A Government Slowdown, not Shutdown

So by midnight, our Federal Government will likely 'shutdown'.

Sounds like a typical scare tactic. In fact, the Federal Government will not necessarily shutdown, people will still go about they're daily lives as if nothing even happened. However, places such as National Parks and Museums will close, the IRS will be unable to process tax returns, the EPA won't be reviewing environmental impact studies and most government websites will be offline.

But the really good news, Congress won't be able to pass any laws.

That should actually make liberals very happy, when you consider that they spew this "we want freedom" philosophy all the time, and should also make conservatives happy as well, since they don't want big government.

And what is President Obama doing about this? Fund raising for his 2012 re-election...

True however, that President Obama apparently met with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to discuss cuts in spending and as usual, neither one of these stupid political parties can find common ground. And it is apparent that neither party really has the consideration of the will for the American people.

Liberal Democrats want higher taxes for wealthy Americans, failing to take into consideration that once the super rich receive such tax increases, they'll move elsewhere... by the way, hypocrisy from the wealthy in Hollywood who are liberal, but don't want to participate at all in any form of sacrifice. Even if that was the case to impose a higher tax on every single millionaire or billionaire in this country, it would still accumulate to less than the yearly deficit of over $1 trillion and the national debt, which is likely to pass $15 trillion by the end of September.


As it stands right now, the main issue holding up the passage of a budget, is the fact that Senator Reid is whining about planned parenthood. Notice that liberals never seem to want to address abortion and have no problem with it, but they're against the death penalty? Apparently Senator Reid sincerely believes tax payers should pay into a program that supports planned parenthood for women, even though the country is fundamentally broke and can't afford the expense of other nationalized programs. So if tax payers pay for contraception to stop women from having babies, Senator Reid will be satisfied and a budget can be passed.

Sounds like Senator Reid is getting inspiration from Chairman Mao.

Conservative Republicans meanwhile want spending cuts, including military funding. In any case, our armed forces overseas should still receive their paychecks, which liberals again won't give any consideration to. It seems pretty clear that the spending is the actual problem in Washington D.C. Keep paying those ridiculous pensions to 22 million federal workers, and keep those borders open so we can pay billions of dollars each year on illegal immigration.

And finally, to be frank, the Democratic lawmakers both in the House and Senate, have nobody else to blame except themselves on this issue. They had last September, before the election, when they still controlled both houses in Congress to pass a budget. They failed to do so.

So, in my opinion, bring a government shutdown. It will not necessarily shutdown, but rather just slow down the process. And with the exception of tax payers still on the hook either way, I'd like to see this as a learning lesson for these dumb politicians in Washington. Maybe they can see the kinds of problems they've created for years.

Geithner pressuring Republicans to raise debt limit

U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, is making a fuss today because he is putting pressure on Republican lawmakers to raise the limits on the country's $14 trillion national debt, cautioning that if no action is taken, it would lead to another economic collapse.

Geithner apparently wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid which stated that the United States might hit the debt ceiling level allowed by March 31st; his suggestion to the newly Republican controlled House of Representatives is to raise the level to avoid pushing the United States into default.

Already the bickering has started. House Speaker John Boehner released a statement that said:
"The American people will not stand for such an increase unless it is accompanied by meaningful action by the president and Congress to cut spending and end the job-killing spending binge in Washington."

Republicans primary argument is to not default, but not continue to borrow recklessly, while Geithner believes if no action is taken, the United States will begin to default on its obligations and would no longer be in a position to make interest payments, which alone total $21 billion a month for this fiscal year. He thinks that this would lead to something much more catastrophic than what was seen in 2008 and 2009.

Nonetheless, foreign lenders including China and Japan have voiced their concerns, especially seeing the financial turmoil in countries like Greece and Ireland. Those countries couldn't meet their obligations and eventually had to be bailed out. Something that Geithner is seeking to avoid again.

Seems like his primary focus is to continue to spend money so that you have revenues taken to support the debt obligations. Either way you look at it, the situation appears grim. You've got one party that wants to spend and borrow, and one party that wants to cut spending across the board.

Yet, isn't it interesting that for the last two years, Secretary Geithner has made little to no comment whatsoever about the impacts of our growing national debt, until just now?

Republicans to block bill, until tax cuts extended

Considered bold by some, Republican Senate leaders have all come together (yes, all 42 of them) to block all current and future legislation until the tax cuts are extended and they can agree on a bill that will properly fund the Federal Government.

While President Obama is in a crisis mode, trying to figure out how to address the situation, Republican Senators remain firm on the matter wanting to only concentrate their efforts on the tax and spending bills before the end of the year. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says all Democratic Senators are doing is simply "ignoring" what the voters decided on in the Midterm elections.

Democratic Senators lead by Majority Leader Harry Reid, say the pack is threatening their attempts to lift controversial legislation such as allowing openly gay members to serve in the military, and the DREAM Act, a Congressional measure to allow illegal aliens under the age of 16 a path to citizenship, and to go to college.

Republicans overwhelmingly do not support the DREAM Act because they say it is simply a form of amnesty. The measure seems more or less, targeted at a majority of Latinos and Hispanics who support the measure, yet even special interest groups have begun to criticize Senator Reid and President Obama for simply not doing enough to support the DREAM Act, and to repeal the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, which Republicans want as remaining legislation.

Its nothing that we have not seen before in partisan politics, but we can definitively see why it is called the 'Lame Duck Congress'... You'll have one party saying no, and the other party saying yes, and with no compromise. 

But probably the most important issue is the tax cuts themselves. Too many people are struggling and cannot deal with being taxed to death any longer. That should be the top priority among the Senate, not the DREAM Act and not the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy.

Election Results: Some good, some bad

There is absolutely no question that this was a difficult midterm election, and it appeared that Republicans took back the U.S. House of Representatives now holding 239, with 185 held by the Democrats. House Minority Leader John Boehner is anticipating taking over as Speaker of the House from Nancy Pelosi, and that is a blessing in disguise. Pelosi's position as Speaker has probably been more embarassing than some of the things Sarah Palin has said, and Democrats even said that if they were to continue to control of Congress, they would have replaced Pelosi as well. She was beyond awful.

It is pretty clear that Americans all across the country voted out some of the long time incumbents within the House, but that was not the case in the U.S. Senate with Democrats holding on 51 seats, compared to 46 seats held by Republicans. Some of the tea-party favorites such as Florida Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio defeated his main opponent, Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who was running as an Independent. Rand Paul defeated Jack Conway by a landslide in Kentucky. Some of the others such as Christine O'Donnell, another tea-party favorite, pretty much cut her own throat, and was defeated by Democrat Chris Coons for the Delaware Senate.

In a surprising turn of events, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid came back and defeated tea-party favorite Sharron Angle for Nevada, at was seems to be virtually at the last minute. Other U.S. Senators that held their seats included Incumbent Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, in a very disappointing election in California, voters decided to re-elect Incumbent Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, who really needs to just retire.

Now that Republicans have taken control of the House, Americans are skeptical, but anticipating, that they will stop the bleeding spending on the federal level. Already, Speaker-elect, John Boehner has entertained the notion of repealing President Obama's controversial Healthcare Reform Bill, but if that is the case, President Obama could always veto the decision, unless Congress could overturn any veto by a 2/3 majority.
We'll see.

The truth of the matter is, while this midterm has certainly sent a message across the nation and to Washington concerning the nation's concern with massive spending and governmental control, there will also be a greater sense of divisiveness in terms of actually getting progress done through Congress. It is fair to say that the Republicans are going to try to cut the federal spending, which is in itself good, but I sincerely doubt there will be any "compromise" between the now Republican controlled House, with the Senate and President Obama.

The coming months all the way to the 2012 election, will display a very interesting slate of events.