I was thinking lobbyists...

Ah yes.  I overlooked these guys.

You didn't answer the question though. It is easy to complain about their failure but often much harder to say how it could have been done so much better

That’s like asking me to give advice to armed robbers about how to be kinder and gentler when they steal our money.

I’d rather cheer on the guy who lets the air out of the tires of their getaway car

That’s like asking me to give advice to armed robbers about how to be kinder and gentler when they steal our money.

I’d rather cheer on the guy who lets the air out of the tires of their getaway car

If I hire someone for $176,000 a year (plus sweetheart pension and lifetime retirement benefits), I have a right to say I'm not satisfied with the job they are doing.

And if they reply, "Well, if you think you can do any better, go ahead!" I'm  going to be looking for someone else who hopefully knows what the hell they are doing.

Imagine a 56 year old, 35 year career sports coach telling a 20 year old player not to drop their shoulder, keep their eye on the ball, do a few more laps, etc.  Then imagine if a player tells the coach, "Why don't you show me how to do it?"  That player isn't going to be in the rotation schedule for long.

It's a childish, emotional backlash to tell someone complaining about your work to "go do it yourself if you want it done better."  Most of these Congress critters went to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or other Ivy :League university and have law degrees or went on to finish medical school.  They are almost all highly educated and campaigned for the job they now have.  If they can't get the results they PROMISED US, then they don't deserve to be getting that paycheck and all those sweet benefits that go along with it.

i'm sure there are some on this forum who have no problem pretending they know everything they need to know to tell someone how they should be doing their jobs -- there seems to be a lot of opinions on how to run the military from people with no military experience.  Rather than come up with a solution of our own, it makes more sense to hire someone new or contract with consultants who have the skills and experience to get the job done right.

The issue is how do you reduce the budget effectively.  You can fire congressmen and scream for it, but it's not going to happen and you end up going backward instead of forward.  The budget was cut under McCarthy which is good considering the President and Senate are under Democrat control, and the House has a very slim majority.  The chaos created in Congress isn't going to help bring down the budget, rather there's a chance it actually increases the budget.  Would you trade firing McCarthy for a democrat president, house, and senate in 2024?

The chaos it created will turn off Independants and moderate Republicans where some won't vote in 2024.  It's going to be a close race for the Presidency, House and Senate and every vote is needed.  If a government shutdown occurs the Republicans will be blamed and you'll have Federal workers, military servicemenbers, and businesses with government contracts not getting paid.  They'll get backpaid when the shutdown is over, but that military family isn't going to be happy when they don't get a paycheck for a month or two.

The other issue is it takes the focus away from Biden and Democrats bumbles.  100% of the spotlight should be on their mistakes, not the Republicans creating their own chaos.  That's one of the reasons why Trump lost and Redwave didn't happen in 2020 and 2022. 

A balanced budget takes time to accomplish and there's many difficulties with it.  First you need to win the Presidency, Senate, and House by a good margin.  To do that, you need the votes from the people.  But you lose votes if you make major cuts in spending or increase taxes.  Everyone wants lower spending as long as it doesn't affect themselves.  The most conservative Republican's will be pissed if you cut their social security check or they lose their job.

Cuts can be made, but it has to be over time or else you lose votes.  If you piss off too many people, they'll just vote the other way and reinstate spending again.

Stop deflecting from the actual issue. This is not about spending cuts, it’s about mccarthy not holding to his word. If Mccarthy put up a single subject bill and got every republicans vote except Gaetz we wouldn’t be talking about this. Gaetz would have zero support to oust him as speaker. How are you just ignoring the fact that McCarthy planned the entire time to remit his deal he made to become speaker? HES the one who made the deal with no intention of honoring it knowing full well that he could be ousted at any point yet he still chose to fuck around, and now he found out.

McCarthy has been attempting to pass single bills but can't get the Republican votes to pass them, much less getting the votes in the Senate.  He only has 4 votes to spare, or in other words, he needs 98.5% agreement with the cuts they're proposing.  Thats a very difficult task.  We can't get that type of agreement in the 2A community for 2A stuff.

Business as usual is not going to fix this. Multiple layers of our government have gone rogue and/or have been infiltrated by the Chinese Communist Party.
Way too many people live in an echo chamber where they have no idea how bad things have gotten in the real world. Someone has to shock them out of their trance.
This "chaos" is absolutely necessary, because if we don't hit the reset button now the consequence down the road will be even worse.
If you have enough cash on hand to ride out the current inflationary economic death spiral without experiencing significant lifestyle changes then good for you.
Your turn to feel the burn is coming however, just like everyone else who counts their wealth in dollars.

You obviously have never been sailing.
Pissing into the wind is not a good idea.
Congress ceased to work around 1964.
LJB was elected. Vietnam BS accelerated and
Democrats rioted.
They run the Kublai show now.
 

I'm going to defer to your expertise and experience on that one!

 

The issue is how do you reduce the budget effectively.  You can fire congressmen and scream for it, but it's not going to happen and you end up going backward instead of forward.  The budget was cut under McCarthy which is good considering the President and Senate are under Democrat control, and the House has a very slim majority.  The chaos created in Congress isn't going to help bring down the budget, rather there's a chance it actually increases the budget.  Would you trade firing McCarthy for a democrat president, house, and senate in 2024?

The chaos it created will turn off Independants and moderate Republicans where some won't vote in 2024.  It's going to be a close race for the Presidency, House and Senate and every vote is needed.  If a government shutdown occurs the Republicans will be blamed and you'll have Federal workers, military servicemenbers, and businesses with government contracts not getting paid.  They'll get backpaid when the shutdown is over, but that military family isn't going to be happy when they don't get a paycheck for a month or two.

The other issue is it takes the focus away from Biden and Democrats bumbles.  100% of the spotlight should be on their mistakes, not the Republicans creating their own chaos.  That's one of the reasons why Trump lost and Redwave didn't happen in 2020 and 2022. 

A balanced budget takes time to accomplish and there's many difficulties with it.  First you need to win the Presidency, Senate, and House by a good margin.  To do that, you need the votes from the people.  But you lose votes if you make major cuts in spending or increase taxes.  Everyone wants lower spending as long as it doesn't affect themselves.  The most conservative Republican's will be pissed if you cut their social security check or they lose their job.

Cuts can be made, but it has to be over time or else you lose votes.  If you piss off too many people, they'll just vote the other way and reinstate spending again.

"If you piss off too many people, they'll just vote the other way and reinstate spending again."
You point out the biggest problem in our system - people that don't pay the bills can vote.
The 16th amendment killed America.
 

I'm going to defer to your expertise and experience on that one!

 

A mistake a 5 year old learned.
 

Could it be that these 8 GOP members are saying "Enough Already".  Stop the same old same old.  At the risk of shutting the government down.

Remove the Speaker.  At the worst time in my opinion.  When the nation is on the brink of not being funded with no progress in sight.  Elect a new Speaker that will change the same old, same old.

However, for the Republican majority, how is this going to win them over?  If the republican majority felt the same way as those 8 GOP individuals, why did the GOP majority vote to keep McCarthy as Speaker?

Maybe the Republican majority do feel the same way but felt the timing was wrong?  Was that it?

Interesting stuff.  Next week should be a doozy.

Could it be that these 8 GOP members are saying "Enough Already".  Stop the same old same old.  At the risk of shutting the government down.

Remove the Speaker.  At the worst time in my opinion.  When the nation is on the brink of not being funded with no progress in sight.  Elect a new Speaker that will change the same old, same old.

However, for the Republican majority, how is this going to win them over?  If the republican majority felt the same way as those 8 GOP individuals, why did the GOP majority vote to keep McCarthy as Speaker?

Maybe the Republican majority do feel the same way but felt the timing was wrong?  Was that it?

Interesting stuff.  Next week should be a doozy.

McCarthy is the fundraising machine for the Republican Party. They are beholden to him so they can be re elected,Which is the entire problem with our politics. They worry more about their next election cycle than they do the country.

McCarthy has been attempting to pass single bills but can't get the Republican votes to pass them, much less getting the votes in the Senate.  He only has 4 votes to spare, or in other words, he needs 98.5% agreement with the cuts they're proposing.  Thats a very difficult task.  We can't get that type of agreement in the 2A community for 2A stuff.

Yeah I hear you zippz and I’m not saying that the speakership is an easy task. However our country is $33 trillion in debt and something has to change. A nominal 10% reduction in spending may have been “good enough” when the deficit was running at $1 million and the debt was at $2 trillion. But a 10% reduction running at $2 trillion deficit and $33 trillion in debt is absolutely nothing. You’re taking one shovel of dirt out of a hole while 10 scoops get thrown right back on top of you.

A balanced budget should be 1st priority among both parties and we as citizens should not accept anything less. At this point I don’t even really care for republicans, they spend just like democrats do. If we can’t even expect the party who’s supposed to be fiscally conservative to agree on hardline fiscal policies then this country is done.

Yeah I hear you zippz and I’m not saying that the speakership is an easy task. However our country is $33 trillion in debt and something has to change. A nominal 10% reduction in spending may have been “good enough” when the deficit was running at $1 million and the debt was at $2 trillion. But a 10% reduction running at $2 trillion deficit and $33 trillion in debt is absolutely nothing. You’re taking one shovel of dirt out of a hole while 10 scoops get thrown right back on top of you.

A balanced budget should be 1st priority among both parties and we as citizens should not accept anything less. At this point I don’t even really care for republicans, they spend just like democrats do. If we can’t even expect the party who’s supposed to be fiscally conservative to agree on hardline fiscal policies then this country is done.

He should do single item bills and if they all fail, then it's easy to blame it on those who voted no. Would it cause more harm than good at the specific time, maybe. But in the long run, the excuse that nothing will get done will always then be present.  And no change will ever take place. 

Our government has to get back to making things simpler, like no more 5000 page bills and give only a few hours to read and understand it.

He is more concerned about reelection than doing what's best for our country and it's time for a change.  This is what happens when there are no term limits.

Many here are old enough to remember the Clinton years and the GOP's Contract with America.

That's when the House (under Newt's leadership) let the government shutdown for 3-4 months.  in the aftermath, the bills that had to be paid, like military and other gov't employee salaries, were paid.  Some had banks that were nice enough to cover checks written in that time and take the funds back incrementally as the customer got paid.

One thing that came out of that is we actually had a balanced budget.  Only spending 3 quarters of the discretionary budget was at that time enough to erase the deficit.

Of course, Slick Willy made sure to take 100% credit for that, even though it never would have been balanced without shutting down part of government and keeping that money in the treasury.

That ties into something else many may not be old enough to know -- or just didn't know because they aren't associated with the military.  I believe it was around FY 1987 when the geniuses decided to lower spending in one fiscal year by shifing military and DoD government employees' paychecks from the last day of the month to the first day.

This had the effect of eliminating the Sept 30 payday completely in the year they needed to reduce spending, and paying that money the following fiscal year.

It was accounting smoke and mirrors.  No money was saved, and all the people getting a DoD paycheck had to make accommodations to pay their bills without that end of September paycheck.  One day sounds trivial unless you need that money to pay a bill that's due 30 Sep.  Many people would mail checks 2-3 days before payday to make their payment deadlines knowing the checks won't get cashed before payday.  This shift hurt those people even more.

Anyway, it illustrates the stupidity that can come from DC just to juggle the books and make it look like they aren't doing as terrible a job budgeting as they actually are.

"Hello, Guard? There must be some kind of mistake. I'm not supposed to be in the re-education camp..... I'm one of the conservatives who tried to compromise with the Democrats!"
 
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/10/hillary-calls-for-deprogramming-trump-supporters/
 

They figured this week.  Maybe next week?

You know, Speaker?

If and when they do decide on Speaker, the Israeli crisis will take precedence.  The spending bills that are to keep the lights on in this country will be kicked so far down the road they will need blood hounds to find it.........

With all that's happening around the world and in congress this ABBA song keeps playing in my head.  The beginning lyrics are pretty interesting too.

Oh well.  Looks like Jim Jordan will drop out as nominee for speaker also.  So two weeks went by and nothing was done in congress.

But the fackahs got paid.  Maybe we should pass legislation that their pay is dependent on performance and timely governance results.

Maybe that would light a flame up their asses.

I even read that they are planning to draw this crap out juuuuust before the CR runs out in November before electing a speaker and getting back to doing their f*ckn jobs.

In other words, same old, same old and another lump legislation that nobody really vetted gets passed while the American sheeple continue to fund the corrupt swamp called US government.

government my ass.

With no GOP speaker, woul dthis mean that the budget bill to Israel and Ukraine is on pause?

Damn Matt Gaetz started some shit 

He exposed the corrupt republican establishment better than Trump did. Watching all those republicans simp for McCarthy so they can beg him for his donations to their campaigns is hilarious.

Damn Matt Gaetz started some shit 

He exposed the corrupt republican establishment better than Trump did. Watching all those republicans simp for McCarthy so they can beg him for his donations to their campaigns is hilarious.

It's definitely one of those pants around the ankles kind of moments