Can anyone explain what's going on? I was under the impression the Mexicans had this paid for? Why the need for shutdown?

The federal employees are pathetic people who didn’t have enough money saved up for the shutdown.

Only the ones that ran to the media to cry foul without accepting some personal responsibility and utilizing all the resources their agency and unions have to offer towards any financial issues. It is simply an impossibility that they are losing a home or house because of this. Federal and State law doesn’t support their rhetoric.

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Thank you.

Yes, mikey has a real problem with reading comprehension. The $5B is a one-time expense, not a continual drain every year, so the price has to be compared to the waste accumulated for the life of the 'wall.' And yes, it will probably cost more before it is finished but a wall barrier is still a one-time expense. The metal bollard version will probably require little maintenance.

Um, the $5 billion is a down payment that everyone agrees is insufficient to complete the wall on its own.  The real price is $20-30 billion.  The idea is to pay about $5 billion a year until it is built.  So it's an indefinite time frame.  
And then you asked me to compare this amount to "trillions" that also come from an unspecified time frame.  How many years did you mean?
Let's call that number N.
The annual federal budget is now $4.4 trillion = $4.4e12.  And you have stated that there is waste equal to at least $2e12.
So the waste % is equal to
$2e12 / $4.4e12 * N = 45% / N.  So if you think N is 5 years, then waste is 9%.  But you can pick a different number for N.
Which federal expenditures, amounting to 9% of the annual federal budget, should be cut as waste?

I'm not going to catalog every instance of wasteful government spending. The Iraq rebuild was an expensive waste, and the Global Warming Climate change spending is pretty much all waste (note that after 20 years climate science has narrowed down the range of the temperature response to a CO2 doubling from somewhere between 1.5 to 4.5 degrees to somewhere between 1.5 to 4.5 degrees, i.e. 20 years of research has improved the very wide guesstimate by nothing).

I was thinking of the past 20 years, although large amounts of waste have been a trend far longer than that. Barring Mexican military action the steel bollard barrier should last for at least 50 years. While the current budget is over $4T per year, for the benefit of the doubt let's take $3T as the average number since the budget has been lower pre-TARP. That's at least $60T spent during that time. $2T is just 3.3% of that number.

Do you honestly think that waste is less than 5% of the Federal budget?

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"Why should I give information to you when all you want to do is find something wrong with it?"

Not only is Donald a terrible negotiator, he's allowed himself to be held hostage to Rush, Ann, and Laura. They, apparently, determine what Donald says and does regarding domestic policy. Donald is so afraid of losing their support - what else can he go to "the base" with?

Because he's seen as a loser regarding the shutdown I expect Donald to eventually claim a nation emergency. He'll lose in the courts but will be able to tell "the base" (all 35% of the voting public) that he tried.

I've never thought Donald cares one way or another about the wall, but he knows a good campaign slogan when he sees one. What else does he have to run on?

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The sun's not yellow, it's chicken.

Looks like everyone that contributed to the GoFundMe page for the wall will be getting a refund.

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I want an Executive Order to eliminate any government worker or agency that is closed for this political theater. We could balance the budget in a week.

That would be political suicide. Not saying I don't agree in part--this shutdown is showing us very clearly exactly which agencies we don't need, or at least don't need to fund to the level we do, but it would be political suicide for anyone to say to the furloughed workers, "Hey, surprise, you're all fired because we don't need you!".

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Hamberders are great American food my by great American people served with French fries in Presidental cups served by great American people.

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Whether someone has a liberal, or conservative viewpoint, a authoritative figure should not lock a thread for the sole purpose to get the last word in all the while prohibiting someone else from being able to respond.

Hamberders are great American food my by great American people served with French fries in Presidental cups served by great American people.

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Hamberders are great American food my by great American people served with French fries in Presidental cups served by great American people.

The college kids loved the hamberders too. Another reason why Trump is YOUR president is because he has his finger on the pulse of the nation and just "gets it".

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Hamberders are great American food my by great American people served with French fries in Presidental cups served by great American people.

The college kids loved the hamberders too. Another reason why Trump is YOUR president is because he has his finger on the pulse of the nation and just "gets it".

Or was it just the cheapest option? McDonalds and Burger King?

If he really did have a pulse on the nation, he would have bought them Five Guys and Chick Fila.

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The college kids loved the hamberders too. Another reason why Trump is YOUR president is because he has his finger on the pulse of the nation and just "gets it".

Or was it just the cheapest option? McDonalds and Burger King?

If he really did have a pulse on the nation, he would have bought them Five Guys and Chick Fila.

He paid for it himself.

The left's inability to give him credit for ANYTHING is the main reason they end up looking so silly.

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Or was it just the cheapest option? McDonalds and Burger King?

If he really did have a pulse on the nation, he would have bought them Five Guys and Chick Fila.

He paid for it himself.

The left's inability to give him credit for ANYTHING is the main reason they end up looking so silly.

It. Was. A. Joke.

Five Guys and Chick Fila are better than McDonalds and Burger King. No Question.

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I want an Executive Order to eliminate any government worker or agency that is closed for this political theater. We could balance the budget in a week.

That would be political suicide. Not saying I don't agree in part--this shutdown is showing us very clearly exactly which agencies we don't need, or at least don't need to fund to the level we do, but it would be political suicide for anyone to say to the furloughed workers, "Hey, surprise, you're all fired because we don't need you!".

Federal workers can be permanently fired after 30 days of furlough or 22 missed work days. Some are speculating that Trump's shutdown was a trap for Chuck and Nancy. But the game changes after 30 days. Trump can begin to permanently shrink the size of government. Political suicide? Not at all. The 40% backing Trump will be all for it. The 40% with severe TDS will still have severe TDS.

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He paid for it himself.

The left's inability to give him credit for ANYTHING is the main reason they end up looking so silly.

It. Was. A. Joke.

Five Guys and Chick Fila are better than McDonalds and Burger King. No Question.

He chose the brands he chose because he personally prefers them.  They are older brands and he is an older person.  Also, he did ads for McD's and Pizza Hut in the 90s.

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My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.

He paid for it himself.

The left's inability to give him credit for ANYTHING is the main reason they end up looking so silly.

It. Was. A. Joke.

Five Guys and Chick Fila are better than McDonalds and Burger King. No Question.

No doubt. On the rare occasion I eat fast food these days, it’s one of these. They reside at different ends of the psycho-dietary spectrum. On one end is Chik-fil-A, which is like a compromise; since it’s chicken it can’t be too bad. On the other end is Five Guys, which is unabashed, ‘what the hell, let’s wade in waist deep’ type sinful food.

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I want an Executive Order to eliminate any government worker or agency that is closed for this political theater. We could balance the budget in a week.

That would be political suicide. Not saying I don't agree in part--this shutdown is showing us very clearly exactly which agencies we don't need, or at least don't need to fund to the level we do, but it would be political suicide for anyone to say to the furloughed workers, "Hey, surprise, you're all fired because we don't need you!".

But would it matter to a guy who doesn't really care if he gets re-elected? I posit that such an action would make him one of the most popular presidents ever in a decade or so after the hatred passes and the country experiences exponential growth in that time. We need drastic, severe reduction of the Federal Government; what better impetus than a shut down and furlough of already identified "non-essential" personnel? There's your reduction, make it so.

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“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

Or was it just the cheapest option? McDonalds and Burger King?

If he really did have a pulse on the nation, he would have bought them Five Guys and Chick Fila.

He paid for it himself.

The left's inability to give him credit for ANYTHING is the main reason they end up looking so silly.

I mostly fault him for his choice in food. Surely the President of the United States can dispatch a few F-16s to the In-N-Out drive through and get the team a boatload of double-doubles, animal style, with well done animal fries and a neopolitan shake.

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That would be political suicide. Not saying I don't agree in part--this shutdown is showing us very clearly exactly which agencies we don't need, or at least don't need to fund to the level we do, but it would be political suicide for anyone to say to the furloughed workers, "Hey, surprise, you're all fired because we don't need you!".

But would it matter to a guy who doesn't really care if he gets re-elected? I posit that such an action would make him one of the most popular presidents ever in a decade or so after the hatred passes and the country experiences exponential growth in that time. We need drastic, severe reduction of the Federal Government; what better impetus than a shut down and furlough of already identified "non-essential" personnel? There's your reduction, make it so.

I'm down for reducing staff in agencies that aren't actually doing anything useful, but c'mon man, that is not what is happening here.
Air Traffic Controllers aren't getting paid.  You're calling their work non-essential?!

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My fellow southpaw Mark Brunell will probably always be my favorite Jaguar.

He paid for it himself.

The left's inability to give him credit for ANYTHING is the main reason they end up looking so silly.

I mostly fault him for his choice in food. Surely the President of the United States can dispatch a few F-16s to the In-N-Out drive through and get the team a boatload of double-doubles, animal style, with well done animal fries and a neopolitan shake.

Bold Statement? In and Out is overrated.....

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But would it matter to a guy who doesn't really care if he gets re-elected? I posit that such an action would make him one of the most popular presidents ever in a decade or so after the hatred passes and the country experiences exponential growth in that time. We need drastic, severe reduction of the Federal Government; what better impetus than a shut down and furlough of already identified "non-essential" personnel? There's your reduction, make it so.

I'm down for reducing staff in agencies that aren't actually doing anything useful, but c'mon man, that is not what is happening here.
Air Traffic Controllers aren't getting paid.  You're calling their work non-essential?!

Seems we've done without them before. Are you saying the Market can't solve that problem for us?

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“An empty vessel makes the loudest sound, so they that have the least wit are the greatest babblers.”. - Plato

No reports of airliners smacking into each other so far. This is likely something AI can do better anyway.

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