Federal Government Shutdown

[DeistPaladin]

So when I hear Yanks go on blaming one of the two major parties, I simply laugh. Why should your children's children be the ones paying for your current government and your current lifestyle?? Well, if you have a government in the USA right now, today, they're the ones that are going to be paying the bill for you. It's fucking disgusting. And if China, or Japan were to liquidate their bonds, then your grandchildren would have a lifetime of total financial depression to look forward to.

No one is suggesting the debt isn't a problem that needs to be addressed ...except the Republicans when they're in power. There's a pattern we've seen in this country in the last 30 years and it's something we need to keep in mind as the GOP feigns such grave concerns for our grandchildren.

• Republican in the White House: "Deficits don't matter! Spend money on all the things conservatives love! Wars! Defense spending! Corporate giveaways! War on Drugs! Cut taxes for the rich! Wheeeee!"
  
• Democrat in the White House: "OMG! OMG! Where did all this debt come from? Quick! Slash and burn all the liberal programs now!"
  

Think I'm exaggerating? Look at the recent history:

Reagan tripled the debt and HW Bush was equally unable to balance his budget. When Clinton came into power, he was forced to deal with the problem. He had to give up all the things he campaigned on and instead focused on cutting spending and bringing down the debt. As a result, he created a surplus.

W Bush ran against that surplus with the campaign platform "it's not their money, it's your money". Once in office, he made good on his promise and slashed taxes for the rich. He also ran two wars off the books, gave away sweet no-bid contracts to his corporate friends and passed a budget-busting corporate giveaway in Medicare Part D. His grand finale was giving away 700 billion in bailouts to banks, needed as a result of the economy he crashed.

Then Obama comes into office and we're back to "OMG! Where did this debt come from? Won't someone think of our grandchildren?"

On The Table: Only Liberal Programs
Ever notice that during all this hand-wringing over cutting spending, the big elephant in the room is never talked about: our bloated Cold War defense budget.

Currently, the US spends more than the next four nations combined and doubled. We could cut the Pentagon's budget in half and still be ahead of the next four nations, two of which (UK and France) are our allies. The Soviet Union is long gone but we're still running in the arms race all by ourselves. The Military-Industrial complex isn't about to let its gravy train go and no politician wants to "look weak".

Then there's all the corporate welfare. It's nothing less than insanity when we talk about taking food stamps away from the hungry (which, by the way, is the best economic bang-for-the-buck kind of government spending) and yet we still have oil subsidies for the most profitable businesses in our history.

I'd like to also discuss the War on Drugs, which has made the US per capita prison population #1 in the world. [sarcasm] On the plus side, it's an easy way to target blacks and other minorities, who statistically aren't any more likely to use drugs but far more likely to get prosecuted for it. As a bonus, most states don't allow ex-cons to vote, so you can knock all those blacks and hispanics off the voter rolls if they have a drug conviction. It's a hidden way to continue Jim Crow. Isn't that a plus? [/sarcasm]

Last but not least, there's the tax cuts for the rich which were supposed to stimulate the economy and trickle down to the rest of us. In reality, the money trickled off into offshore bank accounts. We've tried Reagonomics for 30 years now. It's time to admit it doesn't work and the rich need to pay their fair share of the sacrifice needed to get our budget under control.

As long as there's enough money for all the above things, the American people do no owe one damn dime in austerity cuts. The above gets cut first!

The Debt Ceiling
It's important for foreigners (and Americans) to know that the debt ceiling is about honoring and paying for the debt we already have racked up. To not raise the debt ceiling is to refuse to pay the bills.

I wish I could do that.

"Dear creditors,
I regret to inform you that we will not be paying our debts because we've created an artificial number we call our family's 'debt ceiling'. That number restricts how much money we can use to pay the debts we've already run up. I'm trying to convince my wife to agree to raise that debt ceiling but there are things she wants in return that I'm not yet ready to agree to. So please just keep your collection efforts on hold until you hear back from me. I'm sure you understand. Since our government can do this, I figure it's OK for us to do it as well."