On the brink of the government shut-down
Are we the next Greece?
We’ve shut down the government before; it’s nothing
new, but is a political tactic used to negotiate between warring political
factions – also known as the two-party system. You know you are in trouble when
their strategy is really about who will get the blame, as opposed to fixing
anything...
The term Civil War has been bandied about recently in
describing our national political status.
The choke-point of a CR – or Continuing Resolution –
deadline allows Republicans and Democrats to torture one another again and again
at our expense.
The legislation packagers and packers may drop in the
poison pills of Obamacare revision, or not. Individual mandate in coverage, or
medical device taxation, it’s not about fixing the Affordable Care Act (ACA),
but about making the other party look like an obstructionist or a bully,
depending on one's vantage point.
Of course, a poorly designed healthcare system revision
with this many problems so early on could end up killing more people at the end than did
our Civil War!
The last time we furloughed the federal government, the
employees got their back pay at the end of the game; this time they may not.
Welcome fiscal responsibility. But how did we get to this point? And who is really getting hurt
here?
The victims of our current economic debacle, Greatest
Recession, and national depression are we United States citizens. Consumer
confidence is in the tank. The positive psyche of American Exceptionalism is
being run down like an old battery. Faith and trust that an enormous
bureaucratic government can “solve all of our problems” is at a pitiful
low.
Compounding the decision to shut down government over
the political impasse (or opportunity!) of a debt crisis is compounded by a host
of other bad reality scenarios; there is just no good news out there to
counterweight it.
Largest, of course, is the entire rush into the
scheduled implementation of the ACA or Obamacare tomorrow, October 1. First
steps like creation of insurance markets at a state or federal level were to
have been put into place (and tested!?) by then. Many states outright refused
this, and the federal markets designed to replace them in just this case are not
ready.
Reportedly there is massive software trouble, testing
has not occurred and or has failed, and the system is not even prepared to tell
a citizen what exactly, if anything, they qualify for as subsidy or benefit. Is
your income too high?
Republicans could take the above truth of mismanagement
on a grand scale and use it as a rationale to force a delay to ACA as part of
the Continuing Resolution to agree to borrow and spend on more government, at
least for a time.
So, this becomes a “revenge moment” for Republicans if
they force a shutdown of government, based upon a sure presidential veto if the
ACA is compromised, as was already done by executive order for major
corporation. With the healthy among us not paying into the system, it will
automatically fail (except as a wealth redistribution scheme).
The GOP is thinking: I don’t remember the doctors
jumping up and down to demand national healthcare. Surely the dentists didn’t
want it, as they were fully exempted from the entire program as if they were not
even in the medical field! Trial lawyers celebrate the victory that sham
lawsuits were not even addressed.
But a chance to delay the ACA, however correct a
decision it may be, is forever politicized by joining it up with the CR. Should
this choice be forced into a veto or rejection by the Senate, the GOP would pay
too much in the mid-term elections next year.
A radio talk show host joked yesterday that President
Barack Obama himself is praying for a government shutdown to happen in order to
create a bad guy in the image of Republicans.
As if this weren’t enough, you can’t text and drive in
Maryland at the same time as of tomorrow, and you won’t be able to buy a handgun
in less than four months (vendors actually removed them from shelves!)…let alone
an automatic rifle.
The sequestration of America continues, and we are
stuck in a damned-if-you- do, damned-if-you-don’t conflict in Syria, compounding
your gasoline prices.
So, tell me again, what has your government done for
you lately?
Don’t ask. It may cause you to
opt-out.
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