Some Men Just Like To See The World Burn

It's the end of the world as we know it ... on April 29!

Top Republican Warns: "Government Shut Down Is A Real Possibility, And Wall Street Is Unprepared"

The government may shut down for a few days at the end of April (because of the end of the continuing resolution which funds the government in lieu of a budget).  Or it may be much longer.  The Liberty Caucus (36 seats in the House) wants a balanced budget over 10 years, so they won't vote for an extension.  The Democrats won't work with the Donald out of spite.  And the moderate middle, led by Paul Ryan, has been disgraced and demoralized and won't stick their necks out.

The joke will really be on the Democrats.  They think shutting down the government will be the end of the world.  In reality, this will play into Trump's hands.  The government will still have tax revenue coming in, just not enough to fully fund everything, so if 15% of the budget is cut, it can go on indefinitely.  He can hold the government budget hostage until he gets the cuts he wants.

Stay tuned for the controlled demolition on April 29.  And even if this event is cancelled, there will still be the budget limit fight sometime this summer.

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Update:  Here is a better explanation of the Republican groupings:  http://thegreatrecession.info/blog/obamacare-repeal-failed-bigly/

There are 3 factions of Republicans:  1) the far right Freedom/Liberty caucus (actually 2 different groups that have memberships that overlap or align).  They want to abolish Obamacare and will shut down the government if that is what it takes to abolish it.  They have about 31 members.  The leader of the Freedom Caucus is Mark Meadows of North Carolina,   The leader of the Liberty Caucus is Justin Amash of Michigan.  They kicked John Boehner out of being speaker.

2)  the "mainline" Republican Study Committee with 172 members chaired by Mark Walker of North Carolina, but really led by Paul Ryan.  They were solidly in favor of the AHCA, Ryancare bill.

3) the "moderate" Tuesday Group with about 50 members. They aren't liberal, but they don't agree with the Freedom caucus' willingness to shut down the government.

So there are 435 representatives in the House, with 5 vacancies, and 193 Democrats, and 237 Republicans.  The numbers of the Republicans don't add up, maybe because of overlapping membership.  Anyways, 218 votes were needed to pass the AHCA, and the Republicans couldn't get both the Freedom Caucus and Tuesday Group to support it.

The same problem will occur with passing a budget.