This is less consequential than Y2K. There is a lot of hyperventilating in Washington and on television. But, the reality is the government isn’t the straw that stirs the drink of the economy.
Business will still operate and private businesses that negotiate with each other to enact in commerce will still go one. Deals will be cut. Capitalism will survive.
Any business that was negotiating with the federal government on a contract wasn’t getting anything done in the short term anyway. It’s an frustratingly long process to get anything through the government and private companies burn billions in working capital getting it done.
Some facts that are interesting. Both parties have dug their heels in the sand. The Republicans hate Obamacare and have voted to repeal it 41 times. Each time it was rejected so why would it change now? Obamacare was passed with one party rule. Not dissimilar from dictatorships.
At the same time, the Democrats won’t even meet with Republicans. So how is there any chance at compromise?
We are at odds. The Democrats kept the Senate and the Presidency last election. The Republicans won the house (and extended gains made from the previous election).
The simple fact is the bill that should be passed ought to have certain things in it:
- delay Obamacare for 1 year since it isn’t ready anyway
- get rid of the medical device tax so pacemakers and other necessary devices aren’t taxed.
- raise the debt ceiling, but don’t increase/decrease any spending at all.
- put all the staffers and elected officials on Obamacare
- every government employee in every agency should be on Obamacare
One thing is for sure. Many of the employees of the government are non-essential. Why don’t we privatize a lot of the functions? For example, park rangers and park employees, museum employees. Why are they government employees? They could be private employees contracted to work at a government installation.
When it comes to data, most of the time the private data is better than the government data. Why can’t we privatize the Bureau of Labor Statistics for example? Certainly, when it comes to crop reports the private numbers are generally more accurate than government ones. The government ones are more volatile.
There is much more we can do.
Then, have an election in 2014. Let the chips fall where they may.
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