if only there was a way to trade leisure time with these peopleBut all he wants to do is go to work and do his job. Not sit home and let his work pile up and his ef drain down.. If I could spend down my emergency fund and get a real vacation, and they could go to work (as long as I can go back to work when I'm done with that of course - a security true unemployment could never offer me).
Trees don't grow on money
I've wondered this, too. My best estimate is that the Fed can print money to try to stimulate the economy as long as inflation is under control or below it's long term average. As much as I've thought about it, that is the big issue to me. I think the danger is that inflation or hyper inflation will lag the stimulus which will be bad for the economy on it's own, but will also cause the feds to raise interest rates.Originally Posted by dmc
As far as people loaning us money, even though the ratings agencies have raised the risk on US treasuries, we are still considered one of the safest havens in the world for people for people to park cash. One of the dangers as the debt grows is that the interest we pay on debt will hinder the economy. But interest rates are darned low now.
As counter intuitive as it seems, theoretically I think we have a long ways to go before reaching any sort of limit. Not that I agree with more debt and monetary supply. And like ANM mentions, we have the power of taxation if things get bad.
"what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" Mary Oliver
You can't go anywhere. You sit and wait until you are told to go back. And you can be sure many are experiencing significant stressif only there was a way to trade leisure time with these people
I love this article on Slate.com on the shutdown - a feature in which American events are described using the tropes and tone normally employed by the American media to describe events in other countries.
If It Happened There ... the Government Shutdown
An excerpt:
"But the pleasant autumn weather disguises a government teetering on the brink. Because, at midnight Monday night, the government of this intensely proud and nationalistic people will shut down, a drastic sign of political dysfunction in this moribund republic."
yea many probably do, if they live paycheck to paycheck they will be stressed. Still someone somewhere must be enjoying it. I'd take a staycation.You can't go anywhere. You sit and wait until you are told to go back. And you can be sure many are experiencing significant stress
Trees don't grow on money
There's a National Park on our main island in this county. It has no real services, its roads are county roads, and indeed, some of those roads need to be traversed to get from one part of the island to another."Due to the lapse in appropriated funds, all public lands managed by the Interior Department (National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, Bureau of Land Management facilities, etc.) will be closed. For more information, FAQs, and updates, please visit ww.doi.gov/shutdown."
In the Federal Government's haste to show us how much trouble we are all in, they sent out someone to close the roads today:
Mind you, this isn't Federal land, our county tax dollars build and maintain that road and some of the others they close, and the beach at the end of the one pictured is county, not state or Federal.
The Sheriff shortly thereafter decided the Feds weren't welcome to seize our road, and is sorting out the mess...
So here, in the most liberal county in this liberal state, I think quite a few people woke up today.
We had a wee incident a couple years ago in this same park in which a Federal park ranger decided it was appropriate to draw a weapon on a man who was walking his dog off-leash, and hold him at gunpoint until the Sheriff arrived for "backup".
As for the original poster and the furloughed employee, does the furloughed person not have an emergency fund?
Here's the thing. Very few people actually have emergency funds. Maybe they are bad with money. Maybe where they live has a high COL. Maybe they aren't paid much. Maybe all of these.
When DH and I were first starting out, we were living in a relatively high COL area earning very little (under $40k combined). We had student loan debt, mortgage, and a modest car loan. We put a small amount into the 401k, too. So, we lived within our means, but there wasn't a savings account, and there certainly wasn't an EF.
It wasn't until DH's car and student loans were paid off (happened at the same time) that we were able to put away into our EF, and many of our peers just didn't have one. It still took us two full years to get a 3 month emergency fund, and then another year after that (with raises and everything), we were able to get up to 6 months.
I have no doubt that there are some families in the situation of being within their first 10 years of work and don't have an emergency fund that could sink them.
One of my online friends is in this boat -- lives very simply. Her daughter is disabled, and their copays on medical costs are high. Because of the disability, too, mom (friend) stays at home and her husband works for government. They have very little savings or emergency fund -- even though they are debt free otherwise (no medical debt, no credit card debt, rent their home, etc). So, the government furlough is going to hit this family really hard, and those of us around here are circling the wagons as best we can.
But there are lots of families like this. And to be honest, it stinks for them. These folks are happy to continue to work, and need to to keep going forward. But all this over a fuss?
You're joking, right?? Really??? "IF A LAW NEEDS TO BE REPEALED OR MODIFIED IN SOME WAY, THERE ARE METHODS IN PLACE TO CHANGE THE UNDERLYING LEGISLATION..."
And...I suppose hostage taking is one you approve of, apparently. Along with a list of demands that essentially declares Obama out and , Mitt Romney in?
The ACA is LAW. Period. Do you dispute that? The republicans tried, have tried, to repeal it. They failed in that. Period. Do you dispute that? Was Obama elected President on this law? yes. Did SCOTUS confirm the CONSTITUTIONALITY OF IT? Yes. Do we negotiate with terrorists, or hostage takers? No. We do not. Nor do we blame the authorities when the hostage is killed because all the terrorists DEMANDS weren't met.
The Tea Party Taliban, and you are a good little foot soldier Alan, are trying to put this on the President/Democrats because they aren't capitulating to THEIR list of demands. They even ISSUED it as a list of demands!!
They are saying, "It's your fault we killed the hostage cause you could have simply given us everything we wanted."
Nice try, and it will probably work on those lacking critical thinking skills. But even a dullard eventually realizes that the way to keep from getting hit by the falling bricks is to simply take a few steps to the left.
We have a friend who is working in the State Dept as an anti-terrorist expert. He's furloughed. Yup, bottom of the priority list. My work depends on federal grants which were in place before the shut down, so my workplace sent an email that implied they *think* I will get paid for the duration of the shut down, but the federal govt did not make that clear before the shut down. According to my workplace, I may be taking a financial risk by continuing to work. That's a fun email to get.
I have out of town guests coming tomorrow, and they would probably like to see Rocky Mountain National Park. Too bad. The same park that just recently opened about 93% of its terrain, the other 7% flooded and either needs work or has unstable areas or trails completely washed out. Said trails are not being assessed or repaired. Never mind the roads to the park, all but one of which are now closed thanks to either the shutdown or the floods in Sept. The National Guard isn't certain whether they are authorized to work on said roads, one of which needs 85% of its length repaired before Dec 1. The weather is already turning toward winter (supposed to snow Friday) so it's not something that will be improved, or maybe even possible, with much of a delay. I'm pretty angry about all this.
However, that's not life and death. For these children with cancer and possibly the last chance for hope who had to be turned away from clinical trials at the NIH, it could be a matter of life and death. So no, I do not think the government shutdown is a good thing. It's real pain, for real people. It's not about "trimming budgets" which has been happening anyway with the sequester. It's a considerable amount of money, everything from actual lost work from federal workers to hidden lost money such as a drop in foreign tourists or a decrease in spending by people and businesses due to uncertainty. Good for almost no one. As for Obamacare, yeah there may be problems with it but it's the law, passed *constitutionally* and vetted *constitutionally* so holding up the entire federal government for a constitutional law is, or should be, unconstitutional.
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