

US troops won't get paid during shutdown: Pentagon - Suraj-Sun
http://news.yahoo.com/us-troops-wont-paid-during-shutdown-pentagon-190746122.html

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phaus
Every year since I joined the military in 2003, the government has pretended
that they weren't going to pass a budget and that Soldiers won't get paid.
They are generally full of shit about this issue just like they are full of
shit when it comes to nearly every other. Please stop electing career
politicians for public office, they only want to hurt you.

The last time it actually happened was in the 90s, and it only lasted a week
or so.

It's possible that the Soldiers won't get paid, but it will be the result of a
bunch of wealthy old white men throwing a tantrum (both democrats and
republicans alike) because they didn't get their way.

Once again, please stop re-electing congressman and governors. More
importantly, please stop electing them to be president. They are almost
universally evil, in addition to being incompetent, selfish, and petty.

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spikels
Does this article really say that uniformed troops won't get paid but half of
civilian defense department employees will?! Either this is another press fail
or our government is even more fucked up than I thought.

Perhaps like the sequester earlier this year all the damage from the
"shutdown" is just for show. After all "essential" services will continue and
the government decides what is "essential".

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dkuntz2
No. Nobody gets paid (at least as far as I understand it), but civilians
deemed essential personnel will still be required to work.

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spikels
I'm confused. The US government spends around $3.8 Trillion and takes in
around $3.1 Trillion (2014 estimates). So it seems like it could pay 85% of
its bills without borrowing. Wouldn't they be able to pay the less than $200
Billion annual cost of military personnel out of the $3.1 Trillion?

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FireBeyond
Nothing to be confused about, if you realize the underlying rationale - which
is not that they can’t pay the military, but that if they don’t, or threaten
not to, that can be used as leverage for whatever else they may want.

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hnriot
Maybe we can all use the internet without the NSA watching during the shutdown
too.

