What are you making of this so-called federal shutdown? It’s having early impact on the poor in Bridgeport. Charlie Tisdale, executive director of the anti-poverty agency Advancement for Bridgeport Community Development that was forced to shut down 13 Head Start programs serving more than 300 city children, tells the CT Post:
“We should be closing Congress and not these programs. They don’t understand that parents whose children attend the Head Start program are working. They don’t look at, in my opinion, or care about real Americans or the low income.”
And that’s because the Republican-controlled House of Representative believes the partial federal shutdown impacts Democrats far more than their own constituency? But there is some risk for Republicans as well as an effort to fund veterans services for an important GOP constituency failed on Tuesday.
Barack Obama called it a Republican shutdown:
“One faction of one party in one house of Congress in one branch of government shut down major parts of the government all because they didn’t like one law,” Mr. Obama said. “This Republican shut down did not have to happen, but I want every American to understand why it did happen. Republicans in the House of Representatives refused to fund the government unless we defunded or dismantled the Affordable Care Act. They’ve shut down the government over an ideological crusade to deny affordable health insurance to millions of Americans. In other words, they demanded ransom just for doing their job.”
So, who’s right here and who’s wrong? Or is it a plague on both houses?
*** YES, IT’S A PLAGUE ON BOTH HOUSES AND POLITICAL PARTIES. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE SHOULD NOT “FORGET” THIS FOOLISHNESS COME ELECTION TIME! ALL INCUMBENTS, ESPECIALLY IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY NEED TO GO, AND SOME IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY AS WELL; THIS IS EXACTLY WHY THIS COUNTRY NEEDS ANOTHER STRONG POLITICAL PARTY (GREEN PARTY, WORKERS PARTY, ETC.) TO PICK CANDIDATES FROM. *** I’M VOTING THE GREEN PARTY NEXT TIME AROUND! ***
No, Ralph. ALL incumbents need to go. Being an elected official at ANY level of government was NEVER intended to be a lifelong career. It was meant to be a civic duty. And in addition, ALL government employees should be required to participate in this unaffordable healthcare plan WITHOUT subsidies.
*** Good point Bob, then let’s say anyone who’s served three terms or more in the U.S. Congress or U.S. Senate must be voted out, with future three-term limits to be imposed to help keep things new and fresh with less lobbyist and corporate kool-aid binge drinking in D.C. And let’s not forget more power to other political parties so Americans have more than the same old two political parties to choose from, no? ***
Vote the Mojo line!
I think we will all pay a price with this unnecessary shutdown and it will be déjà vu in two weeks with the debt ceiling drama. This is bad for the economy and bad for 800,000 government workers and their families. In the end the Republicans will pay dearly. Their goal is to defund Obamacare. The Republicans think voting on piecemeal legislation funding the military or parks is going to fly. They are mistaken. The Republicans have wasted the taxpayers’ time and money with 40 attempts to defund Obamacare. John Boehner looks like a joke. Tea Party Republican freshman Ted Cruz is reducing the Republican party to a joke and Boehner is helpless. I cannot see anyone being the beneficiary of this circus but do see the Republicans loosing more seats in the next election and that is okay with me. It is sad for the kids in the head start programs and just makes the struggling parents’ lives more difficult. If you watch Fox news they are making very light of this situation and portraying Obama as chicken little, the sky is falling. Well the approval rating of the Republicans today is 17 percent. Keep up the good work.
Steven Auerbach, even a broke clock is right twice a day, so you got this one right.
The government has been ‘shut down’ for 30+ hours and we all seem to be OK. Is the stuff that got ‘shut down’ things we really need? Can we really afford to keep letting these people spend like drunken sailors? Obama spent his allowance and chose to shut down the government unless we give him more money and fund his healthcare. Maybe he should mow some lawns or get a paper route if his allowance is not enough for him because I want to keep my money. They spent enough of my money already.
Obama, in his usual faction-splitting ‘us and them’ way, blames the Republicans. If keeping the government running is as important to him as he claims he would call off his minions and accept the budget that defunds healthcare. Choosing what side is responsible for the shutdown would depend on what side of the fence you are standing. The house could have approved his increase to the debt limit and we keep spending or Obama could have accepted the budget that defunds Obamacare. Both sides have choices. Look farther back up the road. Whose policies got us to this point? Blaming the Republicans for the shutdown is hardly fair when you wait for the front tires of the car to be over the cliff. He put the front tires over the cliff. Now the Republicans have to act fast before the back tires go as well and if they don’t the entire problem is their fault. Everybody saw the ‘roadway (spending) ends ahead’ sign.
High taxes and devaluation of the dollar is driving up prices. That is making all of us poorer. Has anybody else noticed your groceries are 20-30% more expensive than they used to be just one year ago? The Democrat plan to ‘narrow the wealth gap’ seems to be to make all of us poor. Less than half (45%) of the country approves of the job he is doing. Nationwide, at all levels of government and at a personal level, we need to stop spending money we do not have and cannot repay.
We needs some good old-fashioned anarchy up in here. 😉
Bridgeport can show the world how to get things done.
Send Mayor Finch and the City Council to Washington DC!
*** When it comes to the Fed. Budget in general and the debt ceiling levels and ratings, Obamacare can be temp water under the bridge, left to another political chapter to be picked up at a different place and time! *** NOW IS NOT THE TIME ***