The Can Kicked Down the Road – Will we Ever Recycle It?
by Joseph
On October 1, at 00:01 am, the government was forced to partially shut down. The dispute that brought this about was over the budget that Congress had not agreed upon. The Senate, controlled by the Democrats, had made a budget that included funding for Obamacare, which was about to take effect. They passed it on to the House, which is controlled by the Republicans. They, not wanting to increase the huge $17 trillion debt, passed the budget back to the House with Obamacare delayed until next year. The Democrats didn’t agree to that, so at midnight, without a budget in place for the new fiscal year, all federal services stopped.
Government services stopped includes:
National museums and parks
WIC (Women, Infants and Children) funding
NASA (97% of employees furloughed)
US Supreme Court (6 people working for 2-3 hours each)
Though some things were not directly included in the budget, many additional aspects of society were affected:
Wall Street stocks
Dairy farmers (who receive checks from federal sources)
UW system (funding from NIH is gone)
Even though the government is back up and running now, perhaps one of the most detrimental effects that came during the shutdown will linger; faith in the US treasury has decreased. Obama was forced to miss a series of Asian-Pacific summits to deal with the shutdown. Secretary of state John Kerry took his place. That day, the Russian and Chinese leaders criticized the US, and questioned its reliability. A debate featured a top official of China’s central bank. He had about two TRILLION dollars worth of US bonds. Beijing’s news agency Xinhua called for a world economy without the US dollar as the standard currency.
The problem with that is no other country is seen as safe enough to base the world debt on. The world economy is not only centered on US money, but on US debt. Will that way of how the world functions ever change?
After nearly three weeks, the shutdown ended Thursday, October 17, with a split in the Republicans in the House with the Republicans voting 144 against, 87 for, and all the 198 Democrats voting for. There were no major changes in the bill. No spending cuts, but an increase in the debt ceiling. Congress just, “kicked the can down the road.” Again. The debt ceiling was raised and the government kept spending.
Still, with the budget crisis, the reliability of the United States economy is casting doubt to foreign countries. Will the US ever fully recover?
by Joseph
On October 1, at 00:01 am, the government was forced to partially shut down. The dispute that brought this about was over the budget that Congress had not agreed upon. The Senate, controlled by the Democrats, had made a budget that included funding for Obamacare, which was about to take effect. They passed it on to the House, which is controlled by the Republicans. They, not wanting to increase the huge $17 trillion debt, passed the budget back to the House with Obamacare delayed until next year. The Democrats didn’t agree to that, so at midnight, without a budget in place for the new fiscal year, all federal services stopped.
Government services stopped includes:
National museums and parks
WIC (Women, Infants and Children) funding
NASA (97% of employees furloughed)
US Supreme Court (6 people working for 2-3 hours each)
Though some things were not directly included in the budget, many additional aspects of society were affected:
Wall Street stocks
Dairy farmers (who receive checks from federal sources)
UW system (funding from NIH is gone)
Even though the government is back up and running now, perhaps one of the most detrimental effects that came during the shutdown will linger; faith in the US treasury has decreased. Obama was forced to miss a series of Asian-Pacific summits to deal with the shutdown. Secretary of state John Kerry took his place. That day, the Russian and Chinese leaders criticized the US, and questioned its reliability. A debate featured a top official of China’s central bank. He had about two TRILLION dollars worth of US bonds. Beijing’s news agency Xinhua called for a world economy without the US dollar as the standard currency.
The problem with that is no other country is seen as safe enough to base the world debt on. The world economy is not only centered on US money, but on US debt. Will that way of how the world functions ever change?
After nearly three weeks, the shutdown ended Thursday, October 17, with a split in the Republicans in the House with the Republicans voting 144 against, 87 for, and all the 198 Democrats voting for. There were no major changes in the bill. No spending cuts, but an increase in the debt ceiling. Congress just, “kicked the can down the road.” Again. The debt ceiling was raised and the government kept spending.
Still, with the budget crisis, the reliability of the United States economy is casting doubt to foreign countries. Will the US ever fully recover?