Government Contractors Brace for Shutdown (Obama may use SS tax revenues to pay shutdown costs)

The Wall Street Journal ^ | 2011-04-04 | Elizabeth Williamson

[rabscuttle385]

U.S. businesses are bracing for layoffs and disruptions along their supply chains if the federal government shuts down later this week because of an impasse over the federal budget.

(snip)

Especially hard hit are small and midsized businesses that rely on steady flows of revenue from federal contracts to provide a wide array of products and services such as information technology consulting, building construction and maintenance, or food service at national parks.

(snip)

Should the government close, the Treasury could provide a several-hundred billion dollar cushion by borrowing from Social Security, federal pensions and other funds, says Gary Hufbauer, a former Treasury official who is senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

[rabscuttle385]

Should the government close, the Treasury could provide a several-hundred billion dollar cushion by borrowing from Social Security, federal pensions and other funds...

Figures.

[GeronL]

More debt. no problem

[tumblindice]

They’re gonna jimmy the `lockbox’? Heavens to murgatroyd!

[Soothesayer]

Barack Obama is behaving like a medieval king rewarding the lords and barons with the assets stolen from the poor starving peasants. Only it’s infinitely worse because republican government already exists!

If America is stupid or corrupt enough to reelect this bastard then quite frankly I’ll give up on this country entirely. I might even encourage and promote Islam just so the Muslims can rape and kill the spoiled worthless vermin who infect this land. Europe is getting what they deserve and soon shall this batch of rats.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

It's only money.

Ain't that right, Barry?

[Axelsrd]

I thought only the House of Reps. was the only ones authorized to spend money...not the POTUS

[Aroostook25]

Let him raid social security — that’ll get the seniors voting Republican.

Yeah, right. Nobody will here about it except those listening to tea party radio.

[sport]

That was then. This is now. obma, according to Congress, the main stream media, and unfortunately, most of the amricn public can do as he damn well pleases. The Constitution be damned!

[jetson]

I have a better idea BOzo...why not use the money we give to illegal aliens to cover costs.

[NonValueAdded]

Gonna grasp the third rail, right? And how would that not require borrowing authority? the media and AARP are gonna go ballistic, right? ... ... waiting ... ... [crickets chriping] ... oh, to have a free and independent press

[Aroostook25]

Then again,
the social security and pension funds have already been raided.

How can the feds bail out California when the federal government is doing the same darn thing—only by trillions instead of billions.

[Gabrial]

News flash for the idiot living in the White Hut.

You can't borrow your way out of debt.

Eventually there will be no one and nothing to borrow from.

We are teetering on that brink right now. Tax Cheat Little Timmy Geitner sees that train in the tunnel, and is begging Congress to raise the debt ceiling so he can borrow more to pay the interest on the debt Obama and the rest of the spending addicts have racked up. Eventually there needs to be an intervention.

If these were my kids acting this way, I would cut up their credit cards, take away their car keys, and ground them.

[GeronL]

That was back when there was a Constitution

[fhayek]

Since there is no account where Social Security funds are deposited, there is no 'real' money in there for the Government to use. But that's okay, because the government can issue Treasury securities to borrow the money it needs. However, recent auctions of Treasuries have not been selling very well due to the paltry interest rates they bear. But that's okay because the Federal Reserve is buying them in order to prop them up. But the Federal Reserve doesn't really have the money for this, they just list these Treasuries as an asset to offset the creation of money out of thin air. It's a sham wrapped in a facade, inside an abstraction.

Bernie Madoff was a piker compared to this.

[SECURE AMERICA]

Should the government close, the Treasury could provide a several-hundred billion dollar cushion by borrowing from Social Security, federal pensions and other funds

Precisely why this Nation is broke already.
The assclowns that are the government simply do not get it.

[allmendream]

All bills for raising of revenue shall originate in the House.

Only Congress is authorized to spend money. Not the POTUS.

Maybe if he sold arms to Iran, he could use the funds for whatever he wanted, right?????/s

[Logical me]

Maybe he will take your savings in banks or credit unions. That's coming because King Obama is a communists dictator and he doesn't give a damn. Forgot, he will probably keep one of this promises and confiscate your 401k and combine it in SS. Remember?

[screaminsunshine]

I feel so sorry for government contractors. Maybe he could be forced to use WIC funds and Food Stamps.

[screaminsunshine]

There is no money in there anyway only IOU’S.

[mo]

they can shut it down...and then re-open it when they find themselves a chief executive with a birth certificate and legitimate social security number...for starters.