Aug.2 closely approaches.

[Hakuzo NightFox]

so looking over a recent link:

http://news.yahoo.com/vote-delayed-debt ... 08473.html

Seems congress has still not gotten their act together and from what I understand, no one shall get paid. On top of other issues going on in the government as well. Our economy is in poor shape and no one sees a solution near.

[PorpoiseMuffins]

Well, it's not that no one would get paid, it's just that there would have to be cuts (temporary or permanent). It's also doubtful that the government would choose not to continue paying its debt obligations (i.e. default). As I understand it, they would probably first delay payments to the states before anything else, since defaulting on the debt could have serious implications for the nation's credit rating.

Unfortunately, I wonder if anything else short of that will actually give the government the necessary motivation to cut spending. The political incentives are always in favor of raising spending. No matter how much the tea party folks shout about it, when push comes to shove, even they would probably get angry if the spending cuts affected them personally. That's unfortunate, but it's human nature. That's why we have lots of talk from the current administration about cutting spending and "getting our fiscal house in order" while in the meantime we're racking up the bills. People like hearing politicians talk about fiscal responsibility, but they also like free (or perceived as free) goodies.

Also, the August 2nd deadline is actually just a soft estimate. The actual date when we won't be able to pay all the bills without borrowing more could actually be a few days sooner or later.


And actually, I'm kind of looking forward to the 2nd. That's when New Found Glory comes out with their new single

[Mach]

I feel sorry for Obama. He has seen the bigger picture and put need before politics but its been thrown in his face by both parties, who cant seem to realise that no money means both lose, and a lot worse besides. Just doing one action (cut spending or raise taxes) isnt enough but both the republicans and democrats are playing for political points

[PorpoiseMuffins]

I feel sorry for Obama. He has seen the bigger picture and put need before politics but its been thrown in his face by both parties

That's the image that he's trying to create (that he's the sane one in a sea of childish bickering), but I think it's much more complex than that. Until I hear him propose something that would actually go a decent way towards reducing the underlying problem of spending money we don't have, I'm going to have to keep assuming that it's all just part of the act.

who cant seem to realise that no money means both lose, and a lot worse besides. Just doing one action (cut spending or raise taxes) isnt enough but both the republicans and democrats are playing for political points

Well, that's their job, really! Most people don't want to vote for a politician who's not going to stand for his/or principals (although most don't or just pretend to). And I don't think the answer to everything is always to take two opposing sides and split the difference (i.e. compromise). At the very least, compromise always requires a good disagreement to begin with, which is what's happening right now.

[Hakuzo NightFox]

Some further updates here:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/hous ... 57649.html

The republicans passed a bill among themselves finally and the democrats nix it because they want their Own bill to pass. This is rather childish.

From what I've heard and understand about the situation people that live off of Social Security and other government programs will not get any money. This hurts my family espically as we live on Social Security so we will have no funds what so ever to buy even the basics nor pay for bills.

So this is a real and scary threat to our family....

[PorpoiseMuffins]

From what I've heard and understand about the situation people that live off of Social Security and other government programs will not get any money. This hurts my family espically as we live on Social Security so we will have no funds what so ever to buy even the basics nor pay for bills.

So this is a real and scary threat to our family....

Like I said, it's doubtful they'd cut social security. It would be political suicide. I suspect it's more of a scare tactic to get people mad at the Republicans. What they could and should do is cut war spending.

[Hakuzo NightFox]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/cong ... 44838.html

so here's the update. Seems Congress has came to an agreement to raise the Debt ceiling and reduce spending by almost 1 trillion soon. There's has already been so much spending cuts already that how many more programs and such are going to not get the money they need?

[Mach]

And no tax increases either. Seems a typical political watered down deal to try and offend as few people as possible. Not good enough for the long term.

[Hakuzo NightFox]

Well, I keep hearing talks no tax raises because no one wants to put more taxes on to the rich, one that can drop 10% of their wealth and actually pay off the debt.


Luckily, our monthly income came in today but with these budget cuts, there is no saying how much longer that will be. As it stands since high school people have been saying that there will be NO Social Security for our generation to draw upon. We still have to pay into it with no benefit at all. Just another example of the government taking money for some reason with no returns.

We are still in a recession and there are no jobs to be found. Personally I've had no work for 5 years now since I've graduated from college. Right now we are barely scraping by each month.

[Mach]

We are still in a recession and there are no jobs to be found. Personally I've had no work for 5 years now since I've graduated from college. Right now we are barely scraping by each month.

Going off topic here, but I know exactly how you feel. Graduated from Uni just over a year ago and still looking for full time work. And Im not the only one

[Hakuzo NightFox]

It's not really that far off topic as the economy is in poor shape. All this move has done was only make things worse, the 'dieing of a slow painful death' kind of situation. They are only prolonging the issues that are happening. They are not solving the problems with the debt and inturn will keep running out of money.

They have a system of infinite credit and are not paying any of it back.

[Louis the Hedgehog]

I feel as if we're getting closer and closer to the events depicted in the film "Soylent Green".

I doubt the government will ever fix the economy. I guess we're the only ones who can do it. But how? The rich have all the money leaving us with no capital to start anything. Not to mention that the government acts like it will NEVER learn why a tax system that makes the rich richer and the poor poorer makes no sense.

So here I am without a full time job and still living with my parents despite graduating from college over a year ago. Icons from my better years are fading away, both living and nonliving, the country that I was raised to believe that was "the best on earth" is collapsing, and I got student loans to pay off.

How could America do this to itself? There is no future.

[Mach]

Nah, a lot of countries are doing this. Seems theres an international crusade against the under 25s

Also seems one source has downgraded the US credit rating, though its a bit controversial
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14428930

[Louis the Hedgehog]

Nah, a lot of countries are doing this. Seems theres an international crusade against the under 25s

Also seems one source has downgraded the US credit rating, though its a bit controversial
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14428930

I'm 26. Is age what you're talking about?

[Hakuzo NightFox]

You know... we started a country to get away from taxes from the British, now... the country did the same thing they got away from. You would think someone would have learned from that :/

All government systems seem to be filled with Fail... Each take away things of value from it's people to make the ones running the show live a comfortable life at the expense of everyone else... you know... that's just not right. Show me a government system that does not do this and we'll talk >>.