Just as predicted, the Congress came to a last-minute decision and the default is averted for now. At this writing there are no details on what is in the agreement but the government will get back to work. It's not likely but maybe Congress will actually work on something too but, as we've seen, that hasn't been their history.
It's very frustrating as there's no real news on the agreement over here. Just as with U.S. news channels, RT News is announcing a deal has been reached in one sentence of news and then it's showing interviews with multiple people on what it means. Thanks for nothing. If I wanted fortune tellers I'd look for CNN. I want facts.
Some facts are known and the first is that Mark Meadows, a Tea Party Republican is directly responsible for adding the Affordable Care Act amendment to the budget legislation. The second is that eighteen members of the Senate voted against passing the deal that was made yesterday. These are people who would have let the U.S. default without any regard for the inevitable consequences of such an action and you would be well-advised to find out who they were to ensure they are never voted back into a position of responsibility ever again.
There is obvious agreement in the commenters here that the U.S. needs to cut spending. I'm not sure if there is agreement on what needs to be cut but there probably is not. Nevertheless, I stand firm on the thinking that a unilateral approach (e.g. everything is good if the Affordable Care Act is eliminated but keep everything else) is utter rubbish and won't solve much of anything.
What it appears is that nothing was cut from the budget and the melodrama was deferred until January but the details are not presently clear.
Something that amused me is that Obama said he and Congress now have to win back the trust of the American people but that assumes they had this trust going into it. Yeah, right, cowboy. In your dreams.
The most obvious place to cut is the NSA as there is little in U.S. spending that gives less value. The premise is that the U.S. is so afflicted by Muslim radicals but that's a simple-minded view in the face of a global problem. Any thought of a local solution to a global problem makes little logical sense.
The military is another obvious place for reductions as nothing good has come from American military adventurism. As we saw with Syria, there was no progress until there was a concerted solution with Russia. The unilateral approaches in Iraq and Afghanistan have created wholesale chaos. Maybe someone wants to argue that but the facts seem quite obvious to me.
Above all, the biggest relief to the budget is to remove the interest payments on the national debt. People talk repeatedly about the 'bubble bursting' and that comes when America is no longer capable of paying the interest on its notes. America isn't doing anything to reduce the debt and is instead doing what many people do with their credit cards in which they only pay the interest each month.
Credit card companies don't care if you only pay the interest as that means they will own you forever. So it is with the national debt. China doesn't really care if the debt is paid off because they always get the interest payments. It's the same with the U.S. banks and insurance companies that also hold about a trillion in U.S. paper as that gives them massive influence over governmental processing ... along with the endless interest payments.
Social Security is another area with an obvious need for reform but what is not so obvious is where it will be cut. You can't cut pensions as people earned them by paying into them with their own money. However, there are Social Security benefits programs that need review and the depth of them is too vast for detailed review here. I suspect there is general agreement that such a review is necessary.
Welfare is another area in obvious need of reform and which is hugely-expensive. Workfare is a term for paying people a reduced benefit if they started working at something but it's not clear where that stands today. In my view, it is unconscionable to let people die if they simply can't work but I suspect there is agreement that they aren't the biggest problem, rather it's with people who can work but don't.
What I suggest is a 'schoolfare' program but not as a generic ticket to a college education as that often has little value toward working. Instead I suggest a benefit to support vocational training programs such as learning Microsoft Office software for a fast path into the products required for office work.
In my view, there is an obvious need for much more banking reform but what may surprise you is that British banks are even more corrupt than U.S. banks. Barclays, HSBC, and Royal Bank of Scotland are among the most corrupt in the world and, in one of the few reports from the BBC with any value, they spoke of loan swaps, an instrument which ostensibly protects people from interest rate swings. They have been generically misrepresented and ruined individuals and small businesses across England and Scotland. In a different specific example of bank corruption, HSBC made headlines for under-the-table business with Iran during the height of business sanctions against the country.
The passport delivery is still unpredictable but at least it's viable whereas previously there was only the nebulous 'there may be delays.'
I'm so stir crazy that I'm ready to start barking at seagulls but I'm holding up ok. I want very, very much to play a birthday show for Cat but there's still not much to be done except cross my fingers. There is a bit more than two weeks to pull it off. Tick ... tick ... tick ...
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