Have You Thought About A Government Shutdown?

I looked into what effects a government shutdown will have on this nation and its citizens.  I discovered a ton of websites and articles that list most of the effects that will result from a government shutdown.  I have not included references but Googling “government shutdown effects” easily finds all of the effects listed below.

Any government shutdown would be done in an effort to stop Obamacare.  However, that will not happen because all federal entitlements programs (“Obamacare”, Medicare, Medicaid, e.g.) are required by law to continue with mandatory spending during any government shutdown.

A shutdown will not affect members of Congress (considered “essential”) and they will continue to receive their paychecks.

Unfortunately,

·      As many as 800,000 on the nation’s 2.1 million federal workers will be laid off and may not be paid retroactively as in the past

·      Members of the active duty military, border protection, and air traffic control will continue to work but will not be paid

·      All federal contractors will be out of work, removing billions of dollars in paychecks from the economy

·      Veterans Administration services will be slowed and/or reduced

·      New applications for Veterans benefits will not be processed

·      All National Parks, Landmarks, and Monuments will close to an estimated 7 million tourists and $14.2 million in tourism dollars

·      Passport and Visa applications will not be processed, resulting in U.S. tourism and airline industries incurring millions of dollars in losses

·      All federally funded museums will close

·      All federal government websites will shutdown

·      All medical research by Health and Human Services will stop

·      The Center for Disease Control (CDC) will halt disease surveillance

·      Clean-up work at Toxic Waste Sites will halt

·      No new applications for Social Security will be processed

·      Social Security checks MAY be delayed as the federal workers who process them will be laid off

·      Loan applications for small businesses, mortgages, or college tuition will not be processed

·      All toll-free calls to government offices will go unanswered

·      The federal court system will perform only “essential work” (trials will be delayed)

·      Enforcement of delinquent child support will be suspended

·      The nation’s economic growth rate will dropThe price of oil will increase

·      The price of oil will increase

·      The stock market will fall

And, last but not least,

·      Gun permits will not be issued due to the furlough of ATF employees

A government shutdown will not necessarily save money, especially if laid off Shutting down and reopening the government costs money.  The last time the federal government was forced to shutdown was in 1995-1996 and it cost taxpayers $1.4 billion to close and then restart the government.  Clinton also handily beat Dole in that November’s election as blame for the shutdown was placed on the GOP (primarily Dole and Gingrich).