In whose best interests is a government shutdown? Most probably not the working people of the United States. Today, 800,000 federal workers stayed home. A prolonged shutdown can suck income out of the economy with an alacrity only an Al Qaeda suicide bombing could provide. So is it a "Tea Party" victory? Or are these idiots simply performing the will of their corporate masters who don't want ludicrous health insurance profits diminished by moderate health reform?
It's too bad Obama really isn't Castro, Chavez, Stalin or Lenin. He would have socialized all the major corporate industries that are ripping off middle class families daily: health, insurance, finance, energy, pharma, big ag, telecoms, tech giants.... What a scheme these industries have!! In exchange for ludicrous profits and near monopoloid markets, they get to milk the average middle class families while maintaining "co-operation" with government interests like the NSA. Meaningful corporate tax reform doesn't stand a chance when corporate funded think tanks feed the typical brain dead libertarian rhetoric to screaming village idiots across America like the "Tea Party" zealots. Neither does a healthy American economy or a strong middle class. Forget about mandated federal health insurance.
Sure we will continue to have large deficits and expanding poverty! And so will health, insurance, finance, energy, pharma, big ag, telecoms, tech giants continue to show large profits! Just to satisfy their blood lust (or perhaps to demonstrate their own vicious sense of humour), this congress has sent budgets that eliminate SNAP ("food stamps"). The "government shutdown" is a terrorist attack upon the working and middle classes by the far right wing and their brain dead minions in America. It's impressive. The rich have literally convinced fringe members of the working class to attack their own class interests.
This is how I would play this if I were Barack Obama: The continuing (and fake) "War on Terror" gives the president substantial unitary power and privilege. With it, he could construct and implement "The Emergency Federal Revenue Act of 2013". The act would temporarily nationalize the top companies in all major industries and provide for secret federal teams with access to all the accounts for all major corporate industries in America. With this information, they could redirect all offshore and European profits to American banks and the Federal Reserve who could in turn "loan" those dollars to United States. This would allow the federal government to implement an emergency "revenue stream" from corporate income that would fund government until a budget "decision" is reached. It would also give the President "leverage".
There would be no need to publicize such an action in its entirety. Federal Reserve loans could be used as a cover. Simply issue an NSL to each of the corporations, implement federal hooks, re-channel offshore/European profit streams to keep the economy afloat. After the crisis is over, you maintain your federal hooks. You make sure federal representation on the various boards is maintained as a part of your NSL or "offshore account investigations/findings". This should stop right wing funding of "Tea Party" zealots cold. Either they play the President's game or he "squeezes" their corporate sponsors; into federal bankruptcy if necessary. Violations of the NSLs should be swiftly and silently 'prosecuted'.
The "Government Shutdown" is an act of terrorism against the working people of the United States and against a moderate, corporate friendly President. If he has balls, if he gives a shit about you and I, then he should strike back. If he does not, then all of us will know without a doubt whose side he is really on.
