in the meantime, in between time, ain't we got fun?

The newest, latent source of worry--though it is hard to tell from the volume of the shouting, is the threat of a US federal government budget impasse. Despite all the suspense dates, reporting requirements, fiat debt-ceilings and endless bureaucracies in place, this body of lawmakers has ignored its own rules, and failing to agree on a fiscal budget, has funded day-to-day operations through a series of so-called "continuing resolutions," an allowance every two or three weeks of a few billion dollars. If no compromise on funding is reached very soon, then the US government will be forced to suspend operations--selectively--or risk defaulting on its obligations--that is, paying dividends on bond-issues, their debt held by foreign governments, outstanding contracts to private business, and social services. I can remember the Government Shutdown of 1995-1996, as I was living near the Washington, DC area and I remember making the trek up there by public-transportation--which always seemed impossibly difficult, but on returning recently for my college reunion, I realized that those distances that seemed so insurmountable and bothersome were greatly diminished--to see a special exhibit at the National Gallery.

Of course, the museums were closed due to the budget crisis (precipitated by the current president's infidelity) and a massive snowball fight ensued on the Mall. This time, the perspective is a bit different: one side claims the other is too willing to pare down social programs too far, saying that they would force such a stand-off in order to eradicate the vestiges of health-care reform. Maybe one side is certain that recipients of US government welfare programs, patrons of federal institutions or services, is restricted to the other side and believe ending such programs would not adversely affect their base. Attempting reform through such jarring methods, however, is not so well thought out. Furloughing all the hundreds of thousands of citizen and soldier employees of the Ministry of Truth, over and above the loss of support services, will cause that economy to crumple at light-speed with loss of purchasing-power, missed payments, tight credit, and an already fragile economy whose jobless recovery was being sustained by government-staffers in the first place. A few days' worth of late installment-payments and deferred spending will be tormenting, however contained, and will quickly creep to the world's markets.

They won't smash up our Pierce Arrow,
We ain't got none
They've cut my wages
But my income tax will be so much smaller
When I'm paid off,
I'll be laid off
Ain't we got fun?