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one of the funniest things surrounding this government shutdown Louis
is the foreign press and and in general just people in other countries
don't understand what the hell is going on in this country right now
a Talking Points Memo put this together and it's a compilation
love things that have been written by journalists all over the world about
this government shutdown
I'll give you some sampling here it's about what you would expect
The Canadian Press is lee-anne Goodman said
this is a weird messed up feature the American political system
I suppose the checks and balances obsession made sense two hundred years
ago
it makes no sense any longer for a country that
fancies itself the greatest democracy on earth
the fact that a small band of out liars in one party
can essentially shut down the federal government over a petty political brawl
seems woefully undemocratic agreed
agreed let's listen to what Joyce karen had to say from
al Khayat which is an Arabic newspaper that's based in London
the whole concept is a little surreal for our readers trying to understand
why the number one country in the world cannot pass a budget
I come from Lebanon in our Parliament is very ineffective
but ludicrous as it sounds it is better than US Congress when it comes to
passing budgets
I out many wonder why the US is doing this to its economy
or why health care is not an option for everyone
these are just very sober and obvious reactions are they Louis
yeah and need using even as someone on the inside
a government shutdown still makes absolutely no sense to even me
even know it you know I'm understanding why it happened
a couple more these data and a couple more these actually show the absurdity
of it Elliott waldman from the tokyo broadcasting companies that
personally I think it's an international embarrassment it's just another sign of
the declining US influence around the world
and a sign of the very divisive extremist policies that have become
prominent there
there's no civilized discourse that I can see
son a tauren Bjorlin from a Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter
not being able to fund the largest such a fundamental thing
as a budget is of course a problem and worrying for a nation
and somewhat crazy for democracy like the US the underlying political shifts
and the polarization of congress in the electorate
as many interesting aspect intel's a much wider and complex story about the
country
some of the right-wing movement I see as extreme
talk about an understatement and I've got a bunch more these believe me
there are clear thinking americans who realize how absurd this is
and the other element to this is we were I guarantee
in the YouTube comments for this clip Louis when we take this clip and put it
up on YouTube
will say why do we care with socialist europeans think about our country why do
we care about what some guy in a Tokyo newspaper things
remember the Iraq war when heart
love the support among Americans for the Iraq war was predicated
on the false belief that world citizens from any number of different countries
there it is
can any number and it was like 20 to 30 countries %uh
supported military action in Iraq when in fact they did not
opinion around the world about what the US is doing actually does matter even if
right-wingers don't don't want to admit that yet
and you know what I'm sure all the financial institutions would it be would
have to agree with that
the whole heartedly no question about it