[Peace-discuss] AFL-CIO: 8 Things You Need to Know About the Shutdown

Fri Oct 4 04:20:54 UTC 2013

I think it's just make-believe partisan crap, exaggeration, accelerated 
nonsense.

Shame on all those who support the Obot.

On 10/04/13 10:07, Robert Naiman wrote:
> If they were shutting down the Pentagon, I might have some sympathy 
> for your position. But that's the one part of the government that 
> they're not shutting down.
>
> There is a big problem with the partisan discussion - it's excluding 
> the Pentagon. A key reason that I agreed to host this event was to 
> make sure that the Pentagon was included in the discussion.
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 7:06 PM, "E. Wayne Johnson 朱稳森" 
> <ewj at pigsqq.org <mailto:ewj at pigsqq.org>> wrote:
>
>     Let's find ways to make the shutdown permanent.
>
>
>
>     On 10/04/13 5:31, Robert Naiman wrote:
>>
>>     http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/8-Things-You-Need-to-Know-About-the-Shutdown
>>
>>     8 Things You Need to Know About the Shutdown
>>     Seth D. Michaels
>>
>>     This post originally appeared at Working America.
>>
>>     In case you haven’t heard, the government shut down [Tuesday
>>     morning] as Congress failed to pass a “continuing resolution” to
>>     keep it operating. You’ll hear a lot of people saying this is a
>>     “standoff” or a simple case of two sides being unable to
>>     compromise. But it’s not politics as usual—it’s an unusual, and
>>     dangerous, hijacking of politics by a determined minority. Here
>>     are eight things to keep in mind as you watch this play out.
>>
>>     1. It’s Totally Optional: First and foremost, there’s no reason
>>     for a shutdown, except that House Republicans refuse to pass a
>>     continuing resolution (CR) without attaching unrelated provisions
>>     to undermine the Affordable Care Act. This is not an inevitable
>>     crisis. It’s a manufactured one.
>>
>>     2. About 800,000 People Aren’t Working, Many Working Without Pay:
>>     That’s according to this good, comprehensive overview by Brad
>>     Plumer of The Washington Post. “Non-essential employees” like
>>     medical researchers, pesticide regulators, wage-law enforcement
>>     officials and veterans’ benefits processors are staying home
>>     today, and it’s unclear whether they’ll get back pay. That hit
>>     households hard.*
>>
>>     3. A Lot of People Could Go Without Benefits: Per Plumer’s
>>     report, some services provided by the government—like disability
>>     claims and pensions for veterans and food aid for low-income
>>     parents—will fall short if the shutdown goes on too long.
>>
>>     4. That’s Awful for the Economy: When people don’t get the money
>>     they’re expecting to get, they can’t do things like buy food or
>>     pay rent. When families and businesses don’t know when government
>>     will re-open, that makes matters worse. One economic research
>>     firm estimates the cost of a shutdown to our economy at $300
>>     million a day.
>>
>>     5. Senate Democrats Have Already Compromised: The CR that Senate
>>     Democrats have passed, multiple times, isn’t based on their ideal
>>     budget. It’s based on the House Republicans’ lower spending
>>     levels, which lock in place sequestration cuts.
>>
>>     6. Keeping the Government Open Isn’t a Concession: House
>>     Republicans are trying to say that they’re just trying to
>>     “negotiate” with the Senate. But “do what we say or the economy
>>     gets it” isn’t a “negotiation.” It does not constitute a
>>     compromise on their part to “offer” to fund government
>>     operations. It’s called “governing.”
>>
>>     7. Many Republicans Understand What They’re Doing Is Crazy, Are
>>     Doing It Anyway: It’s simply not the case that most, or even all,
>>     Republicans, are enthusiastic about forcing a standoff. Even
>>     conservative writers admit that this is about a small, committed
>>     ideological caucus within the Republican Party. As Kate Nocera
>>     reports, Wisconsin Republican Reid Ribble called the shutdown
>>     strategy “irrational” and admitted that it would cause “risk to
>>     our economy.” And yet—out of loyalty to leadership, fear of a
>>     primary opponent or some other mysterious reason—he voted with
>>     the rest of his party for the “irrational” and economy-damaging
>>     strategy at every opportunity. You get zero credit for knowing
>>     the right thing if you keep doing the wrong thing anyway.
>>
>>     8. It’s Undemocratic: Government by manufactured crisis and
>>     hostage-taking violates the basic norms of democracy—and the
>>     polls show that shutting down government to block or undermine
>>     the new health care law is a deeply unpopular position.
>>     Republicans are engaging in this behavior because they couldn’t
>>     win enough power in elections to get what they want any other
>>     way. It’s absurd to accept that as normal.
>>
>>     As this situation unfolds, keep those eight points in mind.
>>
>>     *Full disclosure: as the spouse of a federal employee, I’m part
>>     of one of these hard-hit households.
>>
>>     -- 
>>     Robert Naiman
>>     Policy Director
>>     Just Foreign Policy
>>     www.justforeignpolicy.org <http://www.justforeignpolicy.org>
>>     naiman at justforeignpolicy.org <mailto:naiman at justforeignpolicy.org>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Robert Naiman
> Policy Director
> Just Foreign Policy
> www.justforeignpolicy.org <http://www.justforeignpolicy.org>
> naiman at justforeignpolicy.org <mailto:naiman at justforeignpolicy.org>

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