August 2 stuff

[Lowdown3]

http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/13/news/economy/debt_ceiling_fallout/index.htm?eref=mrss_igoogle_business

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- President Obama has put the country on notice that he can't guarantee Social Security and other government checks will go out if the debt ceiling isn't raised by Aug. 2.

Nearly half of all government checks won't go out: The Treasury Department would be unable to pay between 40% and 45% of the 80 million payments it needs to make every month, according to an analysis by the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Risk of default increases: This is the very worst and still least likely of outcomes, because most believe that there's no way the U.S. government would not pay its bondholders.

MORE THAN LIKELY a "last minute deal" will be enacted. Most negotiations are done at the proverbial last minute.

That being said, it's hot everywhere in the country by first of August, it's prime riot season. Notice NO WHERE in the article does it even mention welfare recepricants not getting their checks?

The week of August 2nd sounds like a good week to stay near the homestead...

What's your thoughts on this? Are you ramping up anything because of this?

[WiseOwl]

Me and the Mrs. have talked about this and we both agree that it will "be fixed" at the last minute as well. This country right now cant afford to have folks going nuts because once that happens, its over. And all my target practice will come in handy.

[monkeybird]

His scare tactics are immoral. Millions of elderly whose only income is those checks are worried and afraid. For what, so Obama can play politics. Disgusting.

My guess is that along with SS income. Welfare income might also stop. Wonder why he didn't mention to his base.

[610Alpha]

SS has now become a mandate and needs to be thrown out. We must have a choice in whether or not to participate in these stupid things. If I die my kids won't need SS checks. I have Term Life insurance based on the principals that I learned from Dave Ramsey only costs me $60/mo. My plan is to be self insured by the time my life insurance term is up, out of debt w/ paid for house and money in retirement.

People need to belly up to the bar and take care of themselves, IMO. The ones that cannot are the ones that we should help out (charity), most likely we would be able to do a better job of taking care of them anyways. The ones that act like grasshoppers well I guess they need to talk to their families and ask for help.

I have done made up my mind to talk to my grandparents and tell them don't worry if the SS checks stop...I will feed them and they can use his pension check to take care of the other stuff. They are the only ones that are on SS so the family can all pitch in and take care of them.

I am so sick of hearing about raising taxes on the rich...we have been told to be a success all our lives and when they do they want to take everything you earned from you in taxes. They are the ones that have the money to invest into our economy.

sorry for the diatribe. I too think that they will come out with an 11th hour deal as usual and screw over the people of "These United States" again.

[Hawkeye]

The week of August 2nd sounds like a good week to stay near the homestead...

Yes it does... ;)

What's your thoughts on this? Are you ramping up anything because of this?

Ramping up? No, nothing more than usual... :cool:

I too think that a deal will be struck. The paradox here is, I do think there is some potential for trouble. However, glorious leader is using it, simply as a scare tactic. We'll have to see if it ultimately works. I think an important point, is one that you noticed, but most wont. He said nothing about welfare checks. That, is when it would be really time to get concerned, and I suspect thats exactly why he HASNT said something like that publicly. The folks who will be upset with him stating that SS checks might not go out, now, well before the date, will by and large simply call and complain to their congress critters at most. The folks who would mostly be affected by welfare checks nto going out, were he to say THAT at this same point and time - well before the date - are the ones who would be in the streets before sundown, simply because he said they MAY not get their checks.

[tarheelsman71]

The only problem is that the real "PROBLEM" isnt going to be fixed. Delaying payments till it is someone else's problem is not acceptable. Extending credit lines if i cant make my payment doesnt work in my house so why should it work for the government. These politicians just dont want to be the bad guy and gut the federal govt....it effects reelection campaigns for some reason. If just one candidate would "belly up to the bar" so to speak and say he wanted 1. drug testing before any benefits would be given out. 2. Put a cap on how many "assistants" a senator/representative/white house could have. Sort of like a salary cap in the NFL without the roster limit. If nancy pelosi (caps left off on purpose) wants to have 50 people working for her...fine, but she gets x amount of money to pay them. 3. Term Limits for Congress. 4. Border Control I could go on and on, but if someone actually ran on that platform and wanted to do these things they would get my vote. Unfortunately our Country, great as it is, is being run by some horribly twisted individuals. I dont think that there will be riots in the streets if the deal doesnt get done, because the masses dont have a clue what their elected officials actually do or dont do for them. The blind masses will only riot when their bellies are empty. Then it will be time to already be at the retreat....locked and loaded. sorry for second diatribe....just frustrated.

[tarheelsman71]

Just another thought though....and this just might be due to my foil hat being a little too tight....but, if something were to go viral, and glorious leader was "forced" to enact certain executive orders, and martial law be declared, etc, etc, things would still be within his power to ride out the storm, and quell the resistance while the economy was NOT completely destroyed, yet. that way when the economy does tank, he would have a large majority of the malcontents already locked up, or at least their bang-makers seized. Just a thought.

What did pelosi say that one time...."Never waste a crisis!"

[Hawkeye]

The only problem is that the real "PROBLEM" isnt going to be fixed.

This is the unfortunate truth. There is no win here. Raise the debt limit, we go further into debt and the problem gets worse, just delayed a bit. Dont raise it, things start getting defaulted on.....

[MustangGal]

DH and I were discussing this last night. There is a whole segment of society primed to riot, this will be the spark they have been waiting for.... If people will riot when their sports team WINS, they will riot over anything.

[Foghorn]

We send these folks to Washington to do our buisness. All any of them do is argue about which one of them is to blame for anything and everything. Then they are off to raise more money to get reelected. And we keep sending them back !

[Bull]

If we defaulted and lost our AAA rating, would that make it more difficult for the government to continue borrowing money they don't have? Would it make interest rates go up? Would they get anywhere near the rate of inflation? If so, would that give us the much needed recession that will burst the bubble now, rather than when it gets large enough to completely wipe out our economy? I've heard and read some stuff along these lines, but I'm not certain of the intricacies of how it all comes together. Perhaps though, as bad as it may be, a government shutdown is the silver lining to this dark cloud of Washington spending. It is hard to imagine that the Republicans will hold out. And even harder to imagine them being able to articulate why, and compete against Obama and the Democrats' rhetoric successfully. Obama can't be sure social security checks will go out? Wow. "Sorry folks, we would have like to send your checks but Obama and the Democrat controlled House and Senate spent it all on stimulus and other nonsense." Hopefully you were stimulated enough to last, LOL. This guy is a total scumbag, B.S. artist, with no shame. But this seems like it could be a good idea:

http://mainfo.blogspot.com/2011/04/targeted-government-shutdown-option-c.html

[claymore]

It will take your breath away to watch the national debt amount climb every second ! I think a deal will be reached also (no one wants to be the one that can't compromise).

[barfife]

I dislike our president more and more. Our seniors have paid into SS for 45-55 yrs and should, in my opinion, receive it...they have paid for it. They don't deserve the scare. They are being used for polictical convienence. The entitlement crowd, on the other hand, is another issue. Not a word has been said about them doing without. Could it be that they are his principle voting base?

[Bearman202]

A lot of people don't realize that welfare and food stamps are state programs. They are federalized, in that they get a chunk of their money from the Federal govt., but it's the states that manage it. They moved the food stamp program to the federal level because before, under the commodities program, (when you just went to the office and got a box of food for your family instead of getting money put on your EBT card) it turned out that if you voted the "right" way, you were eligible, and if you didn't, you weren't. That's why the feds took it over. Having said that, I also realize that once the big check stops coming from the feds, the states are going to be in even more trouble. Many state budgets are one the brink right now, and this will push them over it. They will be shutting down services like we've never seen before. The nasty part of it is that when that happens, it's because the "states" couldn't manage, not because of the fed. The whole system is ready to crash. The dominos in this case go from the fed downward. We're in for some really interesting times, folks. Strap in tight.

[monkeybird]

Yesterday, the President of the United States walked out of a meeting, essentially grandstanding, saying he was done compromising even if it destroyed his presidency. (we could only be so lucky). I personally believe this was nothing but a media ploy calculated to make himself a hero when the deal is finally struck.

What is the real issue is that the debt clock is so high most of us can't comprehend that amount of money being spend every second. Just can't comprehend it.

It's time for some patriotism from Congress and the White House. I don't care if they're Democrats or Republicans, it's time to put aside the political wrangling and do what's right for the country.

BTW I receive my SS check every single month. NOW LISTEN TO THIS YOU YOUNG PEOPLE WHO THIS THIS IS AN ENTITLEMENT. I PAID MONTH AFTER MONTH AFTER MONTH FOR OVER 30 YEARS INTO SS. THAT MONEY IS MINE, I'VE ALREADY EARNED IT.