The government will shut down and Trump, Musk, and the MAGA minions are gonna blame Johnson for not having leadership qualities and dems for not supporting either bill. They always move the goalposts to avoid blame. Johnson is toast and I hope the public know who to blame instead of what is being fed to them by the right wing echo chamber.
Great post, but your support of the Social Security Fairness Act is wrong. It is a boondoggle to public pensioners who didn't pay a dime into Social Security as a trade-off for very generous public pensions. It is a boondoggle on steroids. It will not only hasten Social Security's bankruptcy but also make the challenge of needed reforms even more difficult.
Wasn’t my goal to take a position on the bill one way or the other! Hoped to lay out the arguments for both sides — noted that it makes sense politically why it has such broad support, but of course the politics of it are separate from whether it’s good policy.
There are already trade offs if you work for a company that paid into social security I am in favor of no SS if you worked for the government and they are providing pensions
They should set an upward ceiling of income/pension at which you will no longer receive SS benefits
We owe this budget mess to President Jimmy Carter's Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti. He wrote an opinion, that if the government spent money, with no authorization, that was unconstitutional, despite the fact, that the government had been doing that for over 180 years.
If at the end of the fiscal year, no new authorizations for this, that, or the entire government had been approved by Congress, the government kept on functioning as if it had been authorized, under the limits of the previous authorizations. No new positions could be created, no excess spending, beyond what had been allowed the previous year, and government just functioned fine.
Congress should consider making the former way, pre-Carter, the Law of the Land, and end this made for TV specials, on funding the government.
Why not just bankrupt the government so his cronies can line their pockets? Donald has a long history of that, borrowing money that he never pays back. What makes you think he would run the country any differently ? But this time, the bank is American taxpayers, with a trickle up model and even more redistribution from the poor to the rich. Where is Robinhood ?
Just curious: If the federal government is shut down, won't that affect the inaguration? Or, at the very least, the hoopla? Can a shut government pay for security, presidential move out/in, and all the other expenses not covered by inagural donors?
The Rs have little hope of getting anything by the Ds in the senate in any event. And where is Biden on all this? The CR charade needs to be replaced by individual appropriation bills. Another great Gabe report...thank you.
Christmas tree. Yes, each one of those programs that passed is funded at a level that is not even a rounding error in the total budget, but a million here, a million there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money (attributed to the late, great Everett Dickson). Not that they are not worthy causes, but (a) are they all things the government should be doing, and (b) why not take a look at ALL these programs together and their financial impact?
The #DirtyOldMan and his giant man baby Elon will have a government of the money, by the money, and for the money. Thanks for this report.
The government will shut down and Trump, Musk, and the MAGA minions are gonna blame Johnson for not having leadership qualities and dems for not supporting either bill. They always move the goalposts to avoid blame. Johnson is toast and I hope the public know who to blame instead of what is being fed to them by the right wing echo chamber.
Great post, but your support of the Social Security Fairness Act is wrong. It is a boondoggle to public pensioners who didn't pay a dime into Social Security as a trade-off for very generous public pensions. It is a boondoggle on steroids. It will not only hasten Social Security's bankruptcy but also make the challenge of needed reforms even more difficult.
Wasn’t my goal to take a position on the bill one way or the other! Hoped to lay out the arguments for both sides — noted that it makes sense politically why it has such broad support, but of course the politics of it are separate from whether it’s good policy.
There are already trade offs if you work for a company that paid into social security I am in favor of no SS if you worked for the government and they are providing pensions
They should set an upward ceiling of income/pension at which you will no longer receive SS benefits
We owe this budget mess to President Jimmy Carter's Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti. He wrote an opinion, that if the government spent money, with no authorization, that was unconstitutional, despite the fact, that the government had been doing that for over 180 years.
If at the end of the fiscal year, no new authorizations for this, that, or the entire government had been approved by Congress, the government kept on functioning as if it had been authorized, under the limits of the previous authorizations. No new positions could be created, no excess spending, beyond what had been allowed the previous year, and government just functioned fine.
Congress should consider making the former way, pre-Carter, the Law of the Land, and end this made for TV specials, on funding the government.
Only one mistake It is now shadow president Musk and titular president Trump
I had no idea Congress actually does complete tasks in addition to their operatic drama! Thanks for including the function with the dysfunction, Gabe!
Why not just bankrupt the government so his cronies can line their pockets? Donald has a long history of that, borrowing money that he never pays back. What makes you think he would run the country any differently ? But this time, the bank is American taxpayers, with a trickle up model and even more redistribution from the poor to the rich. Where is Robinhood ?
It got done
Just curious: If the federal government is shut down, won't that affect the inaguration? Or, at the very least, the hoopla? Can a shut government pay for security, presidential move out/in, and all the other expenses not covered by inagural donors?
Good and interesting thought.
Michael I assume you mean my comment about hiding out vs Bill Murray’s great line in Ghostbusters, Ray has gone bye bye
We won’t know but I would like to hope Biden has a high note to go out on
When time is of the essence, things get done, so that the members of Congress can show what they passed, whether signed into law or not.
The Rs have little hope of getting anything by the Ds in the senate in any event. And where is Biden on all this? The CR charade needs to be replaced by individual appropriation bills. Another great Gabe report...thank you.
I'm hoping Biden is intentionally hiding out and letting the Republicans be responsible for this dumpster fire
How could you tell the difference?
Christmas tree. Yes, each one of those programs that passed is funded at a level that is not even a rounding error in the total budget, but a million here, a million there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money (attributed to the late, great Everett Dickson). Not that they are not worthy causes, but (a) are they all things the government should be doing, and (b) why not take a look at ALL these programs together and their financial impact?
Any reason the EXPLORE Act was not featured? A small mention of expanding broadband at the parks was noted, but it does so much more than that.
PE Trump has to start manning the phones and getting his folks in line like a real politician.