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Apr. 5th, 2011 07:10 pmSo... this upload your old stuff from LJ to here, how does that work?
Apr. 5th, 2011
Government Shutdown, DC-eye View
Apr. 5th, 2011 09:07 pmAt this point, I'm actually all for a shutdown rather than drawing out the endless "one more week/two more weeks/another day or so" uncertainty that we're all dealing with. That doesn't mean I think Government shutdowns are a good thing beyond giving a lot of people a real clue-by-four about what the government actually *does* and provides, and it's more than most people think.
I was around during the last shutdown. Here is an excellent article on what actually stopped.
Government Shutdown = Government-run museums and landmarks shut down. That means the entire Smithsonian complex. Also any monument that you have to pass a door to get into. (You can still look at the Jefferson memorial, for example, or see Lincoln in his chair, but you can't go into the Washington Monument. In NY, you can't go up the Statue of Liberty.) No Library of Congress, not even online (because no IT personnel to monitor it). No National Zoo. (Wherein last time the manure piled up because while people made sure the animals were fed, nobody was being paid to shovel the shit.)
Government-provided benefits and services slow or stop. No tax refunds. Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid slow down; no new people join the system. No veteran's benefits.
In DC, it means massive numbers of people out of work. And I'm not just talking about the mid and low-level Government employees. I'm talking about:
- Government contractors (who outnumber Govvies something like 10 to 1)
- Food service personnel. Not just the food service/cooks inside the government buildings, but the ones inside the many Smithsonian buildings and all the restaurants around the now-shuttered buildings which are no longer feeding tourists and workers.
- Cleaning service personnel.
- Tour guides/souvenir stands/cabbies/etc facing a severe reduction in tourist dollars -- and right when the tourist season kicks off, too.
- basically, anyone and everyone doing support.
And the ones who are working, the essential personnel who have to keep showing up regardless - they don't get paid. They can't go find other work, they have no guarantee that they'll get paid for the work they're doing. I'm seeing people saying "oh, the cops'll be okay; nobody will stop soldiers' pay; mailmen still get their checks."
No. They DON'T. Work, yes. Pay? Not so much.
What does that add up to? THOUSANDS of people who, even if they have savings enough to make it through the uncertainty for however long it lasts -- last time it was almost an entire month -- who are all doing one thing in unison - Not. Spending. Money.
And that trickles down the economic uncertainty to all the places locals support - an instant throttle on food, entertainment, travel, education, repair, even health - any non-essential item will be put on hold until a shutdown is over and back pay is made available, if it ever will be.
Now isn't that just what a shaky economy needs?
I was around during the last shutdown. Here is an excellent article on what actually stopped.
Government Shutdown = Government-run museums and landmarks shut down. That means the entire Smithsonian complex. Also any monument that you have to pass a door to get into. (You can still look at the Jefferson memorial, for example, or see Lincoln in his chair, but you can't go into the Washington Monument. In NY, you can't go up the Statue of Liberty.) No Library of Congress, not even online (because no IT personnel to monitor it). No National Zoo. (Wherein last time the manure piled up because while people made sure the animals were fed, nobody was being paid to shovel the shit.)
Government-provided benefits and services slow or stop. No tax refunds. Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid slow down; no new people join the system. No veteran's benefits.
In DC, it means massive numbers of people out of work. And I'm not just talking about the mid and low-level Government employees. I'm talking about:
- Government contractors (who outnumber Govvies something like 10 to 1)
- Food service personnel. Not just the food service/cooks inside the government buildings, but the ones inside the many Smithsonian buildings and all the restaurants around the now-shuttered buildings which are no longer feeding tourists and workers.
- Cleaning service personnel.
- Tour guides/souvenir stands/cabbies/etc facing a severe reduction in tourist dollars -- and right when the tourist season kicks off, too.
- basically, anyone and everyone doing support.
And the ones who are working, the essential personnel who have to keep showing up regardless - they don't get paid. They can't go find other work, they have no guarantee that they'll get paid for the work they're doing. I'm seeing people saying "oh, the cops'll be okay; nobody will stop soldiers' pay; mailmen still get their checks."
No. They DON'T. Work, yes. Pay? Not so much.
What does that add up to? THOUSANDS of people who, even if they have savings enough to make it through the uncertainty for however long it lasts -- last time it was almost an entire month -- who are all doing one thing in unison - Not. Spending. Money.
And that trickles down the economic uncertainty to all the places locals support - an instant throttle on food, entertainment, travel, education, repair, even health - any non-essential item will be put on hold until a shutdown is over and back pay is made available, if it ever will be.
Now isn't that just what a shaky economy needs?