Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Knight of Fools]

For those not from the US: Two opposing parties are stubbornly refusing to give ground on a spending bill that authorizes them to spend money on government programs and such.  Essential things, such as security, health, and infrastructure are not shut down.


So, now the point: I've been kind of confused lately, since everyone seems to think that a government shutdown will end the world - At least, that's what politicians and the media have be saying.  I usually try to keep informed on these sorts of things, so I've tried doing some searching, but I can't find much to support the worry about it.  I feel like the media's just hyping it up, while politicians on both sides are hoping for political repercussions similar to the 1995 shutdown.

The employees will just get some paid vacation time.  That's the only problem I see, is paying people money for work they're not doing - But they'd be able to apply for welfare even if they weren't getting paid.  Either way, people would get money and the government would spend it.

I don't see anything else that will completely ruin us by having the government catch its breath while politicians sit down and figure things out.  I'm rather clueless, though, which is why I'm asking - I was too young to notice the last shutdown that happened, so I don't have any experience to base it on.  I don't give a darn about the actual debate behind all this.  I have my opinions on that, and I'm sure everyone does, so let's not go there.

I just want to know: What's the big deal with a government shutdown?

[sonerohi]

Politicians think themselves more active and crucial than they really are.

[Aqizzar]

Yes yes, you can all cynic all you like, I'm rather leery of the situation.  Concerning the shutdown, I'm going to assume you googled "1995 government shutdown" and read the Wikipedia page on it (since I just did).  When the government runs out of operative funding, almost all "non-essential" personnel go home on paid leave (so for one thing, you're pissing money into the wind the longer it continues).  It also discontinues non-essential payments - "essential" means things that are contractually or legally mandated, like payroll, Social Security, and most elements of Medicaid.  I'm not exactly sure where the military fits in, but I believed they're embursed liked a year or more out, just in case of such a situation.

"Non-essential" means things like Veteran Administration payments, ongoing Justice Department cases, federal heating and housing assistance, and basically everything not covered under "essentials", just as the name implies.  For easily most of the year.  Yeah, I'd rather not see it.  All the same, I believe the House has already passed a Continuing Resolution of some kind under the radar, to at least make sure the government doesn't immediately shutter itself (although still pending the Senate), but I can't confirm any part of the that analysis at the moment.

[Virex]

It depends on how the state defines non-essential in this case. In some cases it included the police, firefighters and utilities. That would probably fall under mildly inconvenient (maybe upgraded to get more bullets if you live in a high crime area). Now if this would happen during, say, the tornado season (or forest fire season depending on the state), then that gets upgraded to quite problematic.

[Phmcw]

Whimp, it's been more than 240 days since we last had a government and we're fine. Man up!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(this post is a joke. I know irony doesn't pass well on the Internet so you're warned]

[Leafsnail]

Ah, yes.  Belgium recently took the championship from Iraq for Longest Time Without a Government in a Modern Country.

[Leafsnail]

Hey, the record doesn't require your government to be functional.

[Bouchart]

I don't think there will be an actual government shutdown over the spending bill.

I do foresee massive cuts sometime in the next year or so, as the bond market will force interest rates up.

[Ampersand]

Oh Belgium, why must your government always waffle around the whole Flanders and Wallonia affair?

[Luke_Prowler]

For all these arguments of government spending,  politicians never seem to get poorer

[RedKing]

I'm with Aqizzar. And, being old enough to actually remember well the 1995 shutdown, it backfired big time on the GOP then.

There's a major trickle-down effect. Beyond being a huge employer, the government also provides a pretty hefty revenue stream to all the hundreds of thousands of private companies that they contract. Those contracts would be considered "non-essential" and payments non-contractual. Essentially the contract would just be suspended for the duration.

Suddenly, that's billions of dollars that aren't flowing from DC to front offices all over the country. Which, if it goes on for any extended period, means layoffs all over the place of private workers.

And then there's all the public services that get shut down.

[Zangi]

I'd have to agree, there is and will be a major trickle-down effect.  Read the 1995 shutdown wiki page before waving this off.

Our(US) government is big and already spends oodles of monies everywhere within our own country. 
Lots of private companies will be effected, one way or another.
1) Gov't contractors get no work, lay people off.  (More unemployment / Less consumers)
2) Subsidized companies get no monies, lay people off.  (More unemployment / Less consumers)
3) Gov't contractors / subsidized companies not buying stuffs from private companies, so those private companies that supply those contractors / companies lay people off. (Even more unemployment / Even less consumers)
4) Less consumers, companies sell less stuffs to people, lay more people off. (Even more unemployment / Even less consumers)

Well, thats the jist of it.  We are also trying to recover from a recession... so...

[Boksi]

...So what are the politicians trying to accomplish? What's the bone of contention here?

[olemars]

Short term political cookie points, the gathering of which is at the core of all US congress activity.

[Nadaka]

Yay, sounds like that means I could loose my job from this BS. Depending of course on if I would count under "government contractor" or "military spending".