The US government has begun a partial shutdown after the two houses of Congress failed to agree a new budget.
The Republican-led House of Representatives insisted on delaying President Barack Obama's healthcare reform - dubbed Obamacare - as a condition for passing a bill.
More than 800,000 federal employees face unpaid leave with no guarantee of back pay once the deadlock is over.
It is the first shutdown in 17 years and the dollar fell early on Tuesday.
Goldman Sachs estimates a three-week shutdown could shave as much as 0.9% from US GDP this quarter.
The White House's budget office began notifying federal agencies to begin an "orderly shutdown" as the midnight deadline approached.
Shortly after midnight, President Obama tweeted: "They actually did it. A group of Republicans in the House just forced a government shutdown over Obamacare instead of passing a real budget."
House Speaker John Boehner told reporters he hoped the Senate would agree to a bipartisan committee known as a conference "so we can resolve this for the American people".
"The House has voted to keep the government open but we also want basic fairness for all Americans under Obamacare," he said.
The Senate is to meet again at 09:30 (13:30 GMT) on Tuesday.
The BBC's Mark Mardell in Washington says the divide in US politics has grown so bitter that government itself cannot function.
I do think a lot of the blame can fall on the Republicans, but it's just ridiculous that both sides let it come to this. Do they even care about the citizens that they work for and are supposed to represent?
inflation through constant budget loans that only ever kept raising the budget ceiling is what ran the dollar to the ground
without a shock like a default there's probably nothing to stop democrats to keep doing this and say they're actually fixing this
the fact itself that government control over the sectors grows and grows is somewhat of a failsafe, because not only do they thus grow in power but they also buy themselves the guarantee of not letting the country function without them (that particular government)
get it? a government that maintains/supports (controls) 60% of the country can do a lot of shit and get away with it because a shutdown of that government is more shocking than it would've been if it controlled 30% of the country
which is their idea of a fail-safe, get control of as much as you can, create the idea that that country can't exists/function without you then throw overdone blame over anyone that tries to overthrow you, painting them as an enemy of the state... well duuuuuh, going against a government that has a grip on the whole country would very much look like going against that country...
so that's their shield
it's just makebelieve, which is why i'm less judgemental towards the republicans on this one
i mean they both are behaving like kids, but what else would stop the constant government spending over laws and taxes people don't want?
prince0gotham wrote:inflation through constant budget loans that only ever kept raising the budget ceiling is what ran the dollar to the ground
without a shock like a default there's probably nothing to stop democrats to keep doing this and say they're actually fixing this
the fact itself that government control over the sectors grows and grows is somewhat of a failsafe, because not only do they thus grow in power but they also buy themselves the guarantee of not letting the country function without them (that particular government)
get it? a government that maintains/supports (controls) 60% of the country can do a lot of shit and get away with it because a shutdown of that government is more shocking than it would've been if it controlled 30% of the country
which is their idea of a fail-safe, get control of as much as you can, create the idea that that country can't exists/function without you then throw overdone blame over anyone that tries to overthrow you, painting them as an enemy of the state... well duuuuuh, going against a government that has a grip on the whole country would very much look like going against that country...
so that's their shield
it's just makebelieve, which is why i'm less judgemental towards the republicans on this one
i mean they both are behaving like kids, but what else would stop the constant government spending over laws and taxes people don't want?
I get what you're saying, but I don't even think the government shutdown was needed, just the threat of it. They let it go too far.
prince0gotham wrote:inflation through constant budget loans that only ever kept raising the budget ceiling is what ran the dollar to the ground
without a shock like a default there's probably nothing to stop democrats to keep doing this and say they're actually fixing this
the fact itself that government control over the sectors grows and grows is somewhat of a failsafe, because not only do they thus grow in power but they also buy themselves the guarantee of not letting the country function without them (that particular government)
get it? a government that maintains/supports (controls) 60% of the country can do a lot of shit and get away with it because a shutdown of that government is more shocking than it would've been if it controlled 30% of the country
which is their idea of a fail-safe, get control of as much as you can, create the idea that that country can't exists/function without you then throw overdone blame over anyone that tries to overthrow you, painting them as an enemy of the state... well duuuuuh, going against a government that has a grip on the whole country would very much look like going against that country...
so that's their shield
it's just makebelieve, which is why i'm less judgemental towards the republicans on this one
i mean they both are behaving like kids, but what else would stop the constant government spending over laws and taxes people don't want?
I get what you're saying, but I don't even think the government shutdown was needed, just the threat of it. They let it go too far.
Considering the actual shutdown did nothing to convince the democrats/Obama to postpone the law I'm not sure what a simple threat would've done. Besides the threat has always been there. In fact, Obama kept saying how the law will be active on monday no matter what. It's absolutely obvious what their true intentions are.
Republicans have always been more direct in what they're saying, more direct in explaining intentions. They rarely fancy it up by using pretty words everything they do. They just don't invest as much in showmanship and rarely are as desperate as explaining each and every action of theirs as something done 'for the good of the people' and that's why they're more believeable. Obama's insistancy on passing the law 'no matter what', even when his own civilian supporters don't agree with him, expose an authoritarian agenda. Only autocrats insist so much on what they know would be better for everyone. The republicans however don't lobby so much with audience-pleasing acts, their intention here is purely direct and to the point and that points to how authoritarian 'democratic' rule has been and how that's directly tied to government spending and federal dependancy.
In that sense, a default-shock could fool some people into thinking that this country really is fucked without government dependancy, others though might truly realize how it's the grip of government dependancy that is the real paralysis and that's where the opportunity lies. In changing the mindset of the people and telling them that they should stop being this welfare nation they have let themselves turn into, just because it's convenient to hope that a hero (president) can save the day. How else do you suggest that mindset could change?
Right now is the best opportunity to crash the dollar and blame it on those who triggered the shock and not those who brought the situation to it. It's also the best opportunity for people to see through all of that and a lot of them have started to.
Erik wrote:Why are the republicans against the 'Obamacare' law?
1. Increases Health Care Costs
2. Causes Insurance Premiums To Rise
3. Hurts Quality Of Health Care
4. Nearly $570 Billion In Tax Hikes
5. Adds Over $500 Billion To The Debt
And I'd like to add that if you don't currently have health insurance, you'd be required to sign up for 'Obamacare' or face a stiff, yearly fine that would increase yearly.
