Troops won't get paid (so much for Republican patriotism). 800,000 federal employees on furlough. Delay income tax refunds. It will also cost taxpayers hundreds of millions (at least the last one did). Oh but Congress will still get paid. Gotta love that.

The teabaggers chanting "shut it down" made me want to puke. They should be jailed.

Nobody should want the government to be shut down. Right now, discussing the possible shutdown is costing tens of millions of dollars because they're not doing other, more important things. It disgusts me.

To Republicans, be true fiscal conservatives, bite the bullet, and raise taxes. No more of this tax break for the wealthy bullshit

Great Depression looked like it was kicked in 1936, then FDR got cute and tried to balance the buget, followed by an even more severe recession. Buckle your safety belts folks...

"Oh but Congress will still get paid. Gotta love that."

I agree with you on that, Putin33. All congressmen should take pay cuts. The best way to lead is by example. I would personally rather pay our servicemen then the scumbags in Washington.

instead of repeating what you here on PMSNBC, think for yourself. you do know the great and almighty libs could have actually created a budget last year right. we wouldn't be worried about a government shutdown. you do know this right?? they balked in order to not get stomped in the election. that worked out well didn't it?

fudd, just wait till the shit storm that rains on the republican party after the government shuts, down, I can't wait.

I can't wait till Obama reelection campaign ads show Tea Partiers chanting "Shut it down" the Neanderthals screwed themselves 15 years ago and they are going to do it again right now

"What will happen if lawmakers can't reach an agreement?"

The American people would be better off. I hope the government shuts down.

the troops will get paid dog. npr.

honestly... i'm indifferent. it's just so god damned irrational that it's hard to even have an opinion on that mess.

the amount they can't agree over, like $30 billion or so, is a fucking pittance. lol. bill gates has more in his bank account. i feel like its time for one of the two to man up and just say: okay we'll do it. i'd have much respect for that shit.

obviously the partisans of that side would cry bloody murder but honestly partisans can go to hell. theyre useless windbags the lot of them.

The Republicans want to cut the tax rate for the richest by 10 percentage points, but yet claim the budget is "revenue neutral". If they care so much about the debt, why are they cutting taxes? And they won't touch the subsidies for oil and gas giants, or other tax breaks for huge corporations. Meanwhile they are privatizing Medicare, destroying Medicaid, and cutting every single program they can think of that affects poor people.

Putin: Of COURSE they are. Don't you know all of our problems are because of entitled poor people who just want to have abortions and do drugs all the time? [/sarcasm]

@ Thucydides

I agree with you. I have identified myself as right-leaning in the past, but I have had it with both parties. 30 billion dollars is pocket change as far as the federal government is concerned, but they're fighting over it as if it was a social issue.

Whoever wins this victory may score some reelection points in voters' minds, but 30 million dollars is, as you say, "a fucking pittance"

@ Putin33

Can you back up those numbers? I believe that the liberal stereotype about conservative greed is unfounded. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe conservatives are a bunch of greedy corporate bastards. But I'm going to need more evidence.

*30 BILLION dollars*

"ike $30 billion or so, is a fucking pittance. lol. bill gates has more in his bank account. i feel like its time for one of the two to man up and just say: okay we'll do it. i'd have much respect for that shit."

This is a tea partier talking point. How much would be enough for you? 100 billion? The Democrats give in and give in and give in. The Republicans want all or nothing. But yet again the usual suspects come out with their false equivalence song and dance.

Ironically, what the Dems are offering now is exactly what the Republicans originally requested - some 30 billion in cuts. But now they raised it to 61 billion. Nothing is ever good enough for you people.

"Can you back up those numbers? I believe that the liberal stereotype about conservative greed is unfounded. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe conservatives are a bunch of greedy corporate bastards. But I'm going to need more evidence."

Watch CSPAN, read Ryan's budget proposal. They openly admit that Medicare benefits will be cut by over 60% with their bs voucher program. Do you Republicans have older relatives?

Thucy: The problem I have with just asking one rich person to pony up the money is this: It's still domination of the rich over our lives. One rich person deciding to give a shitton of money to a single cause they like is nice and all, but it's still a whim of personal preference. This money should come from taxes (the insanely rich, anyone?) and should be spent according to the needs of society, not the altruistic urges of one fallible human.

@ Putin33

Let me play devil's (or saint's) advocate for a minute. I don't really identify as conservative, but I really don't identify as liberal.

"what the Dems are offering now is exactly what the Republicans originally requested - some 30 billion in cuts. But now they raised it to 61 billion. Nothing is ever good enough for you people."

Maybe conservatives realized how dire the budget situation is, and realized that 30 billion simply isn't enough.

"Watch CSPAN, read Ryan's budget proposal. They openly admit that Medicare benefits will be cut by over 60% with their bs voucher program. Do you Republicans have older relatives?"

I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about tax cuts for the rich. Can you back up that claim? And "Conservatives are a bunch of greedy warmongering corporate bastards" does not count as evidence (before you try and say that =P)

Of course Republicans have older relatives. Putin33, we simply do not have the money to fully fund Medicare anymore. The United States of America is out of money. We could default on our foreign debt at any time. Budget cuts always hurt. But the pain from budget cuts is always less than the pain from bankruptcy. We are out of time to wean ourselves off of these programs. We need to make drastic cuts now.

The dems had more than enough time to hammer out a budget before the mid-term elections, but decided to "kick the can down the road". They knew if they passed a budget that Americans didn't agree with that they would have lost more seats than they did at the mid-terms. This is NOTHING more than political postering to try to make the republicans look like the bad guys. Obama is a weak leader at best and this will backfire in his face.

Ron Paul 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

no, Ron Paul 2012!!!!!!!!!, my bad.

Ron Paul is our only hope. Everyone else has been bought.

Darwyn, I love you, man!! (but not in a gay sorta way) :)

Ron Paul? Seriously?

and Ron Paul hasn't been bought... right...

Gotta love it, Republicans doing the same exact stuff that got Clinton re-elected AND they are going after old people's benefits. Obama won't even have to campaign.

I think the 2012 elections will be very interesting, either way.

I doubt it, the way the Republicans are going its going to be a landslide

"We are out of time to wean ourselves off of these programs. We need to make drastic cuts now."

Yes, of course, wean ourselves off programs for the vulnerable, elderly, poor, and sick, do not wean ourselves off our bloated defense budget, subsidies for massive corporations, and tax cuts for the rich.

You can't claim that we "can't afford these programs" while the Republicans continue to cut taxes. Can't do it, sorry. The Republicans created a budget crisis with their two wars they never paid for, and then they come back and say it's the domestic programs we have to cut. We have to balance the budget on the backs of working people. Enough is enough.

Here you go on the corporate/individual tax rate though. The source is a far-right one, so no complaining about the source.

http://www.unitedliberty.org/articles/7929-paul-ryan-presents-the-path-to-prosperity

House Republicans on Tuesday unveiled a far-reaching budget proposal that cuts $5.8 trillion from anticipated spending levels over the next decade and is likely to provide the framework for both the fiscal and political fights of the next two years.

The ambitious plan, drafted principally by Representative Paul D. Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who chairs the Budget Committee, proposes not only to limit federal spending and reconfigure major federal health programs, but also to rewrite the tax code, cutting the top tax rate for both individuals and corporations to 25 percent from 35 percent, reducing the number of income tax brackets and eliminating what it calls a “burdensome tangle of loopholes.”

Here is what it really boils down to. Republicans don't like the new health care laws and are doing everything they can to make certain the programs under the plan don't get funded. In doing so, they are hurting all of us. The Democrats, naturally, want to see the new health plan fully funded . and the PResident really doesn't care as long as he looks like te mature one of the group. In the end it's all posturing on both sides and we are the ones being hurt by it.

Now, I don't like the new plan any more than most of the conservatives in power, but I also think it's fucked up to hurt the entire nation to "make a point" and both sides are fucking idiots.