Who gets paid if we have shutdown

[Markola]

Slight tangent on the topic of term limits. I heard a professor say that if each of the nine SCOTUS Justices was limited to 18 years, then in time a president could confirm two per four year presidential term. If that math works, it is so logical that 99% of Americans would agree to it, which probably means that the idea will never see the light of day.

 

[meleana]

My husband turns 70 in April and will apply for SS in December. I hope this doesn’t affect his application as we’ve waited so long to start collecting and we need it!

 

[Rustic23]

A vote on term limits was a part of the Contract With America. It was put to a vote just about every house member voted for term limits, and it did not Pass! Clever politicians, one bill the Republicans voted for, didn't pass, another the Democrats voted for, did not pass, and a bipartisan bill, did not pass.

 

[Car-Guy]

My husband turns 70 in April and will apply for SS in December. I hope this doesn’t affect his application as we’ve waited so long to start collecting and we need it!

If they shutdown, I seriously doubt it will last long enough to affect the processing of new SS applications in December. Any backlog should be cleared well before December.

 

[GATime]

Military do not get paid but still have to serve. Air traffic controllers do not get paid but still have to work. Congress does not work but still gets paid.

THAT is the travesty.

 

[Car-Guy]

Well they avoided the shutdown. Well for at least for another 45 days so the drama will continue then.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/co...rnment-shutdown-set-begin-midnight-rcna118172

Might as well keep this thread open and pick it up again in about a month.

 

[Markola]

Well they avoided the shutdown. Well for at least for another 45 days so the drama will continue then.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/co...rnment-shutdown-set-begin-midnight-rcna118172

Might as well keep this thread open and pick it up again in about a month.

That is no way to run an ice cream shop.

 

[teej1985]

That is no way to run an ice cream shop.

They do this every year. It should not be a surprise to anybody.

 

[Midpack]

Crisis averted, a bunch of threats, posturing and unnecessary drama by our prima donna politicians thanks to the electorate who voted them in. What a colossal waste of you name it...

It's all about owning the other party and rubbing their noses in mistakes - with the encouragement of 10's of millions of voters, with little to no regard for serving citizens - while taking care of special interests.

 

[Car-Guy]

It's all about owning the other party and rubbing their noses in mistakes - with the encouragement of 10's of millions of voters, [-]with little to[/-] no regard for serving citizens - while taking care of special interests.

There, I fixed it for you!

 

[Rianne]

I get trying to get spending under control, but this debacle was not about spending. I finally understood what the debate was about this morning when Catherine Rampell explained it. The spending issue was about less than .1% of our spending.

 

[Goldendoodlebug]

Just heard this morning on the news that many (maybe most) government agencies are only using 25%, and none are using more than 50%, of the office space they are allocated/paying for. No shutdown required. I wonder if they keep the "utilities on" (e.g. AC or heat) in all this unused office space too. Probably paying for things like cleaning and security too. Sure some of this is probably due to "some" still working from home "post COVID" but I understand this was a big problem before COVID too.

I know at my mega corp, they were always trying to optimize office space utilization due to the high cost... I have just one word for this waste that is "publishable here"... "Accountability"

The government includes a lot of agencies and offices. The one I worked at included different offices and jobs. The first one had plenty of office space, my last job, the program ramped up and there was a lot of hiring without any subsequent increase in office space. People were doubling up in offices, put into 5-10 people bullpens and sharing cars, a requirement for the job.

 

[Koolau]

So, what targets are left to cut that make a dent? Veterans? Defense? Not pay interest on the debt?

Raise taxes? OK. On whom?

And how much? The Laffer Curve still exists though we don't know it's parameters.

 

[Koolau]

We were told (when Congress was arguing over raising debt ceiling) that debt limit is the wrong thing to argue about. Congress already approved the budget. So if any thing, discussion needs to happen when budgets are approved, and that debt ceiling is irrelevant.

Well, now we are at $33 Trillion dollars in debt. Fast approaching $35T.

For argument sake, lets say deficits don't matter (fine if you believe that, but I don't). Then why not send a check of $10 million to every american?

At what point do we ask our Government to control its spending? It would be one thing if Government spending was done for the good of average Joe and Jane. But most of debt spending ends up in pockets of Billionaires who benefit from big government stimulus spending.

Billionaire rich keep getting richer. Average Joe gets to watch his budget.. balancing on how much to spend on Rent/Mortgage vs food.

I saw a frightening statistic recently that our National Debt (what, $33 Trillion now) comes out to $250,000 per tax payer. When do we have to pay up?

 

[Gumby]

I saw a frightening statistic recently that our National Debt (what, $33 Trillion now) comes out to $250,000 per tax payer. When do we have to pay up?

You can go ahead and send your share to me now and I'll take care of it when that time comes.

 

[Markola]

I saw a frightening statistic recently that our National Debt (what, $33 Trillion now) comes out to $250,000 per tax payer. When do we have to pay up?

That’s the beauty. We don’t! Hahahahaha! And we never will. As long as we own the M2 supply issuance of the global reserve currency our politicians don’t have to seriously raise taxes or cut spending. They can just feign interest in fiscal policy and go on TV to engage in deadlocked culture wars. We just sell mushrooming Treasuries world-wide, at-will, and export our budget deficits to nations needing to do something with their trade surplus reserves. When debt payments are due, we simply conjure more cash and export it in the form of bond interest.

The system will last forever - or at least until global markets find something better, at which point, uh oh.

 

[Car-Guy]

I saw a frightening statistic recently that our National Debt (what, $33 Trillion now) comes out to $250,000 per tax payer. When do we have to pay up?

I've seen similar calculations for a long time now. It just keeps growing. It really scares me (one of the few things that scares me anymore) to think about how long this can continue before the whole thing just collapses. Bloated government, on going reckless spending, ok, I'll stop there. What can I do about it? Reality is, not much.

 

[Markola]

^^^^^. I’m reading an excellent book on Stoicism called “The Guide to the Good Life.” It’s not what people think it is, ie Dr. Spock. It is focusing on those things one can control; setting internal goals for those things only somewhat in one’s control; and not focusing on those things fully out of one’s control, which is where worry, stress and lack of tranquility come from. It helps.

 

[Time2]

Everyone gets paid. It's just a matter of when.

Some even get paid for not working.

 

[Koolau]

You can go ahead and send your share to me now and I'll take care of it when that time comes.

Heh, heh, DW already volunteered to handle my share so she took the check book.

 

[Markola]

That’s the beauty. We don’t! Hahahahaha! And we never will. As long as we own the M2 supply issuance of the global reserve currency our politicians don’t have to seriously raise taxes or cut spending. They can just feign interest in fiscal policy and go on TV to engage in deadlocked culture wars. We just sell mushrooming Treasuries world-wide, at-will, and export our budget deficits to nations needing to do something with their trade surplus reserves. When debt payments are due, we simply conjure more cash and export it in the form of bond interest.

The system will last forever - or at least until global markets find something better, at which point, uh oh.

Wealthy investor agrees with me that the way out is not likely through a sudden attack of government responsibility to pay our mushrooming debt balance but through magically creating cash from thin air simply to make the payments:

https://dailyhodl.com/2023/10/10/bi...ays-federal-reserve-continuing-to-lose-money/

To politicians globally, a Monopoly Money Future and eventual default “someday” is far better than taking on the short term pain of fiscal discipline. Same as it ever was for governments, all the way back through the ultimate debasement of the pound, the franc, the gilder, way back to the Romans who finally debased gold coins with inferior metals. There’s an unlimited demand for spending, a limited appetite for taxing to pay for it, so you print.

 

[Aerides]

Ray Dalio on the "daily hodl" ooh.....pass...

 

[Markola]

^^^^ Which is not a counter to his argument. He spoke on Fox Business.

 

[Koolau]

To politicians globally, a Monopoly Money Future and eventual default “someday” is far better than taking on the short term pain of fiscal discipline. Same as it ever was for governments, all the way back through the ultimate debasement of the pound, the franc, the gilder, way back to the Romans who finally debased gold coins with inferior metals. There’s an unlimited demand for spending, a limited appetite for taxing to pay for it, so you print.

Yeah, and over history, it's typically ended the same way. "Great" nations lose their status and slip quietly (or not) into history (and/or become cautionary tales - that everyone forgets.) I see no way out of this spending/debt cycle for the USA. It WILL end, but it won't be pretty. I hope I'm gone by then.