The Republicans are threatening to shut down the government if they manage to take back Congress in the November election. Hooray! It’s the 1990s all over again, but this time in the middle of a slow-growth jobless economy. Really smart, Republicans.
Oh, and all of those older tea party members who can’t wait for the Republicans to take over? They’re totally screwed.
The first, and most immediate effect of a shutdown is furloughs — hundreds of thousands of workers sent home without pay. That has ripple effects across the country.
Shalala ran down the list of functions that would be stopped.
“Social Security checks, Medicare reimbursements…welfare checks to the state, Medicaid checks to the state.”
If the government shuts down, the Republicans will have created hundreds of thousands of newly unemployed people.
And, more importantly for the old tea partiers, no Social Security and no Medicare payments for you. But at least they were able to stop that evil black guy in the White House. That’s got to be worth the price of a few Social Security checks, no? Who needs to pay the rent or buy food anyway? Loud noises and all that.
Vote wisely, old people.
