JeanValJean comments

When the can( federal debt ) gets kicked down the road for decades and allowed to metastasize to such obscene dimensions, there comes a time when you run out of road.

Scaling back real spending is very long overdue.

Telling the truth slowly.

Little by little, the serial liars such as Alexander, Clapper, and other spies are confirming what those alleged to be tin-foil hatters have claimed.

More leaks will force more confessions from the likes of Alexander.

And Y'know what they know? They know the insane left-wing of their party will skewer them if they compromise with a Republican.

The problem is not only Obama. It's most of the Democrats. And it is not 'gridlock'.

It's the Democrat-Socialist(National Socialist) Party.

The Republican Party is trying to restore the nation.

If the president and Harry Reid really believe the Republicans are going to pay a painful political price for the shutdown, they’d better think again.

Gallup analysts Tuesday releasedpolling data from after the 1995-96 closure that showed “the repercussions of that past conflict ranged from none to short-lived, according to concerns about the U.S. and the political players involved.”

Many will draw parallels with the epic shutdown of 1995 but there is a key difference: For all his many flaws, at least Bill Clinton was leading the USA. Nowadays Barack Obama may occupy the White House but he looks increasingly like a lame duck caretaker awaiting a professional President who will actually take charge.

Post shutdown 'blamestorming' is in full swing and Mr Obama is quick to attribute culpability to all around him. However, given that he ultimately decides what gets spent, is there not an element of hypocrisy in his attempts to avoid responsibility? Barak Obama has overseen a lavish spendthrift shift to the left under his Presidency yet feels it is beneath him to actually negotiate a bigger bar tab.

Congress have dug in their heels over health care changes which are highly questionable. Then again Obamacare needs a serious rethink. Thats not my view: its the opinion of the US trades unions who form Obamas base support. They have realised that heaping costs on employers will result in fewer full-time jobs. That hurts the average citizen but Obamas aloof plutocrats dont care. Equally Congressional Republicans are understandably furious that the President seeks to ignore their democratic mandates while being keen to schmooze with an Iranian President elected via a dubious democratic process. Obama behaves with the demeanour of one who has a massive mandate, yet strip away the hype and he was a relatively narrow victor against two frankly mediocre opponents.

" The current estimate is that the shutdown will cost 12.5 million dollars an hour. Nice."

Then, cut some of that so-called essential spending.

As Obama said, the Federal Government is the largest employer. That's a clear sign it's TOO BIG.

" “So this is part of the transition of our products to new models.”

This is saying they are making way for something new.

" One might look at the comments that show a negative response and perhaps view them as the old adage: "If you have nothing good to say, say nothing at all"."

One could also say that discussion boards are places for people to express their opinion whether pro or con.

Economy class would be appropriate as well.

Big yawn. Non-essential workers, national parks,

Hagel is a warmongering fool.

Either some Ceasar or Napoleon will seize the reins of government with a strong hand, or your republic will be as fearfully plundered and laid waste by barbarians in the twentieth century as the Roman Empire was in the fifth, with this difference, that the Huns and Vandals who ravaged the Roman Empire came from without, and that your Huns and Vandals will have been engendered within your own country by your own institutions.

Thomas Babington Macaulay, Letter to Henry Stephens Randall [May 23, 1857]

" Another aspect of this type is their eschatology. No judicious mix of revenue increases and spending cuts coupled with efficiency savings will save us - No!"

BS as usual.

Revenue increases: oh, increase taxes and tariffs some more.

Spending cuts: by that the usual meaning from DC is to reduce the planned spending increase from 25% to 20% and then announce a 5% spending cut.

There hasn't been a budget since under GWB. Wonder why ...

Superlib posted,

" Jean: But the truth of that obvious conclusion runs so contrary to accepted wisdom --"what everybody knows" -- that only very few can hear and accept it. Well you didn't really come out and say that you are a special person who can hear and accept the "real" reality so how the heck did we know we were supposed to follow you until now?"

What on Earth are you rambling about? Did you really miss the context?

Just to clarify the conclusion stated,

" the profligate government will never pay all that debt. They cannot, just as they cannot stop spending, so the debt WILL be repudiated, either by default or by hyperinflation."

It's not some mystic revelation, as you might think, but a plain truth only truly blind cannot or refuse to acknowledge.

The gov is broke! Bankrupt!

Whoosh, glug, glug, glug. There went the so-called recovery, down the porcelain hole.

Got precious metals? Paper is worthless.

By all means, Hail Netanyahu.

Hail, hail. Yaddah, yaddah.

Bibi playing some politic game. But what's up his sleeve?

Jeff, " I'm guessing this month could be my last SSDI check."

You don't have to worry about that. Only non-essential spending is suspended. That doesn't include mandated entitlements though certain fearmongers may claim so. However, I wouldn't recommend resting on your laurels when TSHTF, it's gonna be messy. Have an escape hatch. As they say, "Better a year too early than a day too late."

Laguna, GDP itself is a fanciful abstraction well manipulated for central planners' purposes, and so carries no real weight.

For a clearer understanding :

http://mises.org/daily/770

" Actually, Jean, total government spending in percent GDP is currently 40% and falling. Look at the chart at the upper right."

Actually, Laguna, those numbers on the chart you linked are only as accurate as the data from which they are crunched, much like the unemployment figure. Pardon me if I don't put a whole lot of faith in those figures.

It's not like she could do any damage. She's a trophy appointment.

There'll be a bump in domestic sales of durable goods beforehand, and then a great, big dip. Dip-anomics.

Oh, Federal Shutdown, where is thy sting?

Why should a government shutdown send down the stock market? Answer: Federal government spending provides more than 30% of the income in the country. Put another way, Federal government spending plus state and local government spending provide over 50% of the income in America (GDP).

America really has no economy -- the government IS the economy. Or, only half the people in the country produce something for a living. The other half consume the taxes the others pay, plus all the money the federal government borrows into existence.

Of course, the profligate government will never pay all that debt. They cannot, just as they cannot stop spending, so the debt WILL be repudiated, either by default or by hyperinflation.

But the truth of that obvious conclusion runs so contrary to accepted wisdom --"what everybody knows" -- that only very few can hear and accept it. People believe what they want to believe.

And the beat goes on.

The problem is not only Obamacare. The problem is healthcare socialism and all the other welfare/warfare absurdities, something that all statists, both Republican and Democrat, ardently believe in.

But it is fun to watch it play out, if for no other reason than to see the deep anxiety the possible shutdown produces within statists. We all know how it ends though: The shutdown won’t last long and the welfare-warfare state will, unfortunately, soon be back in full force.

The problem is not Obamacare itself . The problem is healthcare socialism, something that all statists, both Republican and Democrat, ardently believe in.

But it is fun to watch it play out, if for no other reason than to see the deep anxiety the possible shutdown produces within statists. We all know how it ends though: The shutdown won’t last long and the welfare-warfare state will, unfortunately, soon be back in full force.

Ah, madverts, must really stick in your craw what I comment, eh? Yet, it's undeniable that profligates rule DC, and the present is monstrosity of their making, which you somehow support.

The brinksmanship currently headlining equally implicates d's and r's, thus a pox on both their houses. Anarchy is what you see at a flea market, interestingly re-labelled "free-market" in Japan. It's a beautiful thing to see people freely trading, but seems to scare the pants off statists.

In the next 24hrs or so, the world will likely witness another episode of Congress' famed game of "kick the can." It's a farcical drama played out for the subservient. The last time USG shut down for a few days, the Earth didn't stop spinning nor did the sun fail to rise. If there's a pause again, little will change. Maybe a few bankers will take a loss. Let Buffet cover the gap.

Going to Cuba is not a problem...unless you're American.

On this I do agree with Mr Jackson, albeit likely for different reasons.

" Bill Clinton says it best:"

Ha! That's actually funny! The gilded fork-tongue former philanderer in chief!

One big difference between Clinton and Obama is that under Clinton there was at least one budget. Under Obama? Not A One! Oh, but a doubling of the debt? Oh yeah, there's that.

As I've said countless times, " A pox on both their houses". Profligates rule DC.

" The Treasury says it will reach its $16.7 trillion borrowing cap by Oct 17…"

" As of September 25, the US Treasury reported its federal debt at $16,699,396,000,000.00 in their daily treasury statement, a figure which has been reported for ## 130 days straight ##, situating spending about $25 billion shy of the legal limit of $16,699,421,095,673.60."

The books have been being cooked rather openly.

" It said warming had slowed “in roughly equal measure” because of random variations in the climate and the impact of factors such as volcanic eruptions, when ash dims sunshine, and a cyclical decline in the sun’s output."

…a cyclical decline in the sun's output…

Well, let's see; we are currently in the midst of this solar cycle's MAXIMUM which has been remarkably weak, the weakest in 100 years. The previous cycle was also weak, though not as weak as this one. If the upcoming MINIMUM is as weak as anticipated, or extended, then there may be winter festivals on the Thames again. Watch the bright ball in the sky.

" Not paying doesn't make the debt go away, it just puts you in default and raises your cost of borrowing."

But that's the wrong analogy. It's about not raising the credit limit, not stopping payment. No, spendthrifts, you can't get a higher credit limit. You need to cut real spending.