A Government Shutdown? If Only!

It’s that time of year again, when talk of a government shutdown fills us with hope that Washington will actually go dark. Alas, for all of the disagreement, animosity and deep dysfunction on Capitol Hill, we can always count on our elected representatives to find a way to settle their differences and perpetuate themselves like some biologically invincible parasite.  Indeed, no matter how shrill the warnings of the mainstream media that Congress is finally about to take the Republic over a cliff, it will end up having been business as usual, with an outcome that is certain to please no one.

Unfortunately for most Americans, our n’er-do-well government is not about to shut down. Rather, it is about to take a blind leap into the economic and political morass that is Obamacare. House Republicans have threatened to defund this legislative turd unless their budget priorities are met, but the Democratically controlled Senate is sure to return the volley with equal malice. Pundits from across the political spectrum think the GOP may be shooting itself in the foot, and there is some truth to this; for even if the Senate were to backpedal on its support of Obamacare, there aren’t nearly enough votes to override the presidential veto that would follow.

Death by Obamacare

Ironically, the laughably misnamed Affordable Healthcare Act may never be implemented, since it appears to be suffocating under its own weight. The danger grows, however, that it will take the economy with it anyway, since the monthly premiums Americans pay for healthcare coverage have been increasing by 30% per year or more as employers have struggled to implement the bill’s provisions, or at least go through the motions of doing so.  For their part, insurers have warned that the heftiest premium increases to date are coming in January. We will take them at their word regardless of whether Obamacare appears to be dead in the water by then.

Seemingly oblivious to all of this, the stock market last week hit a new all-time high. What’s wrong with this picture, readers? That is the Question of the Week.