America? Closed mate, until further

America shut down

The yanks can’t agree a budget, or something, between their two houses of power, so the place is shut down. There’s no agreed budget, so there’s no money to pay their civil servants, so they’re all home on unpaid leave (furlough, I think they call it over there). Good work guys. Sort of confirmation that they’re a world superpower only because of the vast scale of the place, d’you think?

It makes sense, broadly. Two houses, a system of checks and balances. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to have here (just that the second house is full of Little Lord Fauntleroys and government stooges and bishops and similar unelected folk)? I think the ‘checks’ in checks and balances does not mean checkmate.

A radio bod (she got the job somehow) described it as a Mexican standstill (maybe, later, she would explain how things had ground to a standoff).

Two opposed houses, no negotiation, that means they’re stuck in this standoff until something gives.

Apart from the essential services

The essential services continue to run and those personnel will be paid, in full, but it will be backpay and, apparently, it will be paid up over a period of time.

I’d suggest a period of reflection for the political classes at this point:

If they’re the essential guys, why are they not the best paid?

But the non-essentials are shut down

Home, without pay, until things get sorted out by he bickering classes.

I’d suggest a period of reflection for the politicians right now:

If they’re non-essential, why are we paying them so much? Do we actually need them at all? Do we need so many of them?

Let’s face facts, if the upper, say, 15% of our civil servants went on strike here and now, and we’re talking about a crew earning over £100,000.00 a year, how many years would it be before anyone noticed? My guess is that we never would.

So, what is and isn’t essential

Apparently the firemen, police and the armed forces. But time will tell. The need to dispose of rubbish before it becomes a health hazard will hit home before the need for a head of corporate taxation (loophole exploitation division) and a senior researcher assisting in the systematic dismantling of the NHS.