The (un)Affordable Health Care Act & Debt Ceiling Controversies

[David in FL]

Good to hear from our resident socialist. As for me, I'm gonna get back to work, earning the additional money that I need to in order to pay for other people's "affordable health care".....

[Mr. Desmond]

Good to hear from our resident socialist.

As for me, I'm gonna get back to work, earning the additional money that I need to in order to pay for other people's "affordable health care".....

Oh, so you'd like to default?

And as usual, you have no argument, just a name calling session.

Yawn...

Stop. Talk about Congress or the Prez, but not each other. It's infantile.

[David in FL]

Nope. I agree with you, Obama, and everyone else incapable of balancing a checkbook........sell bonds to the Chinese as long as they're dumb enough to buy them, then just print money after that. Gotta say though, I don't understand why you don't like being called socialist......I don't mind being called conservative. We are what we are..... I'm gonna stay out of this though. I'll stick to golf on the golf forum, at least until the mid-terms...... ;-)

[Golfingdad]

As for me, I'm gonna get back to work, earning the additional money that I need to in order to pay for other people's "affordable health care".....

I understand the skepticism, but this, to me, seems short-sighted.  As it is, those of us fortunate enough to have health care are already paying for other people's care in the form of higher than necessary premiums, and $100 aspirin from the hospital, are we not?  The whole entire industry is one giant racket.  I believe the vast majority of people out there can at least agree that the current (previous?) health care system we have is not good.  My view is simply that any attempt to fix it is a good one.  If it ends up being a worse system, people won't stand for it, and like somebody mentioned up above, it will go the way of prohibition.  But, if people give it a chance, maybe, just maybe it will turn out good for all?  It would be easy enough to tweak it as necessary along the way.

Basically, any attempt at all to try something different HAS to be better than the status quo.

P.S.  You are wise to stay away from this thread.  I actually thought to myself the other day "It's sure been a long time since we've had a politics thread on here, and I'm really glad."  Then I saw this one, and I said "I'll stay away, it never turns out good."  And yet, like a dummy, here I am.

[bplewis24]

Not going to get too political here but if you think this the shutdown is due to tea-partiers alone then you're mis-informed.  This is a game of chicken between the democrats and republicans, only they aren't in the cars, we are, and neither side cares who gets hurt as long as their side wins.

You are kidding yourself.  This is 100% because of the Tea Partiers.  Not only are they the ignorant ones who know nothing about the bill they want to defund, but if not for the "moderate" republicans worried about being primaried, this thing would be past us already because the votes are there.

Good to hear from our resident socialist.

As for me, I'm gonna get back to work, earning the additional money that I need to in order to pay for other people's "affordable health care".....

Newsflash, you're already paying for it, as am I.  The difference is that it's not affordable now, because of the way we're paying for it (and because of who isn't).  Get out of the bubble.

[mdl]

Amen.  I always wanna write overly long disquisitions on these threads proving sentence by sentence how many posters are misinformed, don't understand, or simply contradict themselves.  But that about sums it up.  Sorry that reality has a liberal bias.

[Mr. Desmond]

The worst thing is we've hoisted ourselves by our own petard.

This is the beginning of Chinese dominance over the US.

We've lost influence to the Commies, and the GOP did us in.

hoist by one's own petard

1. ( idiomatic ) To be hurt , or destroyed by one's own plot or device, of one's own doing which one intended for another; to be "blown up by one's own bomb".

   He has no one to blame but himself; he was hoisted by his own petard .

[JCRuzanski]

Just so we can get off the Commie Red Scare and back to reality, Japan is once again the largest holder of U.S. debt.

[Mr. Desmond]

Just so we can get off the Commie Red Scare and back to reality, Japan is once again the largest holder of U.S. debt.

The reality is that China is lobbying to get the world community away from the dollar as the currency of choice.

When that happens, our ability to dominate erodes.

China's GDP is also double that of Japan and growing rapidly. The US has time to get its act together but the trend is not favorably when you have Ted Cruz arm-twisting tea baggers and Jim DeMent of the Heritage Foundation attempting to control the House by saying this is a key vote - and we will downgrade your conservatism if you don't vote our way ... and one of these clowns is in the Senate and the other is not even an elected official. Boehner doesn't have much of a chance if he won't bring a vote unless he has a  majority of his caucus.

Here is a conservative Dallas businessman with ties to the Bush family on the tea baggers:

"We are not looking for a wrecking party to govern,” said Jim Oberwetter, the head of the Dallas Regional Chamber and a former executive with Hunt Oil Co. who has close ties to the Bush family. “That is nonsensical. … In a country like ours, you have to make compromises.”

The tea party, he said, has become a voice for anarchy and business leaders should stand up for the kind of political approach that values solutions over ideology.

[dsc123]

I think its appalling that it has come to this.  Like it or not, the ACA passed.  That's how democracy works.  The republicans have had what, 41 failed attempts to repeal it?  Fine, that's how you're supposed to get rid of a law you don't like.  But to then shutdown the gov't and refuse to raise the debt limit unless you get what you don't have the votes to pass....I really hate the adults vs children analogy, but its just so true here.  I get the opposition to the ACA, but the repubs are just taking the ball and going home.

In the end, everyone agrees that the government should not be shut down and that the debt celing should be raised, so what gives?

---

What would be the golf equivalent of this?  The best I can come up with is that your paired up with MEFree for the first tee time in a big tournament governed by the Rules of Golf.  MEFree had been petitioning the committee for weeks to enact a local rule treating OB as laterals but nobody agreed with him.  So when he gets to the first hole, he walks out to the green, removes the flagstick, sits on the hole, and says "F all of you, nobody is playing golf unless you agree to play OB as laterals."  When people come up and ask him to move, MEFree says "blame them, they won't even negotiate with me.  I just have to get something, i don't even know what, in exchange for allowing the tournament to go forward."

[Stretch]

Former Washington political leech, happily out of it for years, took a look at the aggregate polling data the other day and -- oh mama -- the GOP is just getting killed. This is the kind of seismic event that dogs you for a decade, or more. I don't give a flying **** about ideology but, practically, the right right wing has removed its own nuts and can now snack on them at leisure.

Full default would be a no-shit nuclear strike. Everyone is going to catch some fallout -- but if the majority settles on your particular patch, you are going to be glowing for a very long time.

[Lihu]

Mr. Desmond

This is the beginning of Chinese dominance over the US.  We've lost influence to the Commies, and the GOP did us in.

Just so we can get off the Commie Red Scare and back to reality, Japan is once again the largest holder of U.S. debt.

China's GDP is also double that of Japan and growing rapidly...

First of all, China is not a "communism", it is a benevolent oligarchy with semi-guiding principles of communism. The principle difference between our government and theirs is that if something is not going correctly, they can react immediately.

Secondly, their economy is tied to ours. If we go, they go. Everyone will go as well.

If this happens, other the Pacific rim countries (possibly even with states like California) will band together and form a Pacific Alliance to prevent the further collapse of their economies. They will rebuild their economies with or without the US. So, China is not actively lobbying to get away from our currency, I believe they are preparing a contingency.

The only thing I can think of is why we have 800,000 people on vacation. I am saying vacation because they will more than likely get all the back pay they have lost during the shutdown.

How is this helping our economy?

I think we have over educated intellectuals in our government who collectively behave like an imbecile.

[boogielicious]

This thread is going to get as nasty as the Jack or Tiger thread.

I have a lot of respect for real Republicans and have many friends who are.  I have no respect for the Me (err Tea) Party.  If we could marginalize them along with the far left nut jobs, then the country would run a lot smoother.

[Lihu]

This thread is going to get as nasty as the Jack or Tiger thread.

I have a lot of respect for real Republicans and have many friends who are.  I have no respect for the Me (err Tea) Party.  If we could marginalize them along with the far left nut jobs, then the country would run a lot smoother.

Marginalized or not, they are empowered to create laws and vote on them...

[boogielicious]

Marginalized or not, they are empowered to create laws and vote on them...

They are only empowered because the majority of Republicans are allowing them to be.  Mainstream GOP needs to take back their party.  And right now, they are not making laws, only wreaking havoc.

[Lihu]

They are only empowered because the majority of Republicans are allowing them to be.  Mainstream GOP needs to take back their party.  And right now, they are not making laws, only wreaking havoc.

Yes, havoc...

[mmoan2]

This thread is going to get as nasty as the Jack or Tiger thread.

I have a lot of respect for real Republicans and have many friends who are.  I have no respect for the Me (err Tea) Party.  If we could marginalize them along with the far left nut jobs, then the country would run a lot smoother.

I think the Jack and Tiger thread should be printed out page by page and sent to the World Golf Hall of Fame in Florida! I imagine several marriages ended because husbands were found by wives screaming at the computer. From 2008-2013 is it? Jeesh!!!!

[newtogolf]

They are only empowered because the majority of Republicans are allowing them to be.  Mainstream GOP needs to take back their party.  And right now, they are not making laws, only wreaking havoc.

Unfortunately, I don't believe there is a mainstream GOP at this point.  The party is splintered between the tea partiers, the religious right and libertarians.  Each group inside the GOP is jockeying for power and causing each member to take sides within the party.