dhelix33

Because of this government shutdown today, facilitated by those certifiably ignorant, mean-spirited republicans in congress, hundreds of thousands of federal workers are now not being paid, and also do not know when they will get paid again - if at all. Their paychecks depend upon the non-existent benevolence of a few fractious extremist republican members in congress. A realization that will hit home hard when they cannot pay for housing, or their children's next meal.

However, there are 535 federal civil servants in Washington who don't have to worry about missed mortgage payments or mounting credit card debt due to this shutdown - guess who they are: the very members of congress who have ground our government to a halt. The salaries of Congress members come from a pool of mandatory funds and aren't subject to the whims of lawmakers.Their checks keep coming, no matter what. This ugly irony will not be lost on the more than 800,000 federal workers who now will not paid because of the actions of a few anal-retentive adults that continue to act like spoiled children - most who are taking home $174,000 a year in Congress, for doing absolutely NOTHING!

All I can say is - e******ns have consequences, and I did not v**e for this pile of crap! When are people that stand in rallies saying you want to 'take America back' going to understand that your so-called 'tea party' is simply a guise for the rich to take money from you and fill their coffers? Perhaps when America 'goes back' to where you have to start going into the woods and hunt for your next meal, and grow vegetables in a field to survive?

joe1941

:thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown:

JimMe

There were 30 Million USA Citizens without HealthCare before ObamaCare. It was suppose to insure everyone. With ObamaCare, the present Administration has recently announced there will be 30 Million USA Citizens without HealthCare. And not only have HealthCare Premiums gone up but the deductables - you know, what WE PAY - are ridiculously higher. THIS IS WHY THE FED GOV IS SHUTDOWN. BECAUSE DEMLIB-SOCIALISTS IN THE USA SENATE & OUR DEMLIB-SOCIALIST PRESIDENT HAVE PASSED A LAW THAT GIVES NOTHING MORE & COSTS EACH USA CITIZEN THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS MORE PER YEAR! It's the DemLib-Socialists that have ShutDown the Fed Gov & YOU KNOW IT!!!

joe1941

If it is so dam good then why is congress and its staff exempt from it!!!! Why did the president (all by himself) exempt all those rich companies, it it because he just wants to tax the poor!

Bigmac495 Loc: Indiana

How do you expect Obama's Democrat party to get bigger campaign dollars from the insurance companies if they don't take in more money ?

weneedrubio

You know nothing about the Tea Party obviously and should stop talking it is embarrassing to hear that kind of stupidity being spouted. Go to a Tea Party rally, you will not see one wealthy person there. Besides GW Bush the Tea Parties have been the most lied about entity in history.

OldTrapper

Seriously? The Koch brothers are not funding the Tea Party? Dick Armey has nothing to do with it? Karl Rove?

The wealthy never appear when they can get their minions to do the heavy lifting.

OldTrapper

I took a year at random, 2006, and found this:

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Publications/Fund-Reports/2006/Sep/Squeezed--Why-Rising-Exposure-to-Health-Care-Costs-Threatens-the-Health-and-Financial-Well-Being-of.aspx

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2006-09-26-health-premiums_x.htm

This from 2005:

http://www.nber.org/papers/w11160

Since 2000, premiums for employer-provided health insurance have increased by 59 percent with little corresponding increase in the generosity of coverage. The effect of this increase in costs on wages and employment will depend on workers' valuation of the benefit, the elasticities of labor supply and demand, and institutional constraints on employers' ability to lower wages. Measuring these effects is difficult, however, without a source of exogenous variation in the cost of benefits. We use variation in medical malpractice payments driven by the recent "medical malpractice crisis" to identify the causal effect of rising health insurance premiums on wages, employment, and health insurance coverage. We estimate that a 10 percent increase in health insurance premiums reduces the aggregate probability of being employed by 1.6 percent and hours worked by 1 percent, and increases the likelihood that a worker is employed only part-time by 1.9 percent. For workers covered by employer provided health insurance, this increase in premiums results in an offsetting decrease in wages of 2.3 percent. Thus, rising health insurance premiums may both increase the ranks of the unemployed and place an increasing burden on workers through decreased wages for workers with employer health insurance and decreased hours for workers moved from full time jobs with benefits to part time jobs without.

http://www.ahip.org/uploadedFiles/Content/News/Press_Room/2008/Resources/TheFactorsFuelingRisingHealthcareCosts2008.pdf

Of course, it is all Obama's fault.

joe1941

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

joe1941

:thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown:

OldTrapper

Another one who gets upset by the t***h.

weneedrubio

The Tea Party is the first true grass roots organization to rise completely on it's own since the Civil War lead up brought the Republican Party and it was caused by the vast over reach of Obama, Pelosi and Reid in 2008 and specifically Obamacare. Those you mentioned had nothing to do with it. Armey has attempted to step in and has been shunned. The Tea Party train is real and for real, justifiable reasons and all the lies you tell will have no effect on it. I suggest you have an open mind because you liberals will be the first to be crushed under Obama's plan.

scottyb

The kochs are open boarder proponents. The gang of 8 are bought. The teaparty was taken over by these elites as soon as it got going.

weneedrubio

It absolutely was not and this bogus statement is proof that you know nothing about the tea party.

Dave Loc: Upstate New York

A few simple facts:
- Obamacare was passed on a 100% partisan basis
- In the two e******ns since then, the American pulbic elected a majority of Republicans in the "people's house" at least in part because of Obamacare
- Obama has taken it upon himself to pick and choose what portions of the legislation he wants to implement.
- Obama and Reid refuse to even discuss any changes to that partisan legislation, other than what Obama unilaterally wanted changed, with the majority in the "people's house"

And so called journalistic outfits like the AP want to make this purely a Republican caused problem.