something something budget something government shutdown

[Colenzo]

I just want to know, what is it going to take for americans to stop posting complaints on the internets and start marching on washington to stop the kids fighting in the sandbox. This is getting so ridiculous, but the GOP and even the dems know they can act the way they do because shit americans will complain, then do nothing about it.

I would rather watch it burn than protest our governments worthlessness.

[Colenzo]

I don't think enough people care to actually try to do anything rational. America is lazy thats why we are in this position in the first place. We're so comfortable with our day to day lives to care about whats actually going on. Inconveniences come and go, changes in our government happen and we are just like "awwww well that sucks dick, guess i gotta pay 50 dollars for a tank of gas, oh well." So much fluctuating over the past 10-20 years has caused most of everybody to become completely numb to the effects of the government being retarded. We need to work out a new form of government that works. We don't need to have two teams battling it out to decide our future. We need people that work together instead of against eachother. Fuck this bullshit, we turn on the news and read everyday about how "oh well the democrats wont let us clean the crust off our jizz nozzles for fear of us wasting precious life." Whatever, who gives a shit. Move on to something else. There are about a billion other solutions to things in this world and these faggots running our government are getting hung up on just a few of them. I don't know how to fix the government. All I know is that having people competing over leadership and movement towards two seperate goals never fucking gets anything done.

[Drex]

I just want to know, what is it going to take for americans to stop posting complaints on the internets and start marching on washington to stop the kids fighting in the sandbox. This is getting so ridiculous, but the GOP and even the dems know they can act the way they do because shit americans will complain, then do nothing about it.

Well one, American Idol and Jersey Shore would have to go off the air.

It probably won't come to what you described until someone from the government kicks in their door and steals all their personal stuff. There's very little sympathy or empathy anymore, because "fuck bad feelings, I can turn on a TV or video game or movie and pretend". Take care of yourself, because very few people in this world actually care what happens to you anymore. Certainly not anyone in D.C.

Ask yourself this, honestly: what % of the US population lives in your neighborhood? What would they do if you got kicked out and your shit got paved over? How many of them would put in more effort to contact you than looking you up on facebook? For most people, the answers are very little, nothing, and not one. There's a huge disconnect between citizens of the US today because they're too busy eating pies and watching TV to care about one another. Trufax. And heaven forbid you care about people from those OTHER countries! So really, just about anything can happen to anyone and no one will do anything.

[AidenCarby]

I'd rather this generation stop either protesting or internet complaining and just vote the current representatives out and ourselves in.

Wait, our vote counts?

[Melena]

This is why I feel you need term limits for Senate/House members. Fuck these career politicians who only care about keeping a cushy job where your paid to act like a 5yo while getting rich doing it.

[Ksandra]

I'd rather this generation stop either protesting or internet complaining and just vote the current representatives out and ourselves in.

I don't think that'll ever happen either. Never ending cycle of older voters thinking young people are idiots. When we are 60, we will think the 20-30 crowd are idiots too.

[Minnich]

It's already started. The people in the militaries LES, Leave and Earning Statement, was posted today and it already reflects half their mid-month pay. Needless to say I hope military and federal employees have some savings to fall back on for now.

God dammit, just checked mine and sure enough it's a little more than half my normal mid-month. Everyone has been talking about it, and hoping it wasn't actually going to happen, but I guess this confirms it now. Nobody thought we were going to even get paid at all, so I guess this is a little better than we expected.

I've also heard rumors that people in the military will be getting back pay on the next check once things get straightened out, but I'm not holding my breath.

[aurik]

What shows they aren't serious is there's this impass over what, like 60 billion dollars? I bet that's a drop in the bucket % wise.

The number is going to be somewhere in the 30-40B$ range.

I think the overall budget is a little over the 1T$, so this is about a 3-4% cut, as opposed to the 10% cut that the Rs campaigned on last cycle. (That has the Tea Party mad because they'd cut funding for Jesus if it meant they could lower taxes on the wealthy), and they've agreed on everything down to at most a range of a billion dollars either way.

To put it into perspective, the cost of extending the Bush Tax Cuts at the end of last year is something like $70B per year of waived revenue (see I didn't call it spending? You're welcome) which the Dems traded for DADT and a few other things. But in the process, the republicans have totally Scott Walker'd this issue: cut taxes and then declare a fiscal emergency, and use it as a battering ram to shove policy changes through under the guise of cutting spending.

Don't like abortion? Don't like public broadcasting? Cut taxes, declare a fiscal emergency, then push through a bill which defunds them under the guise of cutting spending. Don't like unions? Cut taxes, declare a fiscal emergency, then push through a bill which renders them toothless under the guise of cutting spending.

[Dimmauk]

I don't think that'll ever happen either. Never ending cycle of older voters thinking young people are idiots. When we are 60, we will think the 20-30 crowd are idiots too.

I already think that crowd are idiots.

[Acturus]

I don't think that'll ever happen either. Never ending cycle of older voters thinking young people are idiots. When we are 60, we will think the 20-30 crowd are idiots too.

Vote for vote, we're also outnumbered by the Baby Boomers.

*edit* Gen Y is outnumbered by the Baby Boomers. I don't know if Gen X+Y are. I also doubt Gen X can agree with Gen Y on as much as I'd like.

[Kurokikaze]

Let's do this Zealot! I was actually considering getting into politics when I turn 28ish just cause I'm tired of backseat driving. If you want something done, you gotta do it yourself.

[Vajra]

I'm tired of this country man, it's always a bunch of balonga everyday...government need to stop playing chicken with people's lives...These guys in congress should be voted out for procrastination til the last minute with the budget that should of been agreed upon 6 months ago...!

[Chun Liroy]

First football, now the government? Fuck.

[Budonez]

First football, now the government? Fuck.

NFL's fault. Clearly.

[Drex]

Need white board summaries with tl;drs from Congressmen

[Cantih]

my missing step is figuring out how to inspire a generation while I'm at it.

This is the million dollar question.

I'm 25, and when I was in college, based on the people I was familiar with, that only about one in twenty of people in that age range vote.
I do poll work for every election (one of the people at the ballot table), and in the past three elections, I have seen maybe ten people my age come in to vote, out out of around 600 people. And I usually only see one or two other pollworkers my age at the training class you need to go to before the election.

[Drex]

Hey, get me a candidate that actually has my interests in mind and I'll gladly vote. But every time a candidate comes up that claims to want to help the common person and gets elected, they immediately turn and start funneling breaks and money to the rich and go along with what their lobbyist friends pay them for. So I'm afraid you won't be seeing me at the polls until someone who actually gives a fuck runs.

Tired of watching the same old people run for office, get elected, and suck corporate dick for the rest of their lives. Instead of waiting in line to cast my vote for which asshole will waste my taxes for me, I'd rather just watch something on Netflix. There's so many seemingly irreparable problems with the Washington attitude and mindset that I'd rather just look for as many tax loopholes as I can find and take care of myself and the people I care about, rather than rely on them to do it like they claim they will with the money I give them.

[Drex]

And that's the problem, the don't-give-a-fuckers ruin it for the people who actually do want to help by leaving a public jaded and distrustful.

The jaded and distrustful feelings are no one's fault except the politicians. Even now they can't take the situation seriously and are too busy squabbling amongst themselves over shit that doesn't matter to fix a major crisis. If the system is ever going to get better, it's not through voter reform.

Run a commercial with lots of pretty FX and computer graphics that tells people some fear-mongering mumbojumbo about the world ending if we don't destroy the two party system and redo our entire economic framework. That's more likely to work than powerpoint presentations and textbooks. Sad.

[aurik]

And that's the problem, the don't-give-a-fuckers ruin it for the people who actually do want to help by leaving a public jaded and distrustful.

Well he just told us what the problem is (according to him, anyway): politicians are too beholden to their corporate masters. The best way to fix it? Campaign finance reform / lobbying reforms.

[Restrat]

From HuffPost's Arthur Delaney

Betty Bracy said the phone rang at her Northwest Washington, D.C. apartment around 3 p.m. on Friday. The voice on the line told her she shouldn’t expect the hot meal she’d been eating every Saturday for the past several years.

“They said the reason why they wouldn’t be able to do any delivering tomorrow was because the government was closing down,” Bracy, 71, told The Huffington Post. “I don’t know what that has to do with the food.”

Lylie Fisher, director of community engagement at Iona Senior Services, a nonprofit that serves seniors in parts of the city, told HuffPost that staffers notified more than 100 seniors on Friday that the expected federal government shutdown would interrupt Saturday’s hot meal delivery. The D.C. Office on Aging notified the company that makes the meals, Fisher said, that the service had initially been deemed “non-essential” by the federal government.

But then, later in the afternoon, the situation changed: Fisher said the city successfully petitioned the feds to ensure that the meals would continue. “We are very pleased,” she said.

The D.C. Office on Aging did not immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did the contractor that makes the meals.

Bracy was glad to hear that the food delivery –- one hot meal and one cold meal, usually a sandwich -- was back on.

“I kind of look forward to that because it’s nutritional food,” she said. “Sometimes it’s sliced turkey and squash, mashed potatoes, chicken -– the meals are really decent.”

Also, I was supposed to have a second job interview Tuesday, guess it will be canceled