Poll: Who is to Blame for the Government Shutdown?

 

In 1995, when a budget battle led to a government shutdown, nearly 50 percent of Americans blamed House Speaker Newt Gingrich and the Republicans for the debacle and only 27 percent believed then-President Bill Clinton was the culprit.

According to a recent poll, the blame is more equally spread. So I am asking asking the question to my readers, 'Who is Most to Blame for the Government Shutdown?'

Please vote using the web part in the upper right corner.

The Argument for each option:

The White House - The government will only shut down if Obama vetoes the budget that comes to his desk. The House continuing resolution bill funds everything except for ObamaCare. In truth, by refusing even to negotiate with the Republican leadership and threatening to veto a budget that doesn't fit his own specifications, it is Obama, not congress, who is putting the country at risk of a government shutdown.

Congressional Republicans - It is a failed premise to assume that the group steering the Republican caucus is composed of reasonable people who will sit down and fairly negotiate solutions to our problems. Instead of flexibility and reason, they are pressing forward with an inflexible proposal in the eleventh hour of the law. They aren’t going to stop. House Republicans don’t want to negotiate. They are trying to conqueror.

Congressional Democrats - Blame the Democrats for provoking an imminent government shutdown, Majority leader Harry Reid is "using the threat of default to force Obamacare on the American people". A set of "parliamentary trickery" to weasel in an amendment on the House passed bill that will circumvent the will of the American People.

Tea Party Darlings - Ted Cruz's 21 hour non-filibuster-athon was nothing but theatrics and an attempt to prop himself up. He's provoking a government shutdown, defying his own party to win the support of a vocal minority of the American People. 

All of the Above - The will of the American People has been lost in this debate. For either side to blink at this point would be to display weakness and to propel the opposition to a moral victory that will resonate though the next election cycle and it is this fact, not what is best for the country, that will determine the outcome.

The American People - Who voted to retain 92% of congress in last years election knowing that they where all a bunch of inept boobs.

We're From the Government...

"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" - Ronald Reagan

Yes, even thirty years ago people approached a government created solution with trepidation. It seems that at best the government is capable of creating a program that will require borrowing trillions from future generations to fund or at worse create a DMV style system that still fails to accomplish the task a newly developed department or agency was created for and charged with doing. I wanted to review some of the more spectacular failures and backfires of the government in this article and in a later post we'll start trying to see if a trend emerges.

1. Cracking down on Hackers

Increasing demonizing of hackers, for example by trying to add an extra layer of punishment on other crimes if they were done "on a computer." High-profile victims of this approach include Bradley Manning, Aaron Swartz, Jeremy Hammond, Barrett Brown and of course Edward Snowden.

Attempt to intimidate an entire community in case anyone there might use computers to embarrass the US government or reveal its wrongdoings is now starting to backfire: The U.S. government's efforts to recruit talented hackers could suffer from the recent revelations about its vast domestic surveillance programs, as many private researchers express disillusionment with the National Security Agency.

Recently, Gen. Keith Alexander of the NSA has claimed that the next great threat against America is a cyber attack, for which he is developing armies of hackers to build not only a national defense against, but also an assault army for. This creates a clash of needs from discouraging hackers and trying to hire them.

In the end, the government tries to cover up how it fights wars at the expense of risking it's effectiveness of fighting wars in the future.

2. Prohibition

For thirteen years, beginning in 1920, the sale of alcohol was banned in the United States. The desire was as potent as 100 proof whiskey hat it passed as a constitutional amendment and was ratified in January of 1920, prohibition went into effect and began what would come to be described as "the bleakest time in American history" by that elderly, alcoholic relative we all have.

Without the evils of alcohol abuse, it was hoped that everything from unemployment to domestic violence would decrease dramatically. People would be free to focus their energy on other things like church, work, finances and raising their kids.

A score of gangster wars fighting over illegal distribution channels, a speakeasy in every town, and another constitutional amendment summarizes this era in American history as the ultimate failure to change American's social habits.

3. Strategic Hamlet Program

All Asians look alike to us, and that politically incorrect and inconvenient truth was never more prevalent then during the Vietnam War were frequently the regular farm folk who we were trying to liberate in South Vietnam, and the commie bad guys we were fighting, were often the same guys. The plan was to place residents in isolated and gated communities under the protection of foreigners armed to the teeth and resentful for being forcibly halfway across the planet from their families, or 'Hamlets' and keep them there until they love us and resent those who would want to do us harm.

In the end, the program somehow led to a decrease in support for the South Vietnam Diem’s regime and an increase in sympathy for the North Vietnamese Communist efforts.

4. Medicaid

The popular program that was designed to not leave anyone behind in the health insurance industry simply because of their inability to pay, sound familiar?

But it was soon realized that basic care wasn't going to cut it. When the Medicaid program’s special hospitals subsidy was added in 1987, it was supposed to cost $100 million annually, but wound up costing $11 billion annually within five years, and Medicaid spending is set to double over the next 10 years from $253 billion in 2012 to $593 billion in 2022. 

Both Medicare and Medicade are exceeding the CPI and inflation, usually doubling it, meaning that this program continues to eat a continuously larger piece of that pie we like to call our wealth. The hope being that at some point here the nation will level out it's expanding healthcare costs, either through government imposed efficiency or scientists developing a pill that cures everything for $5. One of those is more realistic then the other.

5. Green Jobs Initiative

Half a billion dollars of the infamous stimulus plan of 2009 was earmarked to inject some life into the Green Jobs industry. Part of the Obama green energy program had the goal was to train 124,893 people, and place 79,854 (64%) in new green jobs. Two years in, the results of the green jobs program indicate that only 52,762 were trained, and only 8,035 got green jobs.

What does that math come out to? Each job costs tax payers about $62,000, more then the average wage for those jobs. President Obama’s first re-election campaign ad boasts of 2.7 million green energy jobs. But, nothing in the Departments of Energy, Labor or Commerce justifies such job claims. It was concluded that the vast majority of those jobs where either very loosely associated with 'green' industries, or existed prior to the 2008 election.

Of course this is just a smattering of countless other programs; No Child Left Behind (lots of money spent, no real results), Banning DDT (Malaria outbreak in Africa in the wake of banning this malaria killing chemical), The War on Drugs (Trillions spent, drugs are winning), Social Security (Currently running on IOU's.). One could go on and on, but what I'll dive into in part 2 is topics of who gets hurt when government programs go bad, what we learn from them, and what can be done before we leap into another 'fix' program.

Fiscal Cliff Solved

Like a bully holding a child's favorite toy just out of reach during a school yard altercation, so too, this government holds the promise of lower taxes and responsible government hostage to the innocent middle classes. After decades of wealth being created by those who now mysteriously have wealth, while those who never had wealth continue to not create wealth, are doomed to suffer in a world where they still don't have wealth. Gone are the never existing days when a generation of middle-class families where not having to worry about paying bills or putting food on the table, after a historic recession that plunged our economy into a crisis from which, three years after technically being over, we are still fighting to recover from, it is time to construct an economy that is built to last longer then the three weeks the current one was designed to last for. To this end, I give you my proposal to put America back on the path that led to this problem in the first place... In the hopes that the laughable left and the ridiculous right will find some common ground to start from and fix this mess we are in.

The Fiscal Year 2013: Kurmudkin Budget Proposal.

The Budget Message of the President

In the Year 2008, this house of Cards we call an economy collapsed,  and  unlike a pole dancer who was under the stage lights too long and collapsed into a sweaty naked pile of well toned feminine flesh, this collapse was ugly, like an ugly pole dancer who collapsed after being under stage lights too long. In this budget, I hope to address everything from the rising cost of groceries to the rising cost of college tuition. This may come as a bit of a shock since at no point I propose any real plans to address tuition or groceries, but there is a line at the end of one of the pages, I forget which one, that talks about a $6,000,000,000.00 slush fund. Just assume that part of that will go to solving a lot of the problems with the country today. Thank you.

Building a Strong Economy

What is an economy? Webster defines it as " the management of household or private affairs and especially expenses". Who better to build up a strong economy then the government? 'nuff said.

"Tax" Reform, Reducing the Deficit, and Asking All to Pay Their Fair Share

After minutes of contemplation it occurred to me. Why are we wasting so much time trying to get money from rich people only to end up without their money and occurring all this debt? The answer seems clear. Rather then taking people's money, we are just going to start handing out the government's debt! Everyone look in your mailboxes for a stack of I.O.U.'s with uncle Sam's name scratched out and a space for you to fill out your name and phone number, and expect some calls from creditors soon. 

Investing in Our Future

Most Sci-Fi novelists agree, that in the future, we will be conquered by a super intelligent race of aliens that vaguely resemble giant slugs. In preparation for such a day, several new government bureaucracies will be developed, charged with the task of designing welcome signs for our soon to be alien overlords.

Budget Changes to Major Government Entities

Department of Agriculture - $60,000,000 in new spending to discover a weight loss diet that consists of cheeseburgers and pudding pops.

Department of Commerce - $100,000,000,000 in federal backed loans to Wal Mart, in the hopes of showing that the Federal Government can invest in a company that doesn't go bankrupt within a year.

Department of Defense - Cut by $4,000,000,000,000 and outsource all military operations to Canada. 

Department of Education - Increase funding by $5,000,000,000,000 from the defense budget savings and then outsource to Canada, also. (There are no typos in this line.)

Department of Energy - Pass new Auto regulations that will require all automobiles to run off the tears of children by 2023.

Department of Health and Human Services - Raise the funding to Medicare, Obama-care  Medicaid, Medicare Part D, SCHIP, Planned Parenthood, AARP, and Extreme Makeover: Wightloss Edition bu 7000%, then appoint a special panel that will figure out how to pay for the other half of these programs.

Department of Homeland Security - Funding for a research program to determine why this department exists in the first place.

Department of the Interior - Develop plans to move this department outdoors.

Department of Justice - Reduce Judicial staff by 80% as new laws do not require as many warrants to be signed. Use savings to allow Department of the Interior to purchase plants for their new location.

Department of Labor - Increase staff by 500,000 per month until unemployment goes down below 4%, with a 'trigger' that will fire them all unless incumbents are all re-elected.

Department of State - Grant one "Get out of a Political Debacle Free" card, then use said card. 

Department of Transportation - Develop plans for a super extensive luxury commuter line, then forbid anyone from using it HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Department of Treasury - Like we could actually tell these guys what to do.

Department of Veteran Affairs - $80,000,000,000 for a new administrative building, authorize the hiring of several new bureaucrats, then several more bureaucrats to address the needs of the ever expanding bureaucracy. Then outsource the task of determining why Vet's aren't getting the benefits they where promised.

In Summary

We're screwed.

There you have it, the new benchmark for negotiations. I suspect that it has has as good of a chance of being implemented as anything that comes out of Washington over the next few weeks. Thank you for reading, or as our to-be alien masters would say, "Ess-Karr-Go'h!"