Funding expansion, they also want deep spending cuts as well, the house of republicans have already passed several bills to fund parts of the government, that however in would not stop a shutdown because theres no hope that the bills would pass in the senate, and the Us Government has started notifying federal workers that is shutdown uh is imminent, a government funding in the usns early sunday, if Congress Fails to come up with a clear plan, federal a agencies will run out of money and that would affect hundreds of thousands of workers halting a wide range of services. Joining us on tonight spot night, we have daniel plat, staff writer at executive intelligence review joining us from los angeles and international from the International Action center Sarah Flouders joining us from new york. Well, welcome to the program. To the both of you, lets start off with mr. Platt in la, two days until the government shut down with no signs of deal, uh, does congress have path to avoid the shutdown . Theres always path, the question is whether the powers that be want that path to be used, the i think it is important to remember that much of what goes on in the us congress is theater. There was a study that was conducted in 2014 by the Prestigious University princeton where they found that the United States is not in fact a democracy, its an oligarchy, its a nation governed by a small group of of wealthy, business interests, financial interests and so on. The us economy is in serious trouble, its bankrupt, they are trying to preserve bubble of speculation, which frankly cannot be saved, and theres going to be lot of hardship for the american people, and this this government shut down provides us scapegoat of sorts where they can say everything would be finenomics would be in considered success if it were not for the government shut down, so whether or not they choose to to solve the problem is an open question, but there are ways to solve it. Sarah flowers, how likely is it that there will be a shutdown come sunday morning in the us . Well, there have been many shut downs in the past, and its true, this is absolutely theater on the part of both. And democrats, it is to intentionally, on the part of both parties, create hardships for working people, for hundreds of thousands of federal government workers, for pension and Social Security checks, for essential programs for everything from libraries to parks that got shut down, it of course never shuts down the us military, it doesnt shut down any one of 800 military bases around the world or the. Aircraft carriers, the submarines, it doesnt stop their wars for one minute, but it does impact working people profoundly in the millions and their families, so that is who its intended, actually to impact, do they care if they create hardships for working people . No, they dont at all, theyll actually save some money doing this, and that is what is the cruelest part of this theater. Danielel plat. The american governments finances arent in good shape, in august, us Credit Rating took a big hit, how big of uh a hit will a Government Shutdown uh deliver to the already suffering economy . It will be substantial, but again i think that this problem would exist shut down or no shutdown, and they do uh look forward to blaming their failures on the shutdown. Same question to you, miss flounders uh about uh the fledgeling. Economy of the United States, our guest and la believes that the economy is in trouble with or without a shutdown. The us economy is in deep trouble, the dollar. No longer ranks supreme, thats a fact, the whole world knows it, dedollarization is fact, their ability to impose sanctions on the world is falling out from underneath them, countries have found ways to trade and exchange directly with each other, thats enormously threatening to us power and to the us economy, they have sanctions on 40 countries around the world, if they cant impose them, if these countries are trading among themselves, that for spells disaster for the us economy, for us corporate power, for us banking power, so yes, there is real problems ahead, uh, who are they going to shift it to, theyre going to try to push it to working people right here, so that they continue to make the profits, the super profits and uh, people here pay the cost, and people around the world also pay the cost of this total theft. Of resources, pumping it endlessly into war and never into peoples needs. Sarah flounders, im going to stay with you for the next question, the democratic led senate and the house, which is uh controlled by republicans, uh, they remain at logger heads on plants to fund the federal agencies, what are the main differences here . The senate is pushing for a stop gap funding bill that would extend federal spending until november 17th. House republicans are opposed to that shortterm funding expansion, they also want. Deep spending cuts, what are these spending cuts . Well, theres a lot of grand standing going on, and so the republicans may talk about uh war in ukraine and whether to keep funding it, the military will always receive its money, thats thats a fact and its a given. So what theyre really talking about is cutting out all kinds of programs which have been pretty essential. In terms of infrastructure, education, uh, health programs, thats what they want cut to the bone, there isnt enough money for that, and so theres a push pull back and forth, with the democrats, would just as soon let some of these programs go, by the way, but they want to be able to blame the republicans, so this whole thing about which deadline theyre going to go with and whether its extended or not, as i say, it its its really grand standing, its theater. Danielel platt, one of the key issues at hand, is that some republican lawers they do not want money to keep moving toward ukraine, a georgia congresswoman has been quoted as saying, any defense containing ukraine funding is dead arrival. How deep is the division over ukraine here . Well, i think the political opposition to funding is significant. I agree with miss flounders that the likely. That they will cut funding is very slim, but they fear the sentiment in the american public. There was a poll conducted august the 4th by cnn where they found that 55 of americans oppose sending more money to ukraine, and there were votes this morning in the congress on resolutions to cut funding, there were 100 congressmen that opposed the funding, they of course were outvoted, but thats still a significant number. There was also a vote on sending cluster. Musician cluster munitions to ukraine, which frankly should be uncontroversial, most of the world denounces the use of cluster munitions as a war crime. There were 160 congressmen that voted to stop the cluster munitions, and this was about half and half democrats and republicans, which i think is important. So even though i think that the powers that be will ram through funding for ukraine, they fear that this fight over ukrainian funding will. Spark some kind of the major resistance in the american population. Right, daniel platt, how did the us get here, and what does it mean when the government shuts down . Well, as you mentioned, its shut down, shut down 22 times prior to this, its kind of becoming routine, and i think it is kind of mechanism for psychologically controlling the population, keep them to convince them that theres a. Difference between the two parties, which is largely illusory, or that its important to fight over these pertiary issues rather than the big ones, which are the neoconservative drive for global war, which is absolutely a bipartisan effort, and also the continued desperate attempts to bail out level of financial speculation, which cannot be safe. Theres never any debate over those issues uh until like i say this business with ukraine is becoming something of a public fight, which is very useful. Sarah flounders you mentioned earlier that there have been a number of uh Government Shutdowns um i came across an interesting question uh on the web by uh by user which said why is the government the Us Government always shutting down, why does the threat of government shut down loom almost every year . What can you tell us in that regard . Well, it is part of this posturing that theyre fighting each other, and its really shadow boxing, it is completely staged, 22 times, thats a lot, it shows how many years this has gone on and on uh for and how it is every year, every time at least it gets resolved. With some essential programs cut, some really important ones that have to do with social needs, and at the same time, lot of speculation on in terms of whos making the money on this, but the wars dont end, are they really cut, and it is very true, this figure 55 , and thats at least of people who admit that theyre against more funding for the ukraine, so go in congress got to act like theyre addressing that, of course theyre not, they will continue to fund the wars, they will continue to fund us threats and they will try to take it out of the population right here, and and that is what this is about, it is so its so fraudulent, its really hard to treat it seriously, because everyone knows theyll theyll arrive at some backroom deal, theyll cut the budget here and there, well find out the. That uh this this social program, this medical program, this cost of pharmaceuticals is no longer covered, you find that out long afterwards, it was all part of the bargaining, haggling, and uh, really none of it is where im, im talking to you from new york, were in the midst of flash floods and subways shut down, just from rainstorm because the infrastructure here is so decayed, so decrepit, and theres no funding for it, so im here. At home unable to go anywhere because of the condition of the uh subways today. This is part of what is happening everywhere in the United States today and its happening in the schools, its happening in Senior Centers and day centers uh everywhere, the the programs are being notted and nothing is being rebuilt. Stay with you miss founders on the issue, the last partial government shut down as you also allowed to was in 2018 through 2019. Was um supposed the longest in history lasting up to 34 days, there was one in october 2013 where the government shut down for 16 days after congress was unable to agree a budget for the new fiscal year, whether this is posturing or not, obviously um hundreds of thousands of federal workers, millions of people are affected by this, what are the projections saying about this one about the duration, about the severity in comparison to the previous uh shutdowns . Well we should know what happened with the last shutdown, because a country where the greatest number of workers live paycheck to paycheck, the idea of being more than a month without a paycheck and bills coming due and rent coming do and tuition for children and all kinds of things uh, these shutdowns create huge problem, there shutdowns for that long a time of of parks and highways and roads, all kinds of things. Uh, its an enormous, inconvenience, more than inconvenience, a real problem, a real life threatening problem in some situations, so its been done again and again, how long this one will last, we dont know, programs like female, theyll shut down, but i say, the wars dont shut down, and so just making those comparisons, i think is an important part of it, if if seniors dont get Social Security check, that means hunger, so you know, these these shutdowns create real, enormous and immediate difficulties, and thats part of the theater, both, both sides claim they want to reach deal and its a problem of the other party. Daniel plat, miss flounders just mentioned an interesting comment, interesting notion that even if the government should. Down the wars dont shut down, do you, do you agree with that . Absolutely, its a bipartisan consensus, the people that say that we dont have bipartisanship in the United States just arent paying attention. All right, and uh, daniel plat, the Us Government has already started notifying federal workers about this eminent shut down, with no deal in sight, millions of federal workers are in limbo. What services will be rattled if deal is not reached in time . Whats the impact, for example on Food Assistance . Uh medical benefits, retiry benefits and etc. Well, itll be substantial, and again weve seen this happen before, we know what to expect, and uh, it shows a certain calos disregard for the welfare of the american people. The uh the commitment to the global war agenda of the neoconservatives is iron clad, and theyre willing to sacrifice the welfare of the of the average citizen uh without hesitation. Sarah flouders, where is joe biden ammitst all of this . Well, hes been uh kind of out to lunch for a long time. Um, where is he . This party maneuver, part of this whole theater, and i have no idea what to say, because clearly he cant resolve it, this is push pool that goes on between the house of representatives, the senate, one has one bill, one has another bill, uh, obviously he could with executive authority keep any of these things still functioning, but of course he wont do that, he would rather put it on congress to thrash with each other, than to any way try to solve it, and that has also been the role of past president s, they act like their hands are tied, and uh, of course, they they could pursue, they could push through any of these programs if they so chose, but they dont choose to do that. Daniel, the us president be more present during such a. Critical impass . Ideally yes, but we dont really have a president in the normal sense of the term. Uh, there was another poll conducted by cnn a couple of months back where they found that again a majority of american citizens consider donald trump and joe biden both unfit for office. So you have to ask questions about a system which enforces a rigged choice where people have to choose between two agy crepit and frankly incompetent individuals. Uh, you would think that at least someone in either party could merge that is not a neecon, that is not committed to the disastrous policy this country has been on frankly for several decades, but whenever someone like that tries to emerge, the media and the party aratus joined forces to suppress their campaigns. Daniel, a side note here, the gopled House OversightCommittee Held its first hearing thursday morning on the. Well its sort of become a its sort of like a Junior High School environment where each party in turn tries to impeach the president of the other and its frivolous, its again designed to create the appearance of huge battle between the two parties, which is frankly illusory. All right, and same question to miss flounders, the. Gop that House Oversight committee, they held their first hearing thursday morning uh on the impeachment inquiry of the president , talk us through its relevance right now, its i its kind of relevant, frankly uh, impeachment of one party, impeaching the other, uh, its another thing that goes on again and again, like like these government. Downs time after time, how many president s have there been attempted impeachment, impeachment hearings, you know, its uh, really none of this has to do with how the Us Government functions on international level, functions domestically here at home, its not, what happens in washington is not what is happening to peoples pay checks, which havent increased literally decades now uh and havent uh we can look at the declining education levels at all those things this theater of whos impeaching who and where the hearings are it gets a lot of media uh its important in the election campaigns of certain politicians they get in some quotable quotes but uh what it will amount to i have i dont all right, and uh, final question for both our guests, daniel platt comes sunday morning, whats your prediction uh of the situation with regards to this whole uh Government Shutdown possibility . Um, im really not willing to make a prediction about that, im not sure, there there is a certain volatility here, and the opposition to the funding of ukraine, i think is key flash point, its very peculiar that the American Media have taken the describing opposite. They opposed the cold war, nowadays anyone who speaks out against this very dangerous proxy war in ukraine is branded a right winger, and it indicates theres a certain kind of desperation here to try to keep the public under control, theyre afraid the public a certain point is going to say, this is ridiculous, were no longer going to accept the quote unquote narrative that is being voiced upon us by the corporate media. Miss founders, i want to get your prediction as well as a fine question for the program. Well, im very much. Part of uh organizing demonstrations, actions, protests around the country uh from october 1 to october 8th, were were planning demonstration here in new york uh on sunday october 1st, and its targeting the media, their their role in war propaganda, in pushing these wars and in creating the stage theater uh, and theres a growing anger at the media and at the military, so i think these actions around the country and the theyre very much left and progressive and antiwar forces, theres more than 60 different actions in the coming week, i think thats important, not large, many of them, theyre still a symbolic level, and yet theyre speaking to the majority of the population whos against this war and against this enormous waste of resources a time when human need is so great and where we have real problems of. Of climate catastrophe, there should be a war on that and um infrastructure uh problems of social needs, these are the real problems facing it, the Political Parties arent addressing it, and so people are beginning to address it on their own, with all kinds of community action, so you can actually see the this at unacpeace. Org, unaac, peace. Org for a listing of different actions, but i think its just the beginning, its a first step in organizing opposition to the wars, to the cuts and demanding that money be spent for jobs and human needs right here, and not for us war, okay, sanctions either, thanks lot, sarah flounders from the International Action center, from new york and uh staff writer at executive intelligence review, daniel platt, joining us from los angeles, thank you for contributing to the program and also a special thanks to you our viewers for. Staying with us on tonights spotlight, its good night for now and see you next time. Aleppo, a city raised to the ground, destructed by war. But beyond the rubble and a half destroyed house, life still continues with all of its beauty, zest and hope. First to be headlines Israeli Forces shoot and kill a Palestinian Youth near the city of albera, the occupied west bank. Regie forces also clash with Palestinian Resistance fires into harm. Russia and ukraine intensify the crossborder attacks with both countries report. The downing of number of missiles and drones over each others territory, and in the us thousands more other workers joined an ongoing against major Car Manufacturers overpay and confishes