So for those unaware, since the start of the month the US government has been in partial shutdown because of a falling out between the Republicans and Democrats. They failed to pass a budget on 1 October, and with politicians being unable to agree funding for current spending - though this mostly hinged on 'ObamaCare' - a brilliant piece of legislation which seeks to protect and support the poorest 60 million US citizens who currently have no access to healthcare - a bill which the extreme right-wing "Tea Party" branch members of the Republicans are hugely against (despite it being passed as law several times already now).

 

The main concern now is the debt ceiling, which is $16.699 trillion and was breached in May (see below for a graph of how this has changed over time).

 

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/70184000/gif/_70184839_us_debt_2013_624.gif

 

They are meeting at midday today local time to finally agree to increase this debt ceiling, however if no agreement is reached America will default on its debt, the first country to do so since Nazi Germany in 1933. The consequences of which on the world economy of which would likely be disastrous.

 

Are these politicians acting like children, why can't the 'Tea Party' accept that ObamaCare IS law? What example is this to the world of a so called democracy that is supposed to encourage compromise?

 

Your thoughts.

Edited October 16, 201311 yr by Doctor Blind

I really don't know a lot about American politics beyond the basics but the Tea Party are responsible for this whole mess and unfortunately they're the ones who can fix it. It's provided several amusing stories about the bureaucracy in there but on the whole it is just embarrassing for the USA to have a political system with even the potential to crumble like this, let alone it actually happening.

 

SURELY the Tea Party realise that it might just be time to back down? One can hope.

Don't lay all the blame solely on the Repuklicans, the Democraps are just as much at fault here, as well.....both parties are full of sniveling, whining spoiled brats who are unwilling to make any sort of compromises....I, for one, am not one who is happy to be under the Obamacare onus, as, I'm not eligible for state Medicaid insurance, because I don't fall under the poverty guidelines because of a temporary job nor, as I'm currently unemployed, able to cough up any money to buy into the individual mandate I'm forced into by Obamacare.....these anal retentive politicians should be forced to buy into it as well, without any sort of subsidies, and let them see how much of a thorough waste it is to have Obamacare....let the US government default on their debts.....then, maybe these w@nkers of politicians will remove their heads from their arses and actually do something good for the entire country, instead of worrying about their own bloated pockets....

Default has been postponed once more, this time for about 3 months.

 

Now I see Obamacare as a real step forward for the United States as it'd give their citizens the same access to healthcare that a poor child in Somalia or Syria has currently. My American best mate however thinks it's a blackhole they are just throwing tax money into. We had a serious discussion about it and from her point of view it doesn't go far enough, duplicates some of what the current system fails at and is bad value for money.

 

 

Personally I'm not a big fan of either party. The entire American political spectrum sits too right for me. The Tea Party however are absolute nut jobs that I like to compare to the BNP and EDL. ^_^

This 'deal' hasn't been voted on as of yet.....there's still a chance what's there for this 'deal' may still go down in flames, sending the US government even closer to the default precipice....

Republicans throwing their toys out of the pram and nearly making the entire country default is, sadly, the result of a political system that deliberately puts checks and blocks on the power of the President because those who wrote the constitution thought it wasn't right to give so much power to one person. Note how it doesn't tend to happen in places with a parliamentary system.

Those who crafted the US Constitution are absolutely rolling over in their graves at the political ineptitude in Washington these days....the past 40 or so years have been a farce politically, both 'parties' are a completely total joke and waste of time.....

Something I read on BBC really flagged up just how utterly mentally challenged the American system is. Belgium recently threw out it's government and have gone to elections because a new budget could not be decided on at all. They had a stalemate like this and parliament was just dissolved. It's effectively a motion of no confidence in the government so it's right to go back to election.

 

The entire American system with overlapping terms and primaries and whatnot is just ridiculous. The fact that the worlds biggest economy (not for much longer) can be shut down by a couple of far right morons with an axe to grind is outrageous.