[W]ell I’m back after a short sabbatical, and just in time to weigh in on week-two of the Federal Government shutdown. The very thought of a Government shutdown makes many of us cringe, especially if we depend on the Federal Government for our employment, medical care, retirement benefits and other critical services.
In a government shutdown, there is some discretion for the government to protect the vital agencies, like those related to national security, so it’s not like they’re going to close everything down in DC. But most government functions that we are used to will stop during a shutdown.
Injecting further uncertainty is the question of when a new budget will be passed to get the government up and running again soon.
The hard part for officials still working is deciding which operations will be deemed essential and which will be halted. It’s mostly up to the discretion of the Obama administration at this point, and it all depends on what the president prioritizes and what federal unions are willing to cooperate with the administration.
Nearly all government workers would see their paychecks delayed by a government shutdown. Those deemed “essential,” such as active military, corrections officers, firefighters and utilities, would continue working with reduced or delayed pay until things returned to normal. It is likely they’d be reimbursed their missing salary, although some nonessential workers may be enduring this furlough possibly without pay.
That fact, combined with an already in-place federal employee wage freeze surely has many of Washington’s working class heroes feeling unappreciated at best. The longer it goes on the more damaging it becomes because of the accumulation of unpaid bills and more and more people being affected by not being paid.
The biggest losers in this government shutdown might well be government contractors and vendors. Government spending accounts for roughly one-fifth of the U.S. gross domestic product, and much of that adds to the bottom lines of government contractors and vendors. This government shutdown has meant that payments to vendors and contractors has, for the most part, stopped.
I could go on and on about the ripple effects on everyone here in D.C., and all over the country for that matter, are feeling. I won’t bother, you need only turn on your TV and tune into any of the 24/7 cable news networks to get that run-down. And depending on which network you choose to tune in I’m sure you’ll get a different take on the level of pain many of us here in our nations capitol are feeling.
That being said I must say the strangest thing I heard today was that for the first time in over half a decade the biggest concern being expressed by the American people was not jobs and the economy, but the dysfunctionality of its own Federal Government. That’s not to say I was surprised when I heard this little news item, but maybe, just maybe, we may finally be reaching a tipping point. And as we all know when that happens, anything can happen… we shall see.