Debt Ceiling Theater: Treasury Lies We Don't Believe

Here is an absurd yet incomplete story about our nation's $300 billion in gold reserves:

Why Uncle Sam is hoarding gold

The Treasury says it won’t tap its gold stockpile, even to avoid a default

...

This week I asked [the people running the United States Treasury] if they would consider selling some of the country’s gold reserves to pay the bills if the budget crisis escalates later this month.

Their response? Not a chance.

The Treasury has considered that option, among the many others, and rejected it. “Selling gold would undercut confidence in the U.S. both here and abroad,” a spokeswoman said, “and would be destabilizing to the world financial system.” She was quoting an official position laid out last year in a letter to Senator Orrin Hatch, but so far apparently little noticed on Wall Street.

So skipping interest and principal payments would be less destabilizing then selling some gold? That is nonsense, as the writer notes.

What the writer does not explore is that a sale is not necessary; in principal, the Treasury can engage in a simple repo, or gold loan, in which they lend gold to another entity (our friends at the Bank of England, or is that special realtionship over?) in exchange for cash with an obligation to repay the loan and reclaim the gold at a later date.

Now, I am not a gold bug so I have not yet pinned down the details of whether the gold reportedly owned by the Treasury is in fact currently unencumbered and available for repo. But there is simply no way the Treasury is refusing to sell that gold for the faux-stability reasons cited in this article. And let me add, if they have already lent out their gold for cash (at market prices) then selling it won't raise notably more cash; that would be like selling a house that was 99% financed in order to raise money.

I do glean this from a recent NY Times Q&A:

Q. Does the Treasury Department have any options to keep paying some or all of its bills at that point?

A. The inspector general of the Treasury Department said in a 2012 report that when the department approached the debt ceiling in the past it considered multiple contingency plans, including selling the government’s gold or its portfolio of student loans and reducing payments across the board by a set amount. Both alternatives were deemed to be impossible.

Naturally the link provided by the Times to the Treasury report is not working for me but my relentless sleuthing continues apace as I go for the gold; here is the Orrin Hatch letter cited by MarketWatch and which guided the Times coverage.

And now that I see the letter, it is more of the same nonsense. Treasury claims that sales of gold, housing loans or student loans at fire sale prices would disrupt markets and harm the long term interests of the taxpayer. Left unexplored is the alternative of repoing out gold, housing loans or student loans. With cash management skills like this I wonder whether these guys even remember to cash their own paychecks. Ahh, it's probably direct deposit... Totally automatic and beyond their control!

MORE NON-ANALYSIS HERE: The WSJ blithely explains why we can't sell our gold but overlooks the repo question.

STILL NOT A GOLD BUG, BUT... Here is the Treasury's account of our International Reserve Position as of Sept 20 2013. They report 261.499 million fine ounces of gold, unchanged from Dec 30, 2011. At $1300 an ounce that is roughly $340 billion. The descriptive line is "gold (including gold deposits and, if appropriate, gold swapped)", so I presume this would reflect gold encumbered by swaps, if any. I should add that every other line item (e.g., SDRs or yen) have changed a bit.

Well. Either Bernie Madoff's spirit lingers at Treasury and this gold reserve is secretly obscurely encumbered elsewhere (possible!), or the Treasury could lend out a quick $300 billion somewhat painlessly.

Of course, that presumes that the rodeo clowns who oversaw the implemention of Obamacare and told war widows to whistle Dixie have the skill and the will to avoid a financial market debacle.

ARE ALL THE ENRON PEOPLE STILL IN JAIL? One might object that a gold repo is simply a secured Treasury borrowing and is therefore limited by the debt ceiling. When I was young there was some question as to whether forward sales and purchases were loans or something else, so I would hope the Treasury legal team could generate enough fog to cover this. And if a House Committee tries to impeach someone for extending their authority and saving the US debt market, well, bring it on.

But if the lawyers can't get behind a straight gold swap, two alternatives spring to mind, either of which could be fleshed out by any of the Enron alumni.

First, have treasury sell the damn gold to an entity or agency they control; FNMA springs to mind. Then have FNMA arrange the gold swap. This works if FNMA debt is not counted in the debt ceiling, and I am quite sure it is not.

Or, use puts and calls. For example, sell 200 milliion tonnes of gold to the Bank of England ('BoE') at $1,300 an ounce, raising $260 billion. BUY from the BoE a deep in-the-money call, e.g, at $1,000, giving the Treasury the right to buy the gold back in January. And since the price of gold might crash, SELL to the BoE an out-of-the-money put giving them the right to sell the gold back to the Treasury at $1,000 in January.

That put is pretty clearly a new security arguably caught up in the debt ceiling limit but... it only has a market value of roughly 4 percent, or $8 billion. So Treasury can raise $260 billion on the gold sale, apply roughly $60 billion towards the call purchase and apply another $8 billion towards retiring (rather than rolling) a maturing T-bill. That frees up debt ceiling space to issue the put and nets the Treasury about $190 billion. next January either the gold will be called by the Treasury (if the price is above $1,000) or put by the BoE; either way, it ends up back with Treasury, and they will need to be able to pay for it. Or reprise the transaction.

Yes, it does not look exactly like a smooth-sailing ship, but that is a lot of money.

A BUG, OR A FEATURE? I am advised that Islamic banks avoid the prohibition on loans with interest by using repo. But given Obama's puzzling past, this idea might not have a prayer...

Comments

[Jim Eagle]

Boehner just proposed a 6 week limited ceiling raiser.

[Old Lurker test]

Saw that, JiB. But does that include a clean CR too?

If yes to both, then it looks like a clean sweep for Obama and a full cave by the stupid party. Now they kick the can down to Thanksgiving and Christmas and they think the optics will be better?

Really?

[maryrose]

OL:
i would not give up too soon. The House still has to approve. This could be an opening salvo.
Obamacare is exploding on its own. These last 2 weeks have fully exposed its inadequacies for all to see. It has been neutered and the young healthy ones,so essential to its success will not sign up. I saw where Sibelius is encouraging people to just take the penalty. The penalty is too small to pay for the previous condition people so it will fall flat on its face. I see delay down the road when Obama deems it was HIS idea. What a putz!
If we get SPENDING CUTS out of this I will be happy. Bammy is not getting off scott free. The optics and the ultimate CUTS in spending are going to hurt him ,just like the sequester. Repubs look reasonable and have spread info far and wide about the punishing tactics of Preezy and the dems. THey will come out ahead on the perception of the electorate and will cruise to victory in 2014. Obama's plan to tar and feather repubs is an epic fail.

[DrJ]

OL, no CR, so the government is still closed.

[GMax]

Debt ceiling only as far as I can tell by several reports. No word on how much increase but for six weeks, it wont be a whole lot. Word is that they are insisting that Obama agree to bipartisan negotiations over spending cuts, for whatever that is worth. How do you take a liar at his word?

[Threadkiller]

Pawn Ryan has been in hiding through this whole mess. Now he is heading the charge on the debt limit increase?

Newt had his number with the "right wing social engineering" comment.

Romney/Ryan lost because of their emphasis on "replace" every time they said "repeal".

Where is Squaredance?

[GMax]

Please dont say beetlejuice three times outloud...

[Old Lurker test]

No CR...interesting.

Dr. K says (been saying for weeks) the Reps lose on closing the gummint, but win on getting conditions for the debt increase since Obama is on very thin ice on the debt, and as the two issues merge our position improves.

So Boehner's plan seems to continue what Dr.K says is a loser and widens the gap on the issue that wins for us.

Is that right?

[Threadkiller]

Taxpayer Travesty Furloughed Workers May Get Paid Twice Stuart ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMUUMwCnQFk

[Ignatz]

DrK has always batted about .400, which in baseball is great; in politics it puts you toward the bottom of the order.

[GMax]

News report I found, take it with a grain of salt given the unnamed source but here ya go:

It would suspend the debt limit until Nov. 22, the Friday before Thanksgiving, while also forbidding Treasury Secretary Jack Lew from using “extraordinary measures” that his agency has used in recent years to extend his borrowing authority for weeks after the ceiling is reached, according to a senior GOP aide who was in the room.

[GMax]

Ig

40%? I think that was Shaq's free throw percentage...

[Tom Maguire]

Now they kick the can down to Thanksgiving and Christmas and they think the optics will be better?

Some savant noted that it is only the shutdown that kept the ObamaCrash debacle from being the 24/7 story. So yes, by late November an Obamacare delay may be something Reid is begging for and Cruz opposes. Let it crash and burn on the runway (I am employing an unmanned drone metaphor here...)

And if any gold bugs know whether Treasury gold is really encumbered or is in fact available for lending or sale, I would love some help.

[Ignatz]

If gold is unencumbered and congress refuses to raise the debt limit, wouldn't taking out a loan on gold constitute a violation of the debt ceiling?

[Old Lurker test]

Seems so to me, Iggy. Next we could mortgage Yellowstone Park.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

OL-- hope all is well with nantucket K'Tors. The way I see it is, that the Gov't Slimdown is a stalemate, the voters say a pox on both parties, and I think it worsens for Obummer as BarryCades stay up and further outrages happen. A 6 week extension of debt, keeps the debt and spending discussion going, Obummer and the Dems hate that. So I'm fine with this approach. Pass that, plus the spending priority has already passed. Then Boehner can legitimately say that the House has done it's work. Let us know when you're ready to discuss cuts. Obummer refuses? Let Oct 17th come. ObummerCare? let it hang out there failing, and then IRS starts demanding fines. I'm fine with that too.

[Old Lurker test]

Why, o why doubt so many trust the government to do things well? From Drudge:

"The National Security Agency's $2 billion mega spy center is going up in flames.

Technical glitches have sparked fiery explosions within the NSA's newest and largest data storage facility in Utah, destroying hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment, and delaying the facility's opening by one year.

And no one seems to know how to fix it.

For a country that prides itself on being a technology leader, not knowing the electrical capacity requirements for a system as large as this is inexcusable.

Within the last 13 months, at least 10 electric surges have each cost about $100,000 in damages, according to documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal. Experts agree that the system, which requires about 64 megawatts of electricity—that's about a $1 million a month energy bill--isn't able to run all of its computers and servers while keeping them cool, which is likely triggering the..."

[Old Lurker test]

Better here than home in DC, NK. Thanks for asking.

[Ignatz]

--Ig

40%? I think that was Shaq's free throw percentage...---

Agreed. DocK is great at diagnosing problems (not surprising for an actual doc) and at criticizing the left (also not surprising since he used to be of the left) but he's not so hot when it comes to positive tactics or strategy.
A common failing of former leftists who usually never truly lose all of that umbilical cord to the state.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

I love TomM comments. The Treasury statements about gold are horrifying to me. Treasury refuses to leverage gold to generate the cash that Obummer is so desperate for, why? Could it be that Treasury knows that massive inflation/Dollar debasement is nigh, and gold will skyrocket inversely? Are we living through JP Morgan's testimony that 'the only money is gold, everything else is credit'.

[Ignatz]

--Within the last 13 months, at least 10 electric surges have each cost about $100,000 in damages...--

Our high tech home has things called circuit breakers in a high tech grey box on the side of the house, and inside on our computers we have similar high tech things called surge protectors.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

OL-- I'll be in DC for about 12 hours saturday. Nephew B-day party, visit chemo S-I-L and Caps game. then the 10:10 Amtrak home. I refuse to even stay overnight.

[NSA]

What do those gizmos do, Ignatz?

[bgates]

Our high tech home has things called circuit breakers

That's racist.

[Old Lurker test]

NSA I think they do what fuses used to do in the old gray box when I grew up. But then we replaced the fuses with pennies and that helped a lot since we never had to buy more fuses... would that help at NSA or maybe that's what you have already done?

[WalterS]

If they sold Valley Forge Park to a local organization, it would put off the debt crisis for a day and we could ride our bicycles in the park again.

[Old Lurker test]

I mean the pennies were still standing strong after the house burned down. No connection, right?

[Janet]

narciso linked this on the last thread. It is something - http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/10/the-atlantic-photoshops-boehners-head-onto-arrest-photo-of-irish-republican-army-murderer/#comments

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

My family lived in my Godparents 2 family house (ca. 1925) in Jackson heights Queens until I turned 6yo. The fuse box was in the stairwell that connected our ground floor apartment and the cellar. There were much swearing in Greek by my father regarding the 'Abe Lincoln' fuses my skinflint Godfather installed to save around 79cents/year.
BTW-- fantastic double entendre in OL's 12:55.

[NSA]

We're at our wits' end with this thing.

[Ignatz]

LOL OL.

[Tom Maguire]

If gold is unencumbered and congress refuses to raise the debt limit, wouldn't taking out a loan on gold constitute a violation of the debt ceiling?

I have no doubt they could find a lawyer to tell them so. OTOH, the classic repo simply says that that Treasury sells the gold today for cash at, e.g., $1300 and buys it back in six months for $1302, a final price which reflects the combination of interest due on the cash and the gold.

When I was young there was still a legal haze as to whether such a repo was truly a loan or something else. That fog may have lifted, but that is something for the Treasury lawyers to argue.

Or, bring in the lawyers who specialize in asset-backed financing. The debt limit clearly applies to Treasury securities but does not seem to apply to other payments due, such as vendor payment to General Electric.

So figure out how to structure the gold repo as something outside the debt limit definition. Just offhand, create a special purpose entity owned by... don't slow me down, but essentially, it is controlled by the Treasury.

Sell the gold from Treasury to that entity; the entity finances their purchase with a repo with the Bank of England. Later, the repo comes due, the gold comes back to the special purpose entity, and that collapses back into Treasury's arms. With the gold.

One can argue that the Treasury never exceeded its borrowing authority. If someone wants to sue them, fine, and good luck to them.

Or if the House wants to impeach the guys who staved off debt default, go for it.

I doubt a corporation could avoid trouble with the Enron type scheme I have outlined, but the Treasury will fight in the court of public opinion.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

TomM@1:06--tom, tom, tom-- these words you use will soon be completely inoperative. Don't you get it? Obummer means to crash the entire fiat cash/fractional reserve banking /US Dollar Reserve Currency system, and take us to a socialist nirvana of Gold Mercantilism. having the gold means having all the money 9and power) in the world, and that will all be in the hands of 'responsible sovereigns' Obama, the ChiComs, Putin and the Gulf Sheiks. Responsible sovereigns.

[Miss Marple]

I have been in an off again-on again argument with one Eichwald who is some editor of the Atlantic. He is absolutely everything you imagine one of them to be; snooty, certain he is smarter than all of us, etc. Even his picture is snooty and makes you want to punch him.

He didn't like it yesterday when after he did several posts on how stupid these ignorant tea party cretins were I asked him how he liked that 37% approval rating for Obama. LOL!

I think that whole magazine is full of people who are nothing but Marxists with inflated ideas of their own importance and intelligence.

[GMax]

Repos by their form are sales with a right of repurchase. I dont think they are generally considered debt. I think Islamic banks use the same structure, to get around some rantings once upon a time by a guy named Mo about the evils of interest for what its worth.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

GMax-- so repo deals are a natural for Hussein Obama-- they are 'halal' for him or something or other.

[GMax]

There are plenty of assets held by the US which could be sold. For example, these poor folks who have concession business standing on government leases, do you think they might pay dearly to make sure the next time they own it lock stock and barrel? I do.

[Frau Pfui Teifi!]

Thanks for the new, tasty fodder, TM. I hope we haven't used too much energy down here in your basement. We could use a few more "troll protectors" when it's convenient.

[narcisoM]

He wrote that piece about Texaco, back in '97, then he wrote that book about whistleblower on ADM, and another appologia for terrorism based on his dancing chimp reporting

[Jane]

Kwame got 28 years.

[GMax]

NK Not sure on Halal, but he sure does not act like debt is Haram

[Tom Maguire]

There is that. Crashing and crushing the system clearly has emotional resonance inside this Admin.

Anyway, as I continue speeding to a dark place in my past... if Treasury can't create a special purpose entity to handle the gold repo (why not the US Mint?) then they could use puts and calls.

Sell 200 million tons to the Bank of England for $1300, raising $260 billion.

BUY from the Bank of England a call on 200 million tons three months forward stuck at, e.g., $1000. That is way in the money, so be ready to write them a check for $60 billion ($300 x 200 million).

Also SELL the BoE a put allowing them to sell the gold back to the US Treasury at $1,000. That PUT assures the BoE that they will get rid of their gold even if the price crashes.

One can now argue that Treasury has issued a new security, i.e., that put. But the market value is tiny (roughly 4%, or $8 billion), relative to the cash they have raised. So if they can squeeze an $8 billion new security under the debt ceiling, they can raise over $200 billion in cash. Use some of that cash to pay off, rather than roll, a maturing T-bill and this is home.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

If Kwame got 28 years for bankrupting Detroit, what should B. Hussein Obama get for bankrupting the USA.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

TomM-- C'mon, you're typing this from the Bar/Grill room of the W#@^%*y CC, and some 40 something retired Morgan Stanley guys are egging you on.

[henry]

If Kwame got 28 years for bankrupting Detroit, what should B. Hussein Obama get for bankrupting the USA.

Not sure, but I bet Reggie Love is giving it to him now.

[daddy]

Good Morning!

First story I clicked on at Insty this morning had this bit from Michael Beschloss from 2011 on Obama's Gabby Gifford's Tucson Tragedy speech, calling for Civility: Historian Michael Beschloss said Obama was trying to "make this a better country."

I had missed that.

We all remember Michael Beschloss from Imus in 2008: (always worth reposting)

Historian Michael Beschloss: Yeah. Even aside from the fact of electing the first African American President and whatever one’s partisan views this is a guy whose IQ is off the charts — I mean you cannot say that he is anything but a very serious and capable leader and — you know — You and I have talked about this for years …

Imus: Well. What is his IQ?

Historian Michael Beschloss: … our system doesn’t allow those people to become President, those people meaning people THAT smart and THAT capable

Imus: What is his IQ?

Historian Michael Beschloss: Pardon?

Imus: What is his IQ?

Historian Michael Beschloss: Uh. I would say it’s probably - he’s probably the smartest guy ever to become President.

Imus: That’s not what I asked you. I asked you what his IQ was.

Historian Michael Beschloss: You know that I don’t know and I’d have to find someone with more expertise …

Imus: You don’t know.

Historian Michael Beschloss: What do YOU think it is?

Imus: I don’t know. Well mine is 164. I don’t know what that means but it’s a little higher than normal I guess.

Historian Michael Beschloss: Well it’s way beyond genius which does not surprise me.

Imus: It surpprised a lot of people when we took it.

Historian Michael Beschloss: Well it doesn’t surprise me.

So now I see that Beschloss had commented on Obama's calls for Civility at the Tucson speech in 2011:

GWEN IFILL: Michael, the other interesting thing he talked about was the pettiness that drifts away with the next news cycle, and he made this appeal across I guess you could call them party lines for this kind of reflection, this reflection moment. Was that also essential tonight?

MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: Yes, and it was essential to him, you know. He talks a lot in private about cable TV, which is shorthand for a discourse where people benefit from conflict and saying the other side is horrible, you know, and saying, you know, the other saying that you're -- this escalates.

His whole point has been this whole presidency and through his campaign was to try to break the cycle and make this a better country, and I think he's using this episode to try to do that.

GWEN IFILL: So, Michael Beschloss, how important was it that the president seize this particular moment, and did he do it?

MICHAEL BESCHLOSS: You know, Franklin Roosevelt said the presidency sees above all a place of moral leadership. That's what he did tonight. He said, all right, let's look at the way this country is now, but let's look at how it can be better and the kind of country that really cause the people who behaved so wonderfully at the time of this episode to be there.

I had missed all that.

I suppose I would like to put a gun to Michael Beschloss's head today to find out what he thinks of President "Genius's" latest partisan incivility, but it'd be difficult to put a gun to Beschloss's head, since I'd have to be be able to stick the firearm 2 feet up Obama's anus.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

Henry-- ouch.. literally.
Ya know though, B. Hussein's been cooped up in the WH longer than ever before, who knows what he's doing for tension/boredom release.

[Threadkiller]

http://www.wallstreetdaily.com/2013/07/16/fort-knox-gold/

[bgates]

So figure out how to structure the gold repo as something outside the debt limit definition.

Or - Or! - obey the fucking law.

[Miss Marple]

OK, this might have been covered on one of the other threads (been gone a lot this morning) but did you all know some guy discovered that on September 4 the contractor for the Obamacare site published the source code on line and asked for help debugging?

Here is the link to the guy's Twitter timeline:

https://twitter.com/SemperBanU

So on September 4 they still weren't anywhere near ready, and so of course we publish this info ON LINE, which I believe is a massive security breech.

I am not a whiz bang expert on computers, but this seems really, really bad.

[daddy]

I am an hour tape delayed on Rush from most of you guys, but the Republican Talking Head on FOX last night that Rush will not name in Hour 1 today, that made Rush so mad it caused him to say the "F" Word and "Shut Up", as in F@#$ing Shut Up! was Brit Hume.

F@*#ing A Rush! Mega dittos.

[henry]

Look at the bright side MM: nobody, absolutely nobody is going to steal that bit of IP.

[Extraneus]

Really. How about we just live with the existing debt limit? Pay the creditors, cut back on some things. Like responsible people do.

[lyle]

Did Beschloss have any BOZo DNA dripping off his chin in these interviews? I'm certain Ifill had that satisfied look, though.

[Ignatz]

This whole discussion seems kind of pointless.
Barry and Lew and the rest of those schmucks have made it quite clear they will NOT pay as many as people as possible, so the idea they will be looking for more sources of dough, as Lew did prior to the shutdown, doesn't seem to be their strategy any longer.
You can't inflict unnecessary pain on citizens for political advantage by using puts and calls.

[Miss Marple]

henry,

What if it was deliberate sabotage? What if someone decided to invite massive hacking and identity theft from overseas? Why are they asking for so much info at the front end?

And then why did they change all of the passwords? And tell people they needed new accounts? What in the HELL is going on?

One of the easiest ways to cause economic chaos in this country would be to hack Social Security, the IRS, and various banks, changing balances and siphoning money off.

I am so darn suspicious of these people I am not sure the whole thing wasn't planned to do just that.

[lyle]

I wish I fully understood what you wrote, daddy.

[GMax]

These bozos could not set up a simple website with three years and $600 MM. They most certainly are not rocket scientists able to hack into bank systems and siphon off anything, hence their constant desire to raise your tax rate ( it does the same thing but its slower ).

[Another Bob]

TM et al.

I refer you to the story of the Fed refusing permission to the German government to examine their gold held by the Fed in NYC.

Plus the persistent rumormongering (led by the ZeroHedge people) that the Fed's gold vault has an underground connection to the JPM gold vault.

Maybe the gold simply isn't there?

[henry]

MM, sabotage would be easier than posting the code. All they have to do is put it on a govt computer in a file labelled SSN / bank acct validation and every hacker in the worrld would have it within minutes.

[narcisoM]

The fly in the ointment, is that Ted Cruz actually wrote an op ed, focusing on the piecemeal approach.

[peter]

So to put the matter in Gus-esque terms, did Boehner just turn into a big-pussy, or is the Marxist red diaper doper in the Spite House still Obumbling?

[GMax]

So exactly who blinked again? WH Press corps has an interesting question:

White House press secretary Jay Carney was asked whether today’s meeting with House GOP leaders amounts to a “negotiation” — something the White House said it won’t engage in without a clean debt limit deal and a clean continuing resolution to end the shutdown.

Neither clean bill will be in place when House GOP leaders meet with Obama later today.

“The president’s always willing to talk, have a dialogue,” Carney said. “They’re having a conversation.”

Yeah cuz they really really like hanging out with the douchebag...

[rse]

OK, I have written up the post I mentioned on the earlier thread.

http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/adjusting-our-conception-of-who-we-are-to-fit-the-new-global-context-of-being-systems-to-be-managed/

And I did not mention it but the 3rd sponsor of the CityLab conference earlier in week was The Atlantic. So it's not a bunch of Marxist writers but a media outlet now expressly advocating for a Marxist vision. As I explain in the post. Which would make the treatment of Boehner simply being how you create a target of anything in the way.

[Stephanie]

That latest at AOS, (the Nevada exchanges), is a story that anyone who has dealt with consultants from Xerox, IBM, etc could have foretold. Sell big, deliver small. Hold endless meetings instead of working the problems and then throw up some patchwork quilt that has more holes than Granma's woolen one and demand payment.

Idjits... now I remember how much fun that Basel project was at Suntrust. NOT.

Datamapping issues less than 30 days out? Seriously?

[Frau Pfui Teifi!]

Re: 404Care --Too funny not to pass on (from CH's moron horde)
"One site security consultant with extensive experience on major government IT projects, but who asked to remain anonymous, summed it up this way, "They are building the airplane the same time they are flying it."

[Porchlight]

Some savant noted that it is only the shutdown that kept the ObamaCrash debacle from being the 24/7 story.

Some are noting that.

However, I think we can all imagine a world in which the shutdown is not happening, the Obamacare debacle is, and yet, nothing but artificial sunshine and daffodils are being wafted out onto the breeze from the MSM walled Obamacare gardens.

After all, the Prez didn't get a single question about the rollout in what passed for a press conference a couple of days ago.

[henry]

Stephanie, sounds right. The only ay to get quality from those guys is to with-hold payment and beat them like a rented mule the last 6 months. I just finished that phase with a contract group -- well ahead of planned launch. (Then again, gov't managers don't get fired for screwing up, and beating contractors like rented mules is a lot of work).

[jimmyk]

There are plenty of assets held by the US which could be sold.

Yeah, I was thinking along those lines too, but most of those assets aren't very liquid, so they'd have to be dumped at distressed prices, and who do you think Barry would arrange to be the buyers?

I'm not sure we ever resolved the question of simply selling the assets of the SS Trust fund. Rick B said that would violate some statute. My reading is that the trust fund assets are considered non-marketable, essentially accounting entries that apparently can only be drawn down when payroll tax revenues plus interest accrued on these assets falls short of what is required to pay SS benefits, which supposedly won't happen till 2021.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

We all know where the ObummerCare thing is going. In december Obummer issues an executive order delaying the individual mandate and tax penalties one year (just like the employer mandate), OF COURSE those who signed up and are eligible for subsidy will still get the subsidy.So through all of 2014 ObummerCare is nothing more than welfare payments in the form of MediCaid expansion and insurance subsidies. That's all he cares about-- that's his blood getting those Billions.

[MG]

Boehner blinked. Movement is movement and he moved. Strategic fig-leaf. Obama was not rope-a-doping. He was truly on the ropes. Rescued by the dumb, gutless or both.

[Rex]

NK, does "Chicom" still stand for "Chinese Communists" or does it now mean "Chicago Communists"?

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

like they say in Vegas, pick 'em.

[centralcal]

Porch, usually I am in complete agreement, but I think the press really has no control over the bad Obamacare news.

Folks from coast to coast are getting mail - snail mail - from their insurers, often cancelling, but always raising premium costs, etc.

All the suckers panting for the "free" stuff cannot get through to grab it (and will probably be shocked to find how unfree it is when they finally do).

And, this is just the early stuff. The media can only hide so much.

[GMax]

Havent seen it reported this way so far so without comment here ya go:

“I actually proposed this idea to Eric Cantor two days ago,” Idaho representative Raul Labrador tells me. “I was seeing that the two issues” — the continuing resolution and the debt ceiling – ”were being conflated, that they were all coming together . . . I wanted to make sure that we separated the two issues so we could continue to fight on Obamacare on the CR and continue to fight on entitlement reform on the debt ceiling,” he adds.

Seen that way, the decision is not about giving ground but simply delaying one fight to dig in on the other. Labrador and the other conservatives who championed it in recent days, including Heritage Action’s president Michael Needham and RedState founder Erick Erickson, want to achieve an Obamacare victory on the CR and then an entitlement-reform victory on the debt ceiling. In the meeting, Labrador spoke in favor of the plan, as did Representative Michele Bachmann.

Republican leadership, broadly speaking, has been pushing to focus on the debt-ceiling fight since the spring. But since Senator Ted Cruz’s push for a do-or-die fight over Obamacare and risk a government shutdown caught fire with the grassroots over the summer, Boehner has been outflanked at every turn. First conservatives shot down the “Cantor plan” to pass a clean CR, then they objected to passing a debt-ceiling bill in the days before the government shut down, and now they are pushing the debt ceiling out of the way to focus on Obamacare and the CR.

When the decision came down from Boehner Wednesday night to embrace the short-term debt ceiling increase, some Republicans close to leadership were furious.

[daddy]

I wish I fully understood what you wrote, daddy.

Lyle,

In the 1st post I was hammering Beschloss

In the second post I was simply saying that the guy that made Rush so mad on FOX last night by blaming Ted Cruz and Lee and the Tea Party guys etc, was Brit Hume. Rush didn't want to say who it was on his show, but if you watched Megan's Show it was Brit Hume's comments that had Rush shouting "Effing Shut Up Brit."

[Stephanie]

Govt managers are usually working for the government instead of the private sector for a reason - they can't hack it in the real world.

As far as the contractors go, half or more are contractors for the simple reason they are a warm body available with credentialing to justify their hire; skills be damned.

Speaking as a prior contractor/private sector IT person (not for one of the clueless biggies), I tended to hire based on proof of performance not the credential or where they went to school.

Many of my contractors had no degree and ran rings around those who did. Love of coding/computer stuff v coding for bucks? I'll take love of coding every time. Those who teach themselves from curiosity and are hobbyists on the side have what it takes. The others - warm skulls of mush used to allowances from academia for slipshod work.

[GMax]

This looks like rapid eye movement consistent with a blink too:

The Obama administration said Thursday it will allow states to use their own money to reopen some national parks that have been closed because of the government shutdown.

Governors in at least four states have asked for authority to reopen national parks within their borders because of the economic impacts caused by the park closures.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the government will consider offers to pay for park operations, but will not surrender control of national parks or monuments to the states.

Move the parks to the States anyway, no reason for the US government to be such a huge land owner.

[Stephanie]

WHY the F ask for authority? This "federal government is the end all be all point for authority" mindset is the BS propaganda hogwash of the result of rse's edumakashun on display.

Ignore the feds and do your own thing, states and for God's sake grow a pair. What's the penalty gonna be??? Ignore it, too.

Damn, did the colonists ask for permission before dumping the tea? Did they worry about 'penalties?"

[Old Lurker test]

You go girl.

What Steph said.

[Jim Eagle]

daddy,

There are not any MENSA people I know who think we have 57 states.

There are not any MENSA people I know who don't understand the difference between collusion insurance and auto liability.

There are not any MENSA people I know who don't know how to pronounce corpsman correctly.

There are not any MENSA people I know that know that German is the official language of Austria.

I could go on and on but I think you understand my reservation about Barry Hussein Soetero Shabaaz Obama's IQ.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

GMax-- so Obummer is backing off his DOOMSDAY shutdown scenario, and Boehner is backing off his DOOMSDAY PRIORITIZE scenario, and we transition into a 6 week delay in hitting the Debt Cap, BUT no CR, no Extraordinary treasury measures-- sounds like both sides are negotiating... but wait wait!! Obummer said NO NEGOTIATIONS-- what 50 times!

As far as That Idaho Rep and Bachmann insisting on focusing on CR/ObummerCare rather than Debt-spending? Morons. Just do the 6 week Debt deal, and then spending cuts all get whacked up in a spending -- Debt deal. Jeez, if this is an accurate report, (IF) the 'conservatives' in the House are really tactically retarded.

[Jim Eagle]

....that don't know that German is the official language of Austria......

[Porchlight]

And, this is just the early stuff. The media can only hide so much.

Which is why I'm not so worried about competing news stories at the moment. The shutdown is going to end sooner or later. Obamacare disaster will keep going and in fact will snowball.

There is nothing they can do, it is completely screwed, everything is baked in the cake already.

Then what does the GOP say? "We told you this was a POS from the beginning. Now do you get it?"

[GMax]

WHOA! Just Whoa! You mean that Rosetta Stone language software I just ordered for Austrian is a scam?

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

Porch@2:46-- I agree with that. And I think the repubs will get their chance to say that when Obummer tells them he's delaying the individual mandate/taxes for 1 year, and the repubs refuse to agree to subsidies going out before then. It will be like the Soviet Ambassador asking for help to find a second Soviet Sub in Red October.

[Porchlight]

Mainly what I'm saying is, only in an imaginary world are Obamacare screwups going to be front page news in the way that the shutdown is currently front page news.

Remember we thought this would happen with Fast and Furious, Benghazi, IRS, Syria, the list goes on and on. It didn't.

I'm not saying the media isn't going to cover it. They will have to because they can't bury it in the same way they've buried the other stuff.

But they're not going to cover it in the same quality or quantity that we think they should - rightly blaming Dems and Obama for all of it - the way they are blaming Republicans for the shutdown. We would (and we will) be seeing story after story in which big business, insurance companies, Republicans, ANYONE BUT OBAMA is going to get the blame for all the problems.

It's just not an either/or deal as TM suggests.

[Ignatz]

See what happens when a huge bear interrupts a Samsung washing machine commercial shoot in British Columbia.
Very funny.

[GMax]

Yup looks lot like negotiations from where I sit too.

I dont like Bachmann as a strategist, but she is a hell of a lot smarter than Reid, so it may not take super strategy here after all...

[Porchlight]

BTW EVERYONE should go read the twitter feed that Miss Marple posted at 1:40 and share it around.

https://twitter.com/SemperBanU

This guy on Twitter, an IT guy, is saying that the Obamacare software contractor was posting healthcare.gov source code on public forums on 4 SEP (!!!) and begging for help with it.

This was when the Obama admin was already telling the public that the site was ready to go.

Lots more tech stuff at the link. It is an unbelievable mess, truly unbelievable. This thing cost half a BILLON dollars and has basically zero data security. They need to pull it down permanently.

[Miss Marple]

You know, I am sure it would put a crimp in cable news shows, but it would be SO helpful if every commenter on our side wouldn't go on TV and trash others because they aren't using the strategy HE would use!

This reminds me of armchair quarterbacks who boo their own team in a playoff game. Really, TV pundits, you do not see the democrat commenters going on TV saying that Obama is as dumb as a box of rocks or that he is CAVING. No even when he caves they will talk about how this is some genius ninja move.

Unity. We will never win if we don't have it, and I am talking about TV people and radio people especially. Daggone it!

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

Porch/GMax-- one thing about ObummerCare implementation-- it includes tax collections from moderate income people who don't sign up for ExchangeCare (because it AIN'T FREE)Do you think Obummer is in a hurry to collect taxes from millions of his OWN voters? I think the one year delay in the individual mandate/tax is baked into the cake. So we get to scream I TOLD YA SO. of Obummer toughs it out? Fine, crucify on the tax increases. Use the Debt-Spending as the best club to beat up Obummer with during the next 6 weeks. I know I'm repeating myself.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

Porch-- thanks for that 2:58-- Ah-- the parasites who sign up for ExchangeCare to get the subsidy are rewarded with ID theft and fraud!! It's a beautiful thing.

[peter]

Obumbler wasted another half a bil? chump change. Let Solyndra get the exchanges up. make that Fisker.

[GMax]

$600 MM actually but whose counting, Yellen will just make more...

[AliceH]

I agree wholeheartedly with Porch@2:52.

Adding to MM@2:59... make a list which Right-leaning/Republican media and spokesmen who are making the claim that not having Obamacare failure be the Top story is a grave strategic error.

Now - look at that list. Are any of them reporting from outside DC/NYC where they might actually encounter a remotely persuadable voter?

It looks to me as though the armchair strategy complainers are, to a person, convinced that 1, 10, 30 or 40 million people desperately NEED pundits and reporters them explain what to them the disaster they are seeing with their own eyes.

[AliceH]

Obamacare is the anti-ShamWow. I dunno, it won't sell itself.

[MarkO]

Let me see. 60% oppose a debt hike and 60% oppose government shut down.

What does the GOP propose?

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

The Feds wasting massive amounts of money on non functioning IT stuff is nothing new. It just isn't usually as high exposure.

And Porch is 100% correct by refuting the dumbasses who say if not for the shutdown 404Care snafus would be teh BIG STORY.

[AliceH]

Random thought...

I wonder what sort of charges have been made on Government "business" Credit Cards so far this month...