By: Anthony Michalovitz
Many people already know that during October 1st through October 16th that the United States government collapsed. The government shutdown was due to Congress failing to come to terms on fiscal policy for 2014 nor could they come to terms on continuing resolution. Continuing resolution was finally put into action on the 16th of October, which is a fill-in or interim fiscal policy for the government to use if they can’t figure out their approach to the real fiscal policy by the end of the year to keep the government up and running.
The question is what happened to the economy during the 16 day span the government was shut down?
To answer that question the economy was affected drastically, according to Time.com it cost the economy 24 billion dollars over a 16 day span (that’s 1.5 billion dollars each day!). Not only did it cost the economy 24 billion dollars but it also resulted in 120,000 fewer jobs created in the first two weeks of October. That’s not all, consumer confidence and business confidence were badly damaged. National parks had to be closed causing tourism to suffer, and military families had to survive with no childcare along with other military benefits. Federal loans to small businesses, homeowners, and families were put on hold. The Food and Drug Administration had to stop their health and safety inspections. Even 4 of the 5 nobel prize winning scientists who work for the government had to put their work to a halt during the shutdown. The list problems goes on and on.
This is the first time in 17 years since the government shutdown and the only time it was shutdown due to fiscal policy not passing through Congress since 1982 when it was shut down for a day, not a ridiculous 16 days!
In my opinion the government needs to stop being so nit-picky over things such as their fiscal approach because as you can see the government is in control of a lot of things and if it collapses, the economy and the people working for the federal government are screwed. It’s extremely sad and embarrassing to see the government shutdown, especially over something so routine and simple compared to other more serious problems Congress fight over. This shutdown could of have been resolved 16 days earlier by doing the following in the picture, “STOP ARGUING”.
VIDEO: Obama briefly explaining the government shutdown:
Sources:
"White House: Shutdown Has Furloughed 4 Nobel Scientists, CDC Flu Surveillance." Mediaite White House Shutdown Has Furloughed 4 Nobel Scientists CDC Flu Surveillance Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2013. <http://www.mediaite.com/online/white-house-shutdown-has-furloughed-4-nobel-scientists-cdc-flu-surveillance/>.
"Swampland." Swampland Heres How Much The Government Shutdown Cost The Economy Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. <http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/17/heres-what-the-government-shutdown-cost-the-economy/>.
"Impacts and Costs of the Government Shutdown." The White House. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/11/07/impacts-and-costs-government-shutdown>.
The government shut down was nothing but a bigger problem starter, so many people went without their essiental benefits that they required to live. Taking all the benefits of reservists away and from their families was definitley not the way to approach this. I remember hearing that the National Parks were shut down and the honor flight full of veterans was stopped because the parks were closed and they were not allowed to look at their display and they went right on in anyway! This is why it is better to come up with a different approach than just sitting there arguing for 16 days...
ReplyDeleteI knew of the government shutting down but I didn't know the reasons, so this was very informational to read. It doesn't seem like the shut down was helpful in any way at all, so I'm not sure why they thought it would be a good idea. The obvious cause, many jobs not needed for those days, was terrible enough, but for military families to not receive those benefits is another level of bad! It also seems like after that long they would have been able to come up with a better solution.
ReplyDeleteI think this government shut down was a big eye opener for us US citizens. It made us realize our government isn't that great and for too long we gave them the benefit of the doubt and believed they had everything under control when in reality they did not at all. Like you said this just shows that our government needs to stop being "nit-picky" with such a little topic and a topic/issue that comes up every few years, and really focus on the bigger issues.
ReplyDeleteI was aware of the government shutdown, but i didn't know why. This was very helpful, thank you. I was really surprised by the damage of the 16 day shutdown, and I'm now aware of how important it is that the government wont shut down again. As politicians it is important that there capable, of sorting those sort of things out, cause if they don't it will damage all of us
ReplyDeleteI had a understand of the government shutdown but i don't think it really hurt are country that much. This is my opium but I am pretty sure the dept is a much bigger problem than a certain percent of the US not working or getting there government benefits. I would rather have had the government shut down longer and solve the problems with spending compared to just pushing there problems away.
ReplyDeleteI thought I had an idea on the government shutdown, but really I didn't know what was really happening. In my mind I knew congress didn't agree on terms, so it lend to them shutting down as well as government jobs being effected by this as well. The thing I didn't know was how much this was really affecting our country and really what other countries think of us. Because they look at us in two ways right now we owe money a large amount of money that we can't payback and our government is temporarily shut down.
ReplyDeleteThe government really isn't a good role model for what the United States should strive to be. The impacts of the government on our own country don't seem to be in as high of importance to some of the government officials. It truly is sad at how incapable people who are supposed to be leading our country are.
ReplyDeletei completely agree, the government doesn't have room to be stubborn and behave like children when it comes to negotiating between parties. during the shutdown millions of veterans lost their disability checks, and millions more DoD contractors lost their benefits. those people have earned those benefits, they are fighting and putting themselves in harms way to defend the American dream and this is no way to repay them. most of them are unable to work jobs due to war injuries, and depend on those checks to survive. they sacrificed for this country, and its our job to repay them.
ReplyDeleteI think it was really immature for the government to behave the way that it did. Acting like children and shutting it down because they couldn't agree on something. It was something that was very childish. Many people were very affected by this and needed those benefits that were given to them. If other countries see the way that we act over something like this it doesn't reflect well upon the United States at all. I believe that the government needs to step up and take charge more and stop being the children that they are acting like. I hope that the United States to can reflect better and not cause more problems for themselves.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that it was immature of them and that they should stop fighting, but sometimes it isn't just that simple of a fix. Sometimes one side of the government feels that a topic is non-negotiable, but the other side of the government feels that it needs to be fixed. There isn't really an easy fix to that, but I do agree with you that they should stop fighting, well written article.
ReplyDeleteEconomy crippled by the Government Shutdown; that's one of the un-brightest titles I've ever seen. The Government shutdown had little to no effect what so ever on the economy of our country and that's a fact. A few Government agencies nobody cared about nor had any significance were taken down for a brief period of time resulting in not a single soul giving a honey badger.
ReplyDeleteAs David said, the issue that they were fighting about isn't that easy to fix, but even then the fighting should cease. It was immature to let their beliefs stand in the way for what was good for the economy, which, over the course of the time in which the government was shut down, took a turn for the worse
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the larger flaws of having a two party system. Over time the two have in a way made it a game to argue against each other. If they ever want to get anything significant done, they are going to have to put their differences aside and look at what is best for the economy and the people that they are representing. I think we could take a few hundred well qualified citizens and have them represent the common folk instead of all the decisions being made by wealthy government people who are too stupid and stubborn to come to a compromise with the other party.
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