still thinking it's cute i guess |
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Post by maniacalhamster on Oct 7, 2013 14:46:43 GMT
If all that is true, why isn't Obama willing to negotiate? negotiate !!!!!the republicans waited for this opportunity to play out their stance on this law. thats being held hostage!!! |
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Post by ShivaTD on Oct 8, 2013 7:20:43 GMT
If all that is true, why isn't Obama willing to negotiate?
Want to address "entitlements" then fine.
We can reduce "welfare" assistance by reducing poverty. So what are the Republican proposals that will reduce poverty so that the demand for welfare assistance decreases over time. The reduction in poverty reduces the cost of providing welfare assistance while simply cutting funding does not address the problem but only makes it worse.
We can address replacing Social Security/Medicare (that have never created one dime of debt) but that requires a 40-45 year transition and more funding (about $40 trillion) to accomplish. Where is that new $40 trillion in government revenue going to come from?
Can we reduce spending immediately? Yes, we can order the US troops out of Afghanistan immediately. That would save about $80 billion in 2014. We can start removing the US military from foreign bases starting with the big hitters of Germany, Japan, and S Korea where they aren't needed to begin with. The US currently has almost 200 US military bases in foreign countries and we can "BRING THE TROOPS HOME" where they belong. Perhaps $200 billion/yr could be cut from the US budget by bringing the troops home and reducing the size of the US military.
All of these can be "negotiated" but it simply can't be done by Oct 17th when the US government runs out of money. President Obama is open to negotiations but there isn't time for any of these to take place before Oct 17th.
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Post by JP5 on Oct 8, 2013 14:25:03 GMT
MAJOR cuts need to be tied to any debt ceiling hike.....per the vast majority of American people; including a plurality of Democrats!
NEW POLL SHOWS RISKS IN OBAMA’S DEBT PLAY - Democrats are continuing a full-scale assault today aimed at getting Republicans to unconditionally increase the federal government’s borrowing limit. House and Senate Democrats are trying to force votes on a debt lift without any offsetting cuts or changes.
But a Fox News poll out this morning finds 58 percent of respondents would vote against raising the government’s debt limit if they were in Congress, while just 37 percent would vote for it. Seventy-eight percent of Republicans, 88 percent of members of the tea party movement, 57 percent of independents and 38 percent of Democrats would vote against raising the debt ceiling.
Sixty-two percent of all respondents, including a plurality of Democrats, said they would favor a debt-ceiling increase only if tied to major cuts in government spending. Only 27 percent of those surveyed said the limit should be raised unconditionally, as President Obama has demanded.
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Post by ShivaTD on Oct 8, 2013 14:36:58 GMT
MAJOR cuts need to be tied to any debt ceiling hike.....per the vast majority of American people; including a plurality of Democrats!
NEW POLL SHOWS RISKS IN OBAMA’S DEBT PLAY - Democrats are continuing a full-scale assault today aimed at getting Republicans to unconditionally increase the federal government’s borrowing limit. House and Senate Democrats are trying to force votes on a debt lift without any offsetting cuts or changes.
But a Fox News poll out this morning finds 58 percent of respondents would vote against raising the government’s debt limit if they were in Congress, while just 37 percent would vote for it. Seventy-eight percent of Republicans, 88 percent of members of the tea party movement, 57 percent of independents and 38 percent of Democrats would vote against raising the debt ceiling.
Sixty-two percent of all respondents, including a plurality of Democrats, said they would favor a debt-ceiling increase only if tied to major cuts in government spending. Only 27 percent of those surveyed said the limit should be raised unconditionally, as President Obama has demanded.
There, I've cut $120 billion in a single paragraph where it wouldn't adversely affect any American lives and might even bring home a few more soldiers to their families without them being in coffins.
Want me to cut more? I can do that.
Now how about suggesting any Republican proposals that would responsibly reduce the cost of government.
That's where the Republicans fail is because the only proposals they have are financially harmful to the American People.
The final straw is that responsible reductions cannot be accomplished by Oct 17th. Neither the Democrats or Republicans are proposing responsible deficit reduction but one thing is certain. We can't balance the budget without tax increases.
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Post by ShivaTD on Oct 8, 2013 14:46:34 GMT
BTW there are already $70 billion in spending cuts in the Continuous Resolution to fund the government that the Senate passed and sent back to the House.
The desires of the American People to cut spending is already accomplished if the House passes the CR that Boehner has sitting on his desk.
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Post by ShivaTD on Oct 8, 2013 15:21:42 GMT
I just did a little research and this is what I found.
Three-fourths of Americans oppose changes to Social Security, Medicare and Veteran benefits.
Most Americans oppose spending cuts to entitlement programs in general.
According to a new AP-GfK poll, 54 percent oppose “changing the way Social Security benefits are calculated so that annual increases are smaller.”
Another study found that 52% of Americans oppose the Republican food stamp cuts, while only 37% approve of them.
Fifty-eight percent of people oppose any spending cuts to Medicare and 46 percent oppose any cuts in Medicaid, according to the poll, released by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health.
So what do Americans support cutting according to the polls?
A recent study found that more than 90% of the survey participants - recommend cuts in foreign aid.
Forty-nine percent responded they “favor” defense cuts, with 45 percent voicing opposition.
Not to be left out of the mix is the fact that the majority of Americans still support raising taxes on wealthy investors that pay less than 1/2 the tax rates that working Americans pay on the same incomes. They supported it last year and still support it today.
With such diverse opinions on where the cuts should occur there are certainly winners and losers. The problem is that this cannot be sorted out in just 9 days before the government runs out of money and begins to default on it's financial obligations.
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Post by maniacalhamster on Oct 8, 2013 16:19:55 GMT
I just did a little research and this is what I found.
Three-fourths of Americans oppose changes to Social Security, Medicare and Veteran benefits.
Most Americans oppose spending cuts to entitlement programs in general.
According to a new AP-GfK poll, 54 percent oppose “changing the way Social Security benefits are calculated so that annual increases are smaller.”
Another study found that 52% of Americans oppose the Republican food stamp cuts, while only 37% approve of them.
Fifty-eight percent of people oppose any spending cuts to Medicare and 46 percent oppose any cuts in Medicaid, according to the poll, released by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health.
So what do Americans support cutting according to the polls?
A recent study found that more than 90% of the survey participants - recommend cuts in foreign aid.
Forty-nine percent responded they “favor” defense cuts, with 45 percent voicing opposition.
Not to be left out of the mix is the fact that the majority of Americans still support raising taxes on wealthy investors that pay less than 1/2 the tax rates that working Americans pay on the same incomes. They supported it last year and still support it today.
With such diverse opinions on where the cuts should occur there are certainly winners and losers. The problem is that this cannot be sorted out in just 9 days before the government runs out of money and begins to default on it's financial obligations.
with all respect , Shiva you posting a lot of stats and blog articles and such...but it's basically Fox news for the lefty. The whole thing is this way...fox news and lefty articles... Why is the President not using his veto powers...end it all...instead of cherry picking what is open and closed and such... both sides are playing the same game..... veto the shut down and get on with it. |
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Post by JP5 on Oct 9, 2013 3:09:09 GMT
On the first day of the shutdown.....Public Broadcasting Radio (PBS) received $445,000.
But Obama has given directives to NOT pay the families of those recently killed in Afghanistan.
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Post by africanhope on Oct 9, 2013 6:46:04 GMT
As the saying goes 'when elephants fight, the grass gets trampled'. While the US is engaged in a Cold Civil War, the negative effect on the rest of hte world is ignored. Like it or not, the US is the biggest economy in the world, and the shut down, and more so the debt default, will have a hugely negative impact on the rest of the world, including my own country.
SA will get it hard. China is worried about the debt default, as they own most of the USA debt, thus China is already scaling down, and China is our biggest trading partner. Europe will be affected, as trade between the USA and Europe makes up a large part of their economy, Europe is SA's second largest trading partner.
The fact of the matter is, if the USA government does not sort out their differences, if the shut down continues and worsens, if the USA defaults on it's debt, the whole world faces another serious economic crisis, on the back of the last one we are still recovering from.
A developing country like my own can scarcely afford a decrease in trade right now.
And from my neutral seat out here, do you know who it looks to me is to blame? Both sides. That's right, President Obama and the Republicans are both to blame. They are reminding me of kids in the sandpit, crying and blaming and not sharing. They are two kids thats are holding and pulling each others hair, both unwilling to let go. They are like teenagers playing chicken on the road, but neither are in the car, it is not them that will get hurt, it is the good and honest hard working folk, both of your country and mine, that is going to get hurt here.
I sincerely hope the American public will punish BOTH these parties for their dangerous behaviour. If ever there was a time for a third party in US politics, it is now!
AH
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Post by JP5 on Oct 9, 2013 9:25:59 GMT
MAJOR cuts need to be tied to any debt ceiling hike.....per the vast majority of American people; including a plurality of Democrats!
NEW POLL SHOWS RISKS IN OBAMA’S DEBT PLAY - Democrats are continuing a full-scale assault today aimed at getting Republicans to unconditionally increase the federal government’s borrowing limit. House and Senate Democrats are trying to force votes on a debt lift without any offsetting cuts or changes.
But a Fox News poll out this morning finds 58 percent of respondents would vote against raising the government’s debt limit if they were in Congress, while just 37 percent would vote for it. Seventy-eight percent of Republicans, 88 percent of members of the tea party movement, 57 percent of independents and 38 percent of Democrats would vote against raising the debt ceiling.
Sixty-two percent of all respondents, including a plurality of Democrats, said they would favor a debt-ceiling increase only if tied to major cuts in government spending. Only 27 percent of those surveyed said the limit should be raised unconditionally, as President Obama has demanded.
There, I've cut $120 billion in a single paragraph where it wouldn't adversely affect any American lives and might even bring home a few more soldiers to their families without them being in coffins.
Want me to cut more? I can do that.
Now how about suggesting any Republican proposals that would responsibly reduce the cost of government.
That's where the Republicans fail is because the only proposals they have are financially harmful to the American People.
The final straw is that responsible reductions cannot be accomplished by Oct 17th. Neither the Democrats or Republicans are proposing responsible deficit reduction but one thing is certain. We can't balance the budget without tax increases.
For all the grandstanding by Obama.....calling the Republicans extremists, it’s Obama who has the extreme views. In telling the country he will not negotiate on an issue that’s frequently negotiated, and in asking for their blind support on an issue he himself previously opposed, it’s clear his debt ceiling position is the outlier.
Read more: www.nydailynews.com/opinion/obama-debt-limit-dishonesty-article-1.1479818?pgno=1#ixzz2hDNiyOWm |
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