Client called and said they need to save 70% on a core, cross government system. They have 168 people on the program plus government staff, not our people mind you, so could we put in a bid on that and take the enterprise on. 30% staffing is some kind of joke, but no, they want to keep approximate staffing levels. Gee, sorry. Anyone with an masters in an engineering discipline with 10+ year experience and wanting to pull down 26k, call me.

Apparently King is building a moderate Republican coalition? This is hilarious. Who ya rooting for jersey?

I'd be all for the House GOP holding firm on trying to gain concessions in passing a government funding bill if it seemed like we had anything resembling an end goal and anything resembling a plan on how to get there.

At the start of the fight (or at least as soon as Cruz's song and dance was finished) they should have picked one thing that can be messaged effectively and is popular (delaying individual mandate for a year; the Vitter amendment on Congressional health care subsidies), pass it, tell Harry Reid to go fuck himself if he doesn't pass it. There are things that can win Democratic support in the Senate, and fit neatly in a 15 second clip on a news broadcast (even if ultimately they aren't huge public policy wins). "Harry Reid and Senate Democrats are willing to shut down government to protect Congressional subsidies" "Harry Reid and Senate Democrats are willing to shut down government to keep a penalty in place on working Americans who are struggling in today's economy, even while the administration has already delayed these penalties on big business" Whatever. It seems like they've finally arrived at that strategy a week late, which means they're destined to fail. At least they've got Begich, Landrieu, Pryor and the rest taking these shit sandwich votes, but as a wider strategy, the whole thing has been awful.

We've been throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks, and the likely outcome is a clean CR being passed eventually, but only after maximum damage is self inflicted. There is some minority of the GOP House (and Senate) caucus that seems to think all we need to do to succeed and have our preferred policy outcomes achieved is fight harder and have courage and force Obama to cave. The fact that we only control one of the three cogs of power is irrelevant, and anyone who suggests otherwise is some wussy RINO. It's like if Ruben came out and said the problem with this year's team is we didn't play the game the right way, used poor strategy and next year having everyone bringing Utley-like intensity will win us the NL East (depressingly, it wouldn't be surprising to hear him say that), ignoring the reality of the roster just not being talented enough.

Hopefully they get it over with and pass the CR tonight after the Senate votes down these latest amendments. It's going to happen eventually, but maybe we can skip the step where we hemorrhage support, embarrass the party and hurt the economy first. The usual suspects will whine, but a majority of the GOP caucus will be happy.

Jonathan Chait explains it all:

House GOP on strike

Debt ceiling and Obama's presidency

Chait has chosen not to consider an Obama option on the debt ceiling - ignore Congress's sociopaths and pay the US's bills.

"Corporation John" Roberts wouldn't find that move unconstitutional 1 time in 1,000.

Shut er down

so we can loot and pillage now??

anarchy!

ANARCHY!

One bizarre thing is that we've got no party that really cares much about business. Republicans say Democrats regulate business to death, but at the same time, their reckless policies (as well as the fact that they let a few crazed racists hold up comprehensive immigration reform) on the budget and debt show they don't care about business at all. As Mitt Romney would say if he had even one ball, Cruz should STFU until he's made a payroll once or twice.

Tens of thousands of air-traffic controllers, prison guards and Border Patrol agents will be required to serve without pay

wow

All laws are suspended forever.

Looking at the Wikipedia, god the government shut down an awful lot under Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan - Federal Government Shutdowns. Especially remarkable given the huge majorities Dems had in both houses of Congress at the time of Carter's presidency. Also the Tip O'Neill-Ronald Reagan relationship that gets mythologized so frequently might not have led to as effective of a government as we are led to believe.

jerseyhoya wrote: Especially remarkable given the huge majorities Dems had in both houses of Congress at the time of Carter's presidency.

you do not want to have lived during the mid-70s. everything was brown & avocado & orange, and shaggy. And no one had any money.

Bucky wrote:so we can loot and pillage now??

The Hong Kong and Shanghai markets are closed Oct 1 for the Chinese holiday (National Day). If the shutdown goes on past Oct 1, I should make out pretty well betting against America. SUCK IT WAGE SLAVES!

The market will implode. That will be a nice side effect of our spineless leaders failing on every account to lead. After cratering DMV's economies the trickle down will be impressive. The real humor is that *if* Obamacare could have an effect like Romneycare, it would be good for America (use google to look at things like where the US stands on life expectancy, infant mortality, etc.). So pushing the implosion button will have dire effects if this does not get clean up in short order.

On deck, the debt limit and the opportunity to further crush the credit rating of the US.

I was thinking about our messaging to the rest of the world about the love of democracy and how we want democracies to proliferate profiled against our dysfunction on dispolay over the last 8 - 10 years.

I blame obama for not negotatiating on non-negotiable things!!!!!

On thinking about class warfare arguments, the center for responsible politics, although a little behind in estimating, has estimated wealth averages of $6.5M & 11.9M for the members of the house and senate respectively. Where I do not generally begrudge success, the serfs in the purge, especially those who have been punsished with a 20% pay cut for thier already lower tier pay scale public servants who will now go without in total, will get around to full on resentment rather quickly.

What I kind of enjoy is that the jihad faction led by Cruz et al see themselves as representing a break from politics as usual in DC, while everybody who's not them views them as embodying the dysfunctional norm. Tone deaf ideologues who showboat rather than govern.

The thing I don't understand is why Boehner, who's clearly not an ideologue, keeps yielding to these psychos. Wanting to keep his job, sure. But they'll never trust him, and his time in the position is short anyway. Whether it's place in history or setting himself up for a sinecure, I'd think all his motivations are to do the responsible thing here.

jerseyhoya wrote:Shut er down

In 1995 when we dod this last it cost millions more to close up shop. The pocesses of stablizing software engineering programs that might need to be picked up by anyone who was/is not currently working on things is expensive. Re-engaging adds to schedule as well. Of course in 95 we were paid for that effort, added effort that is. This time it sounds like there will be no payment, which will mean that the contractors will need to declare shut down and restart as out of contract scope leading to contract modification and added money to the contract (this will be expensive and slow).

Unlike last time, I don't think that we actually though this was going to happen up until Friday.

I forgot to mention, my drive in was great today. It seemed like there was a lot of unusual traffic at the gates at Langley (~0610), which I have to assume were people going in early to checkout so they would have a full day to enjoy.

on a side note, our system is up and running, so i think i'll go give some people obamacare