U.S. Government shutdown - how does it work ?

Fuck, I can't find a video, but I swear, Will Forte had a recurring character called "Senator Tim Calhoun" from his SNL days and it's a prophecy of what Ted Cruz looks and sounds like to a T.

God bless this great nation.

I'm gonna microwave some corndogs...

histrionic behaviour from the usa government sending staff home and telling them not to respond to work emails because there's a row over taking middle class people's money to pay for everybody else's hospital bills

joke country is international joke

I really do hope this is the beginning of the end of the tea party and a return to sanity for the republican party. if this country needs a third party, it needs a campaign finance reform party, since that seems to be at the root of so much of the dysfunction. maybe sensible re-districting/anti-gerrymandering could be on the platform as well.

the democrats are far from ideal, but the republicans are fucking crazy.

I propose changing the topic title to "U.S. Government shutdown - nobody work"

LOL

I liked the Rachel Maddow summery on how the gop was planning to shut down the government to...shut down the government. It's probably just that childish.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/01/rachel-maddow-shutdown-republicans_n_4021809.html?ir=Media

motivations

left wingers want to help sick people, plan to take money from middle class to pay to help sick people

right wingers don't want their money to be taken, claim it's their money, say left winger go to hell

1%/rich/elite health companies rubbing their hands with glee because they're about to activate their UP-DOWN-LEFT-RIGHT-ABC-START infinite taxpayer money cheat code from gamefaqs.com

poor sick people will get help. middle classes will be fleeced. the 1% will change to the 0.1%. america totally divided&confused in a childish catfight where both sides are foolish. 1% media makes out its all about caring for the poor, gains the 1% moral legitimacy for fleecing middle classes. same 1% owns media and health companies.

instead of being divided (and conquered) as republocrats and democans as a divided states of america there is another option: one language: english. one religion: christianity. one government: christian monarchy.

to think problems can be solved by voting red or blue!!! it's the religion, language, and culture that matters dudes. red sucks! blue is awesome! no, christianity is awesome. haha.

too bad obama can't suspend all their pay. or fire their asses.

  On 10/2/2013 at 3:01 PM, jules said:

too bad obama can't suspend all their pay. or fire their asses.

One of the last amendment efforts the House made would strip the insurance subsidies Congress received. But the majority of them, including Ted Cruz, never considered suspending their own pay and benefits:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/30/how-congress-will-still-get-paid-in-a-government-shutdown.html

I'll tell you my motivations: I want some fucking healthcare. What the fuck is wrong with people in this country? How can we allow ourselves to be tricked by industry-paid assholes our whole lives? First we allow single-payer to be pushed off the map, now our fucking government is shut down because of the ACA?

Has nobody ever been faced with non-insured medical bills before? My girlfriend needs a root canal, and (surprise!) even though she gets dental insurance through work, it's not covered. There goes a month's pay! Sounds great, sign me up for another year of that.

The ACA may not be perfect - it fact it may be a mess - but in what goddamn universe is it not a step in the right direction?

By the way, all the recent polls are saying this shit is NOT WORTH SHUTTING THE GOVERNMENT DOWN OVER.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/09/30/new-poll-only-one-third-of-americans-support-repealing-defunding-or-delaying-obamacare/

http://www.nationaljournal.com/hotline-on-call/poll-don-t-shut-down-the-government-over-obamacare-20131001

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/30/obamacare-polls_n_4018888.html

Government reaches many unpopular resolutions without fucking shutting itself down. And Obamacare is not unpopular, even with all the misinformation being spread about it. 50% of the public is what usually decides the vote in this country.

  On 10/1/2013 at 1:51 PM, very honest said:

in that podcast he says he'll be able to get a "cadillac plan" for 30 bucks a month. im no expert, but that dude does lots of research, and that's a particularly motivated episode because his mom died last month, suffering in her last months because she didn't have insurance.

just because you have insurance doesn't mean it'll pay for doctor's visits. having cheap insurance is basically useless and fining people one percent of their income is fucking ridiculous.

This country really feels like a joke sometimes.

Exactly which parts of the government are being shut down, btw? Besides those problematic national parks.

Here's an interesting piece on the effect of obama care on the health insurers:

http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/09/30/13474/beginning-end-major-health-insurers?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=watchdog&utm_medium=publici-email

Conclusion:

  Quote

 

These are sea changes that will shift power away from big insurance companies, and thus erode the profits they make on both their individual and corporate books of business. It is just a matter of time before Wall Street recognizes that disintermediation has finally arrived and forces these companies to move more rapidly into other, more profitable lines of business, like data management.

Which is good, btw.

And don't forget this one:

http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/09/23/13448/reader-approved-analysis-wendell-potter

  Quote

 

Finally, plain English from health insurance companies, from Jan. 7, 2013

“From now on, health insurers will have to provide us with information in plain English, and in no more than four pages, about what their policies cover and how much we’ll have to pay out of our own pockets when we get sick. And they’ll have to provide it in a standard format that will enable us to make apples-to-apples comparisons among health plans. As you can imagine, insurers fought hard to kill that part of the law. That’s because they’ve profited for years by using legalese and gobbledygook in describing their policies, and also by purposely withholding information we really need to make informed coverage decisions.”

so if you had your hand in the pockets on the insurance companies that are making big profits, you'd be opposed to this...

Talking about GOP, or the thing that I work for a big health insurance company not in the us?

i think dems are right. american middle class who work for a living SHOULD have to pay for everyone elses' healthcare. but why stop there? there are plenty of people around the world who aren't getting free health care. if you are american and you work a shitty job you hate, in a factory, or as a nurse, or a whatever, you should have to pay for other people's shit. i mean, democrats say that republicans are only for the rich. and yet here they (when having full control of congress AND the presidency, and could have passed just about anything they truly wanted) passed a bill without support of the majority of people in the country, and without cooperation of the then minority party, which doesn't make those super rich, bad, capitalist asshole 1%s who they frequently claim should 'pay their fair share', pay for poor people's healthcare. it makes people who work shitty jobs to make ends meet pay for everything. and even better, all of their rich buddies in congress are exempt, and those people working in factories have to pay for their shit too! but yeah, the republicans are totally for the rich.

it's totally irrelevant that most of the worlds top richest people are running to give money to the clinton foundation and are big time buds with the man himself. it's also totally irrelevant that most of the wealthiest people in congress itself are dems. also totally irrelevant that obama had way more money donated to his campaign by rich people/organizations than romney did. it's also totally irrelevant that obama has been and continues to be super supportive of the big banks/wall street, and basically seems to think the best way to solve problems with the economy is to literally hand fat wads of cash (taken from working class tax payers) directly to the richest people, who are often the very same people who created the financial crises we have been in for years. none of this matters. republicans love the rich. republicans. republicans. rich. republicans love the rich. all republicans care about is the rich. repeat x100. again. say it again. over and over and over. keep in mind the implication that dems DON'T love the rich. and ignore those rich people carrying the dems around in their pockets. republicans are for the rich, yo!

i for one think its a pretty cool idea to give the government more control over my very body itself. all the quotes you can see of prominent dems talking about how they really want a single payer system (which isn't at all a shitty word-play disguise for saying 'government controls it all'), and which probably show that all the stress obamacare is putting on insurers is intentional to drive them out of business and achieve just that- more gov control, is a good thing! i can't wait to be denied some important medical procedure with some lame excuse and wondering if it's really because i came in here frequently to badmouth dems and obama himself! that will be fucking AWESOME. it's not like the IRS hasn't already shown that our gov is perfectly willing to treat people differently based on their political beliefs, or anything, now is it? but i guess lots of you others posting here don't have to worry about THAT. well, not unless there's a regime change, and the system you seem to be supporting is then in the opposing party's hands. but don't worry your precious heads about that! because more gov control over our lives- super awesome!

maybe one day they will tell us which of us should be allowed to reproduce, and that too would be awesome! take for example the liberal, socialist, racist, eugencist Margaret Sanger's Planned Parenthood program, which would seem impossible to not have been influenced by her many openly stated beliefs about how the gov should determine who gets to reproduce, and should discourage 'undesirables' from doing so. these people, seem to think that the program was designed to accomplish just that, and this study seems to indicate that it is doing, and has been doing for over half a century, exactly what it was intended and designed to do. weird that major (and predominantly liberal) media outlets seemingly sympathetic to the plight of minorities haven't been interested in investigating this. and by weird i mean completely surprising. i guess that nixon southern strategy may not have leeched all of the racists from the dem party over to the repubs after all (you almost have to wonder if another liberal icon who's ideas are still upheld by modern libs/dems- Kenyes, if his economic policy might have in any way been informed by his also racist ideas about eugenics, and rigged to push the minorities and poor who he detested even further down)? i for one think it would be super if those same liberals who are helping Ms Sanger achieve her dreams are finally granted by law the ability to dictate just who gets to reproduce. or maybe these facts are just, maybe i'm just misinterpreting them somehow? maybe my problem is that i'm thinking about it in the first place. why should anyone be expected to have any responsibility for their own shit? we shouldn't have to think about anything. let the nanny state take care of it/us. from their wealthy, white, ivory towers.

  On 10/2/2013 at 5:09 PM, Hoodie said:

 

  On 10/1/2013 at 1:51 PM, very honest said:

in that podcast he says he'll be able to get a "cadillac plan" for 30 bucks a month. im no expert, but that dude does lots of research, and that's a particularly motivated episode because his mom died last month, suffering in her last months because she didn't have insurance.

just because you have insurance doesn't mean it'll pay for doctor's visits. having cheap insurance is basically useless and fining people one percent of their income is fucking ridiculous.

 

Yeah, I pay a lot into my insurance coverage, which only have because I work for the state of Texas, and beyond a cheap copay for doctors visits it can get pretty dicey. For example, I went back to school, just some classes at a local community college and because I'm under 30 I had to pay $130 for a mandated meningitis vaccine. No one, not insurance nor government medicare, cover it. It's considered legally "unnecessary" by the CDC yet mandated in all 50 states. If you have a kid going to public school, they have to get it. Unless you're extremely poor, you have to pay that amount. Dems and Republicans passed that law, with hand-shaking and photo-ops with meningitis victims and all, then simply passed the bill onto us. It's insane.

My wife had a surgery 2 years ago, covered by insurance, and then almost a year later she was issued a $100,000 bill over something she was told by multiple people, in writing and on signed agreements, that she wouldn't have to pay. After a lot of phone calls it was resolved. But fuck, imagine if you're a person living week to week, working well over 40+ hours a week. People don't have time for that shit.

I rather pay my taxes, even if they are 5, 10, 15% higher for national healthcare, than to pay for a crap system I can't even enroll in nor use through SS and Medicare taxes now. That's why I understand even the most naive support for Obamacare.

  On 10/2/2013 at 4:08 PM, A/D said:

I'll tell you my motivations: I want some fucking healthcare.

PREACH

  On 10/2/2013 at 3:01 PM, jules said:

too bad obama can't suspend all their pay. or fire their asses.

i agree. too bad. checks and balances is the problem here! we need a dictatorship all the way, right buddy? blast that pesky constitution!

you do need a dictatorship if about 50% of you can't get it in your heads that universal healthcare is way, way more effective and cost effective than that disgrace that you have now.

Insurance in America.

Yeah, we cover that. Oh wait, you have THAT kind of cancer? *shuffles paperwork* Ok we don't cover that. Get well soon?

  On 10/2/2013 at 7:18 PM, joshuatx said:

 

  On 10/2/2013 at 5:09 PM, Hoodie said:

 

  On 10/1/2013 at 1:51 PM, very honest said:

in that podcast he says he'll be able to get a "cadillac plan" for 30 bucks a month. im no expert, but that dude does lots of research, and that's a particularly motivated episode because his mom died last month, suffering in her last months because she didn't have insurance.

just because you have insurance doesn't mean it'll pay for doctor's visits. having cheap insurance is basically useless and fining people one percent of their income is fucking ridiculous.

 

 

$130 for a mandated meningitis vaccine. No one, not insurance nor government medicare, cover it. It's considered legally "unnecessary" by the CDC yet mandated in all 50 states. If you have a kid going to public school, they have to get it. Unless you're extremely poor, you have to pay that amount. Dems and Republicans passed that law, with hand-shaking and photo-ops with meningitis victims and all, then simply passed the bill onto us. It's insane.

 

 

Might not apply to you, but we used to take our kids to the local public health department & pay for vaccines a nickle on the dollar. Way more expensive through our family doctor. By hundreds more expensive.

  On 10/2/2013 at 8:35 PM, Candiru said:

Insurance in America.

 

Yeah, we cover that. Oh wait, you have THAT kind of cancer? *shuffles paperwork* Ok we don't cover that. Get well soon?

THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I'M SAYING!!

mandating that people waste at least fifty bucks a month on something that literally will do nothing for them (the co-pay for doctor's visits is probably about the same price as non-insured people) is bullshit. expand medicaid and end this fucking sham.

  On 10/2/2013 at 7:25 PM, MisterE said:

 

  On 10/2/2013 at 3:01 PM, jules said:

too bad obama can't suspend all their pay. or fire their asses.

i agree. too bad. checks and balances is the problem here! we need a dictatorship all the way, right buddy? blast that pesky constitution!

 

The constitution here specifies how to handle situations when parliament can't reach a consensus, showing a true testament to the writing of the constitution and forethought that went into it *smug*