So what do you guys think about the government shutdown? Is it a good thing or bad thing?

You know, it's always a good idea in a debate to state your opening stance? Otherwise, this is just nothing more than a silly discussion that should belong in General Discussion.

I'll give you some time to edit your post.

Quote from Hewitt

You know, it's always a good idea in a debate to state your opening stance? Otherwise, this is just nothing more than a silly discussion that should belong in General Discussion.

I don't have one because I'm a little bit ignorant on the subject. I was hoping that other people's opinions would inform me a bit more and I would then start from there. If that doesn't qualify for a debate then you might as well move it to the General Discussion forums.

Very well.

To contribute, I would like to propose an allegory: It's as if the people are grandmothers who try as they might cannot meet their cookie quota because Congress refuses to click on their time machines.

Source: www.orteil.dashnet.org/cookieclicker/

The fact that they're still being paid is bull shit :/

hmm politics, lets just wiki it and learn some shi-"Between 1976 and 2013, there have been 18 government shutdowns"
wait, what!? how can so many have happened!
upon further reading, shutdowns only happen in American politics, (not limited to the US alone) and most have been at a statewide/local level.

The shutdown is not inherently good, but it does greatly encourage Congress to actually do something because the Government can only stay shutdown for so long before our debt screws us over

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_shutdown

You know Belgium doesn't really give a shit because their government shut down for over a year, nearly two... I myself don't find much care with the subject simply because it might just be a single good thing that the government has done in a long time. It gives them time to actually get their shit together and accomplish something rather than just labeling other countries as terrorist activity hot-spots and/or planning to bomb Syria or some other Asian/Middle-Eastern country.

I don't really have a problem with the idea of the Gov't Shutdown. I'm annoyed with the reasons and time for this one. The economy is just starting to pick up and congress is too busy trying to repeal Obamacare because of a Vocal Minority of Representatives with nothing to lose b/c they'll be re-elected by there constituents any way. The only people this is hurting are those who can't really do anything about it, i.e government employees and pretty much the Rest of the US down the line.

Obama signed a bill that partially ended the shut-down and raised the debt ceiling. Hurrah, the world is safe.

Quote from Saline

Obama signed a bill that partially ended the shut-down and raised the debt ceiling. Hurrah, the world is safe.

So he's going to be impeached now? I'm pretty sure that was one of the possible impeachment offenses that he was facing.

Quote from Arch-Angel

So he's going to be impeached now? I'm pretty sure that was one of the possible impeachment offenses that he was facing.

I don't know how he'd be impeached for something that came out of both the house and the senate with majority vote. The government is operable until mid-January I do believe, and the US government can borrow until sometime in February. When asked whether or not this would happen again in a few months, Obama apparently said no and kept walking. Sounds like a bad ass to me. On the real though, the thing that bother's me most, from the article I read, is that the congressmen are glorified for lifting us out of this cloud of uncertainty. Fuck, there was no way we weren't going to raise the debt ceiling, they're just taking too much credit for doing something that just made sense.

Quick update: The Shutdown is over.

Quote from Chamel

I myself don't find much care with the subject simply because it might just be a single good thing that the government has done in a long time.

How the hell is draining $28 billion from the GDP and threatening a US default a good thing?

Quote from Chamel

It gives them time to actually get their shit together and accomplish something rather than just labeling other countries as terrorist activity hot-spots and/or planning to bomb Syria or some other Asian/Middle-Eastern country.

This whole thing was over a routine bill that authorizes the federal government to pay for a budget that was already passed by congress at the beginning of the year. It's been known for months that the debt ceiling would need to be increased in order to pay for that budget, and the GOP has been using that increase as a threat to give leverage to their demands, almost always related to repealing or defunding Obamacare.

In the end, the debt ceiling was increased and the government was reopened with only a minor modification to Obamacare that barely changed the way the program works. I wouldn't call that an "accomplishment".

I watched a video that explained why the republicans responsible should be considered "terrorists" and "traitors" (i.e. those that have committed treason). I guess that's one way to look at it--holding the whole country hostage for your own political agenda's gain.

When it is possible for a government to become deadlocked you have a broken system.

Get yourselves a monarch.