I would like to read some of your opinions. First, I'd like to say a little something.

The U.S. Government shutting down doesn't mean that the federal government does not actually stop functioning entirely. From what I understand, if you work for the government while it's shut down; you don't get paid for 6 months. Even federal employees do not get paid until after the government resumes its normal operations. People who collect Social Security checks aren't affected. On the other hand Social Security Administration employees are facing furloughs.

Quote

Federal agencies do not have the authority to pay their employees during a shutdown, regardless of whether the employees are working as "excepted" or furloughed as "non-excepted". "Excepted" employees will receive pay for hours worked when the Congress passes and the President signs a new appropriation or continuing resolution. Congress will also determine whether "non-excepted" employees will receive pay for the furlough period.
http://www.opm.gov/furlough/

I don't understand how a whole government can just shut down. What exactly does that mean? All the government employees stop working? Wouldn't we be insanely vulnerable to terrorist attacks?

Seriously? That's the first thing you're worried about when your government stops functioning? Terrorist attacks? You really have hyped yourselves into a state of irrational fear.

Quote from Dem0nS1ayer

I don't understand how a whole government can just shut down.

It can't, doesn't and won't. The overview (which admittedly is all I read) notes that certain "excepted" government workers (probably just the ones necessary to maintain public order etc.) are retained.



I guess the biggest question here as a non-American is: if everyone knew this was going to be an issue at this point, why, why, why didn't they do the budget on time?

Quote from Dem0nS1ayer

I don't understand how a whole government can just shut down. What exactly does that mean? All the government employees stop working? Wouldn't we be insanely vulnerable to terrorist attacks?

The government doesn't completely shutdown. Border control, and defense will still be fully operational.

Quote

why, why, why didn't they do the budget on time?

Because the Republicans want to portray some aura of being spendthrift and against government waste, while simultaneously not seriously doing anything to curtail government waste or control spending. The total difference between the democrat and republican budgets was $30m, equivalent to 3 days of federal spending.

I thought they kept the gov from shutting down for a couple weeks, but they gotta get their shit together soon.

If you want to be upset about anything the military still must report without pay, otherwise they can be tried for deserting.

This isn't strictly related to the thread, although it is about taxes and government in the US. Didn't see any other threads on the first page that were relevant, and didn't want to necro something either.

http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-17350-9_things_the_rich_dont_want_you_to_know_about_taxes.html

It's quite long and pretty detailed, but good food for thought.

Don't like it, move to another country. Still don't like it, fuck you. THIS IS AMERICA!

Quote from Centreri

Don't like it, move to another country. Still don't like it, fuck you. THIS IS AMERICA!

And become a victim of your own foreign policy.

I wish all Americans were that smart.

Fuck yeah. If you're not with us, you're against us, so you better be with us. We can kick the ass of the rest of the world put together. You're going to give us all your cash nice and easy.

That would be bad if the government was shut down... I have an internship with the Department of Energy this summer!

Also, this happened twice in the 1990's for about a month each.

I don't live in America. Duh. Even if you are an American and move to a different country, you're still bound to pay taxes to the US government for your entire life. Any income you earn in a foreign country and pay foreign tax on, is also considered taxable by the US, although income under a certain threshold they waive. Rescinding your US citizenship (for any reason) is very therefore difficult, because the first suspicion is that you're doing it as a form of tax evasion.

Also, the shutdowns were for 5 days and for 22 days over Christmas & New Years. So not exactly "a month" in either case. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_government_shutdown_of_1995_and_1996

Well it's no surprise to me; I guess this is their way to balance the books. The us debt is at an excess of over 14 trillion dollars as of today and over 30 percent of a us citizen's paycheck goes to this debt. I guess the only way to really get rid of this debt will be to take out the national bank will supplies all money to the USA, this means that only way it can pay off its interest is to barrow more money. Take out the national bank and the solution will be resolved just like in the US civil war. However this will most likely end whoever started the referendum to die tragically as JFK did since he tried to stop the bank in some way.

Quote from Lanthanide

Seriously? That's the first thing you're worried about when your government stops functioning? Terrorist attacks? You really have hyped yourselves into a state of irrational fear.

Quoted. For. Fucking. Truth.

Couldn't the US just print money by the metric fuckton to pay off the debt? Their dollar would be worth less than nothing, but couldn't they do that?

They could but that would mean every US citizen and US company would be bankrupt unless they own real estates.
From one of the richest to the poorest country on the planet over night. GJ mate.

Also there's probably some instance that would stop them if they were trying to do that.

The USA is not really that rich, as debt outweighs income by a huuuge amount. And now the only way the US could lose its debt is to simply man up and say 'Sorry guise we're broke, and both can't pay off your loans and won't attempt it.' and because they have nukez and a strong army, no one will do anything.

The USA is really that rich, as assets outweighs debt by a huuuge amount.

Plus, it's not the first time debt was repaid... it'll be harder, sure, but that's true for most of the world. Or, at least, most of the rich world.

But the USA is never going to sell enough of those assets to pay off their debt; meanwhile the debt just keeps piling up.

The fact that USD is the world's main reserve currency means that the US can deal with much larger amounts of sovereign debt than other countries, and not suffer the ill-effects straight away.