Pointing out one side doing it to the other just makes step 4 go faster.

FTFY :popcorn:

You left out the critical "railroad laws through, violating established legal procedures" and "fail to even submit a budget as they are supposed to"

This is just payback for illegal trampling of the system.

Some European perspective.

Can't say that it's particularly surprising or insightful. Basically what you'd expect from someone accustomed to Western European social democracy.

Did anyone ask Schmitz to comment on the current administration's inability to pass a budget?

A correction to my above. I did some research, and apparently a dwelling is never considered to be chattel regardless of the ownership of the estate on which it is situated. (The situation is not entirely clear for mobile homes.) Dwellings are always considered to be Estates in Real Property, though I'm having a dickens of a time figuring out how to classify a leasehold interest in publicly-owned land. (Is it a defeasible estate? Fuck if I know.)

I really hope that one of these cases goes to trial AND winds up in appeals court, not because I give a shit about the so-called rights of the leaseholder, but because I really want to read a judicial opinion on this matter.




I've oft held a similar opinion of the legislative process in the US, that it is inherently hamstrung by the electoral process itself. There would be some grounds for proposing that members of both the House and the Senate be elected for a single term of a long duration (6 years? 8? 10?) and be ineligible for re-election to two consecutive terms.

I do take issue with Herr Wilder's characterization of the Republicans being the sole cause of gridlock within the congress. I would posit that this distinction is passed back and forth frequently, occurring especially often when the house and senate find themselves controlled by opposing majority parties, or when a congressional majority opposes the political affiliation of the president.


You can read the full article here: German Press Review on US Government Shutdown - SPIEGEL ONLINE

People keep talking about a "budget", lol. We haven't seen a budget in like 6 years, we now function on CRs.

So, we're going into week #2, probably waiting on a debt ceiling battle, and there is no end in sight. I'm a federal employee and I'm "essential" which means I'm still working, I also recently paid out a total of $3700 in travel expenses out of pocket with another $1500 coming due. This is typical since I receive compensation on reimbursement, but not this much. I'm not getting a paycheck this week, I can make rent this month but not the rest of the bills. Since I'm not furloughed I am ineligible for unemployment, not like that will cover the bills.

WTF should I do? I'm guessing it's time to pick-up a job and try to make rent. This should be entertaining.

Haven't caught up on this thread but something i just noticed.

While i was traveling down the blue ridge parkway and noticing all the "overlooks" coned off. I drove by the Pisgah Inn. At the time i didn't know what it was as i was unfamiliar to the area. Like all the other "sight seeing" and "tourist" spots it was barricaded off and also had 2 patrol cars sitting by it. Only a few hours ago did i find out that's a privately owned business. And now i'm reading all these stories of the government shutting down and closing off access to private land and business.... Hmmmm, seems really fishy. I wish i would have taken more pictures of the horseshit i saw.

Manage your money more responsibly, and plan ahead for contingencies.

If you can't comfortably survive for 6-12 months with no income whatsoever, you are doing something wrong.



Going back to my earlier post, this is exactly why I'm starting to wonder about legitimate acts of government vs. something more akin to a labor union strike / picket.

You edited out the part about owed travel expenses, nearly $4000. Also, our government shut-down on a pay-day, meaning I'm also one check behind already so that adds to it. If these expenses were paid by finance, I wouldn't be in a pinch. lol

It's the same in the private sector. When I was a corporate employee, I put all travel expenses on a company-issued Amex card in my name, and was personally responsible for any interest charges accrued as a result of late repayment. And as a 1099 contractor, all travel expenses were paid for on my own personal Visa card and then reimbursed via expense reporting.

Quite frequently in either case, reimbursement lagged behind credit card billing by a sufficient amount that I elected to float the balance off of my personal checking account, rather than incur interest fees and face the hassle of attempting to get those covered by the company / customer.



TL;DR: Quit whining and grow a pair. (You can start by building a more manly bicycle. Less carbon/kevlar, more lithium and iron.)





Again, if you can't comfortably deal with being 20-30 paychecks behind with no impact whatsoever, you are failing at life.

Don't you have a government travel card? I've got one and I'm not even the target market - I've had to use it once - ever - when my return flight was delayed by 2 feet of snow and I had to put up for the night in Detroit.

Seems to me that a government employee that could rack up 4k in travel expenses would be one of the first to get a government travel card.

In other news, I've saved 5 months of income in a contingency account over a 10 month period (read: easy to access) after a stint of unemployment nearly wiped it clean. It's hard as hell to not buy go-fast bits when you've got cash in the bank.

tl;dr. Save 50% of all you earn :)

I do, but I'm responsible for payment on those expenses, regardless of the lag-time in finance. I'm still waiting on funds from travel back in June because these people are so fucking slow with payment. One guy in our office who travels all the time is $12k out of pocket.

I usually keep $10k in savings, but I decided to feverishly attack student loans and end them next year.

Anyway, my money is on the Republicans trying to use the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip to end Obamacare.

Again, welcome to real life.

I just did a quick tally on my accounts receivable, and I still have outstanding invoices totaling slightly over $30,000 dating as far back as 08 June.

Some folks punch a timeclock from 9 to 5 and live, boring, pedestrian lives. Those of us who do not learn to deal with the subtle irregularities.




Add another zero to the end, and then triple it, and you'll be on the right track via-a-vis not living hand-to-mouth for someone our age.

Nah. Boehner isn't that stupid. He's sick and tired of a small group of hyper-right-wing loudmouths dictating the policy direction of his party, so he's letting them drown themselves one day at a time with the shutdown, setting the stage for a "win" with his party core. When it comes time for the debt ceiling debate, Obama will give up something small, Boehner will caucus most of his party with the minority Democrats to pass a "clean" bill save for one small concession to make himself look good, and throw the tea party under the bus in the process. He just has to wait long enough to allow the shutdown to not only poison the idiots who are holding up the clean bill vote, but poison the ideology behind it.

I just hope Boehner thought of all that before I did. :party:

Hmmm... if I saved for 10 years, didn't pay taxes, and ate nothing but ramen noodles, I still couldn't accomplish this. :party:

Joe lives in NY now, shit's expensive.