Trump will “Absolutely” Shut Down the Government: OK, So What Will Close?

December 18, 2018 in News by RBN Staff

 

Who remains open for business, and who is closed during a government shut down?

To D.T: Just pay for the flippin’ wall using the military defense budget.  This isn’t rocket science.  Build the damn thing already.

Is Donald Trump a power player, or a power pushover?

– Steve  Elkins

 

via: Lew Rockwell

By 

Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis

 

What to Expect

Here’s what to expect in a Government Shutdown.

  • The Postal Service is an independent agency, so it won’t be affected in any government shutdown.
  • Air-traffic controllers still will be on the job and customs and border agents will continue working at border crossings.
  • Amtrak, a government-owned corporation, also will operate as usual.
  • Those who want to go to national parks and federally operated museums could find popular places closed or hours curtailed.
  • The national zoos may close but the zoo’s animal caretakers always are considered essential.
  • Food-safety inspections continue but could be curtailed if a shutdown lingers.
  • Social Security benefits still go out, as will Medicare services and benefits from programs such as the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program and Women, Infants and Children for at least as long as some carryover money in the states or the federal accounts are available.

The main disruption, initially, will be at national parks, museums, and zoos. There may also be delays in economic reports. Otherwise, the average person may not notice anything.

How about turning the parks over to the states and just shutting down everything deemed non-essential?

Roughly a quarter of the federal government will shut down next Friday absent a bipartisan deal. What portions of that do we really need?

Why do we need the department of energy, education, HUD, etc. etc? Even if we need parts of those agencies, how bloated are those bureaucracies?

Blame Game

A new USA Today/Suffolk University poll says America Blames Trump and GOP for the Shutdown.

  • Forty-three percent of those polled said they would blame the president and the GOP, while 24 percent would hold congressional Democrats responsible, and 30 percent would regard both sides as equally at fault.
  • An overwhelming majority—54 percent to 29 percent—said they opposed the shutdown that Trump had threatened unless Congress provided $5 billion funding for his wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
  • The poll found a sharp partisan divide, with 83 percent of Democrats opposed to a shutdown, whereas two-thirds of Republicans were supportive.
  • It found that 57 percent of Americans believed Trump should broker a compromise to prevent a shutdown, while 36 percent believed he should refuse to compromise.

Honest Discussion Needed

How would people have voted if they were informed they would not be directly impacted in the least?

Of course, mass firings would have an economic toll, so everyone would suffer via an indirect impact

But rather than mass hysteria over $5 billion, how about an honest discussion of $21 trillion in national debt and trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see?

Reprinted with permission from Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis.