Open thread October 1, 2013
Sorry for the late posting….but no access till now.
Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.
Sorry for the late posting….but no access till now.
Republicans and Democrats accuse each other of being unwilling to compromise resulting in the current government shutdown. But, really, there is no compromise possible. One side wants to shrink government, one side wants to grow government. Not a lot of middle ground there.
So the issue will be decided in the opinion polls. I hope I am wrong, but my guess is that with so many people dependent on the government, the Dems win.
There’s no real reason for the government to be shut down. The way it will start up in regular operation again is through the HofReps decision to start it up. This would be boring if it weren’t so threatening.No one wins in this shut down. I have never seen such amateur theatrics on the part of the HofReps or any other branch of government. Nancy O
i was surprised that even the historical data from census and the BEA is unavailable…
SHUT DOWN: Bureau of Economic Analysis will be unavailable until further notice.: Due to the lapse in government funding, http://www.bea.gov will be unavailable until further notice. This includes access to all data and the e-File system.
We sincerely regret this inconvenience.
i’m told that’s true for USDA as well….
meanwhile, Aaron Carroll is getting angry:
At the NIH, Director Francis Collins said about 200 patients who otherwise would be admitted to the NIH Clinical Center for clinical trials each week will be turned away. This includes about 30 children, most of them cancer patients, he said.
Do you know who goes to the NIH itself for cancer care? People for whom no other options exist. They are usually the people with the worst disease, who don’t have much hope anywhere else. They go to the NIH to get cutting edge experimental treatment.
As Congress sits around this week playing for “optics” and trying to “win some points”, I hope they take a few minutes to consider what the parents of these kids must feel like. Just reopen the government; you can all feel free to being your bickering again then. But this is unbearable.
Send the following to your Senator:
Why not take those bills to the Senate, laud the House for taking a step forward given that they have passed a budget bill without reference to ACA, and attach an amendment to refund the entire government? Seems like a no brainer. Don’t argue about piece meal budgeting. Accept the bills as a step forward regardless of the inane intent of the House Republicans. Just expand the legislation to a full budget bill. Then put the ball back into the House court.
The Democratic Senators should actually raise the ante and include an increase in the budget spending as a part of the CR. Republicans are feeding BS to the people. Take the BS and turn it into fertilizer.
one can be very specific, Jack…the CR also continues the sequestered budget cuts; it shouldnt; the Dems should refuse to pass a CR without repealing the sequester…two can play at this hostage game..