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Mr. Freeze

us government shutdown - it's happening

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Kontra Kommando said:

Uhh, that's both parties right now. The democrats want a certain amount of funding for their programs (especially Obamacare); the republicans disagree on allowing the requested amount of funding for those programs. It all depends on how you see it.

I'm under the impression funding has already been secured for Obamacare and the republicans are demanding that the program's implementation be deferred.

Dragonsbrethren said:

Your dept obsession reminds me of George Fiffy's elevator obsession. What ever happened to that guy, anyway?

Probably stuck in an elevator somewhere and eating some of his own body parts in a desperate attempt to stay alive.

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Aliotroph? said:

Yeah, and they put him on money! Zap Brannigan is probably one of his descendants.


It's ironic that he's on the $20 bill considering he hated the idea of paper currency. But at least he gets to be on top of strippers all the time.

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SNL had a Gravity / NASA shutdown sketch.

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Technician said:

America will pay for reelecting Obongo.

-GOP


EDIT: The world will pay for America reelecting Obongo.

Though I don't think the government would allow this to happen really. If anything, they might have to do something unprecedented in american history, and force congress to pass a preliminary budget (I'm guessing). They're not going to let partisan bullshit cause an existential threat to life as we know it. The United States forged this current world order out of a world war with the Axis, and a cold war, with the USSR to set up a globalized free-market world, where everything is traded in dollars. to let all of that go to waste over a small minority of right-wing extremests, would be ridiculous. If they did, I'm sure the tea party would be sought out, and eliminated by powerful interests that lost big due to the default. Think of all the high-powered multi-national business interests that would lose out because of this. They'll piss off too many people that could facilitate their assasinations.

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NiTROACTiVE said:

OK, now is it safe to say that America is fucked?

No.

Technician said:

I wonder if it's too late to invest my savings into gold and bury it on a desert island.

Better to buy the island and convince others there's gold buried on it; sell claims.

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I was talking to my friend who works in finance, and explained this to me: If the dollar lost its value, we would basically become like the Wiemar Republic, where you would trade a wheel barrow full of books for a loaf of bread. We would revert to a barter system, because our money would be worthless or have little value.

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Dragonsbrethren said:

Is your friend interested in purchasing a land claim on a desert island that has gold buried on it*?

*Approx. 0.005 ppm


idk, but he just bought a house, and if this default happens, he will be butchered with the mortgage interest rate sky-rocketing.

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NiTROACTiVE said:

OK, now is it safe to say that America is fucked?

Not yet.

Technician said:

I wonder if it's too late to invest my savings into gold and bury it on a desert island.

Buy a farm and learn to grow stuff - you can't eat gold.

Spoiler

Actually, you can safely eat gold but it has zero calorific value.

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Ichor said:

Ghostbusters video

I was reading the script for this scene and Bill Murray's famous cats and dogs line was a complete ad lib not in the script, which is probably why you may notice he almost laughs. Love that part.

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Well the shutdown isn't shut down anymore. All hail the people that saved the government who put the government shutdown in place anyway.

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geo said:

Well the shutdown isn't shut down anymore. All hail the people that saved the government who put the government shutdown in place anyway.

It isn't? So public servants are going to get paid?

I haven't really been following the news, so this is new to me.

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I guess the shutdown is still on but they're voting on something. My bad for reading just news headlines.

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Dunno what you're talking about, this Greek finance website says that the debt ceiling has been raised.

Remember what I said a few pages ago?

Maes said:

What did they do last time (last year)? They just raised the debt ceiling, printed some more greenbacks and everything was fine and dandy for another year. They can do it this time too. The USA as a whole is too good a "thing going on" to just let it fail because of a formality. Even the EU's "leaders" wouldn't be that dimwitted.


Q.E.D., the debt ceiling was raised, and everything will be fine and dandy until January-February, when they'll probably repeat the same drill.

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What does the debt finance ceiling mean? We can borrow more? Or they're splitting our money where ever $1 = half $1?

Oh and since GTA V has been out a few weeks guess they can get back to work now.

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I thought it meant like, raising the limit on your credit card. Maybe that's a simplistic view, though.

It sure doesn't sound good at all... I might want to start learning Chinese Cantonese...

EDIT: struck out subtle racism

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geo said:

What does the debt finance ceiling mean? We can borrow more?


Essentially, you can borrow more before someone starts crying wolf all over again.

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Who the fuck would loan the US money? Well America, I see how good your credit is. Here have more money.

Government is a business. We need to be in the green. And maybe we're really in the green, but its in someone's pocket marked as 'debt.'

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Wouldn't a lack of debt under our current global financial system just... not work? I thought countries propped each other up (maybe hung each other up, would be a better visual) using each other's debt.

Also, I believe cashing in on American debt would probably render that held debt worthless, like, within minutes. Not that anyone would ever buy that much debt at once. For instance, isn't China quietly buying up copper and burying it in the ground for later? If they ever cashed in on too much juicy American debt at once, I don't think it would be worth much by the time they were finished offloading it.

Hopefully I'm not wrong, I can't find a source for that now, so who knows... I still think the first part of the above paragraph is accurate at least.

geo said:

Who the fuck would loan the US money? Well America, I see how good your credit is. Here have more money.

I believe the answer is: people who aren't spending their own money. I.e. other governments.

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schwerpunk said:

I thought it meant like, raising the limit on your credit card. Maybe that's a simplistic view, though.


NO, IT ISN'T SIMPLISTIC. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THE FUCK IT IS.

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All countries have a variable amount of debt, usually pretty high (>50%). It's not having debt per-se that's bad. Debt is used to fund projects, create jobs, economic growth etc. or at least so it should be. Without a certain amount of debt, most countries would not be able to do much more than closing their borders and live off the land.

Of course, in order for this work, the loans a country takes must aid in creating more wealth, whose surplus can then be used to -also- repay those old debts.

It's losing the ability (or the faith of your creditors in you) to keep repaying them in time that is catastrophic. At any given time, there are long term and short term debts. It's usually after failing or struggling to pay some short term ones for whatever reason that entire countries can be put in a world of hurt and shit.


Also, Some countries can keep a consistently high debt figure without anyone throwing a fit, while others really can't afford to go beyond 10% without everything turning to shit. It's also a matter of politics, big business, etc.

The USA was never in any real danger of "defaulting on its debts": there's enough wealth created to keep those short-term debts rollin' like a Swiss clock, and enough trust in to to continue borrowing, which in turns shuts up some short-term debts etc. and the cycle continues.

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Maes said:

Dunno what you're talking about, this Greek finance website says that the debt ceiling has been raised.

The bill has been agreed, but still needs to be voted through. There's still time for someone to screw it up, heh. Bit like negotiating a contract and then waiting for someone to sign it, but there's no guarantee they will.

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DooMAD said:

The bill has been agreed, but still needs to be voted through. There's still time for someone to screw it up, heh. Bit like negotiating a contract and then waiting for someone to sign it, but there's no guarantee they will.


Companies give signing bonuses where they'll give you money for nothing so you can go out and buy your own whatever you want. Congress should do this. Signing bonus. Its not a bribe when its a signing bonus.

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