U.S. Government Shutdown: Anyone Care?

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Barring a small miracle, the U.S. federal government will shut down Friday at midnight ET. All but the most essential employees (military and intelligence, mostly) will be furloughed, the government can't buy anything, and it can't give money to the states. Social Security checks will go out as normal, as they are in a separate fund.

Does anyone care? As I live in Washington DC, most people here do care, as they depend on the federal government one way or another. But most Americans rarely interact with the government, except through taxes (still due April 15). I wonder... Web Page Name

I do.

I won't be getting paid until they sort this mess out.

Yes/No

i receive no direct government benefits, but i do care for those who will likely be dislocated by this reckless [and petty] abrogation of governmental responsibility. i was a civil servant during the shutdown back in '95-'96, and i eventually got paid. but i will never forgive the parties i see as responsible for the messes then and now.

I do take an interest in matters this side of the Pond. The US checks & balances system dones have its uses to make should things a fare. A system like that would be useful for us to stop another parliamentary expenses scandal.
However your legislative branch of government is shooting its self in the foot by dragging this issue out.

Apparently shutting down the government is what it will take to get some of the desperately needed spending cuts, so I'm all for it.

I will be in Washington tomorrow afternoon and will be there for the weekend. I will let you know what a "government shutdown" does to Government Town, U.S.A.

ruvyen

I hope they shut it down for a long time. It'll show us how little we actually need these people.

Well, for starters, "those people" are working Americans. Last time I checked, the U.S. government was one of the biggest employers in the country. And, funny thing is, when people don't get paid, they tend not to buy things. The good people of Jacksonville, Arkansas don't seem to mind when I spend my government paychecks in their local economy. The last thing our country needs is more unemployment and stagnation.

When the first guy tells me to take my filthy, ill-gotten government money out of his store, I'll revise my theory.

And, as yet another minor example, when all of the national parks and museums close, tourists are going to take their money elsewhere. Not good for local prosperity. Of course, I'm sure I can come up with more ways the government affects our everyday lives, and the many ways it, in fact, benefits us little people, but something tells me I shouldn't bother.

In any case, politicians are just using this as a tool to push their own agendas. I doubt the American people are going to tolerate not getting their tax returns, having services cut, the negative impact on businesses, and the spectacle of soldiers in Iraq having bombs dropped on them without any form of compensation for an extended period of time. Sorry to dissapoint.

The Shutdown can be as painless or painful as President Obama wants it to be cause he decides what the essential services are.

Note the Democrats are going bananas over a few billion dollars in spending cuts out of trillions in spending. A literal comparison would be we're talking less than pennies in cuts compared to government spending, and they're calling that extreme.

If we do have a shutdown the blame goes entirely on Obama and the Democrats in fact, but the media will try to blame the Republicans (nevermind the fact Republicans are having to sort through the mess of the Dems not even bothering to pass a budget last year).

As long as the military is functional it makes no difference. Only people who collect a pay check from Uncle Sam need be concerned. The economy will function very nicely without the government.

ruveyn

Well, the last time a Democratic President and a Republic Speaker faced off over a government shut down in the year before a Presidential election, it didn't work out so well for the Republicans. You'd think they'd learn.

However, I think there will be a functional difference this time. Banks are usually perfectly happy to keep striking and locked out workers going through the furlough period--deferring mortgage payments, extending credit and so forth. But the capacity that banks had in 1995 is very different from the capacity that banks have in 2011, and it may well be that a large number of 1.8 million salary earning public servants (that already excludes the military, btw) are going to be much more financially strained than the last time around.

If the amount of money that Government workers make and spend in the economy is not of negative concern to the functioning of the economy, it is not likely that a tax increase will make a negative impact on the economy either.

Those government workers will likely get back pay once the furlough is over, as in the shutdown, of 1995. So, for the ones that have money saved to get by, it may just be a "free" vacation for those employees.

I was affected in 1995, and the biggest complaint among my co-workers was why can't we just go to work and volunteer, we're going to get paid anyway after this is over with. My situation was unusual in that my workplace was kept open by workers that received non-appropriated funds.

For those that need Government services that will not be provided during this time it will be an inconvenience; because it is not likely that the shutdown will last any longer than it did in 1995.

Shut the government down for a longer period of time and the consequences to government employees, the economy, and those that need services would be significant. Particularly for those businesses that rely heavily on customers that work for the Federal Government and government employees that live paycheck to paycheck.

For some government employees though, a short government shut down can be considered as a gift, rather than an inconvenience, when they get backpay for a "free" vacation.

The government shutdown, in my opinion. is a ridiculous waste of money and services; and as in 1995, the voters are likely to remember it.

I didn't say it couldn't.



No.

People for whom "government money" represents income and profit need to be concerned as well.

Everyone should be concerned because it effects many many people. But, the amount of concern is different depending on your circumstances.

How about, instead of worrying about just the people that are paid by the Govt. or get their income from the Govt. (not SSI), worry about how the last 2 years have gone and how Liberal spending binges are affecting local economies depriving working Americans the opportunity to find a job, a decent job, a better job.

It sucks, but Govt. recipients have been insulated from what has been going on for the last couple of years and now, as one famous Chicago Reverend coined, "The chickens have come home to roost." Do we really need federal money going to a Cowboy Poetry festival. Harry Reid believes so. The Dems had a year to pass a budget while owning the White House the Senate and the House. SHAME. I'm tired of the, Spend Us Into Oblivion Liberals in order to FORCE raising taxes and get their Socialist Mecca. And, yes, its up to the President to determine what are essential areas to still fund during a shutdown.

A study was done recently and found that congressmen spend an average of 27% of their time harassing each other. The political BS needs to stop and some fiscal responsibility needs to be a top priority. Or we can let the Liberals take our retirement funds and tax the bejesus outta everything which won't help any local economy one bit.