They've turned the government off at the wall and won't turn it on again. What?! This was funny a couple of days ago but it seems to be actually true now and it's just weird.
I can't tell how scared we should be. Outside, I mean. It was easy with 9/11 because we knew there'd be a war and just had to wait to see where. This is weirder. Is it a big deal? Is it a coup? Or a stupid pointless tantrum that makes some people poorer, but doesn't change much in the long run?
Most people would say the latter (a giant tantrum). It can't last - the people responsible are a smallish group and don't have a lot of wide-spread support, one. And the stock market hasn't taken a hit, which suggests that Wall Street (usually somewhat conservative) isn't worried long-term. It's largely a giant headache / embarrassment. I think.
We're starting to see some reporting on places the shutdown is making life even harder for people in poverty, especially babies and small children:
Though many of the programs that provide assistance to needy families and individuals like food stamps, Medicaid, and Medicare will continue running during the shutdown, the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is barely holding on.
The nearly $7 billion dollar program that provides access to food, formula, nutritional education, breast-feeding support, and health-care referrals to 9 million poor mothers, babies, and children is having to rely on $125 million in contingency funds from the USDA to continue operating throughout the month.
Douglas Greenaway, the president of the National WIC Association, a D.C. based nonprofit, calls the money a “sneeze” and warns that clinics will be forced to close their doors and end benefits if normal funding doesn’t resume by the end of the month.
[...]
Fifty-three percent of all infants born in the U.S. rely on WIC, according to the National WIC Association and participants in some states have already faced the reality of going without the services.
There are more items listed in the article at the link, including 5354 children already taken out of school and 19,000 more at risk, due to the effects on the Head Start program.
That sort of thing can just keep going though, until they hit riot levels. That doesn't seem imminent.
Edit to clarify: What I mean is, they are hitting mainly the most disadvantaged, which is a very safe group to hit until quite a distant point, when you get riots instead, which is still politically safe for the groups in power because rioters are naughty bad people. It doesn't actually destabilise a society because the bottom layer is so squashed to begin with.
It is a huge tantrum that hurts a lot of people and makes some of us really think that maybe we SHOULD have gone to a parliamentary system where we're allowed to dissolve the government and call for new elections, but whatever.
Don't forget that we've gone through this before -- three of our last four Presidents have dealt with a shutdown. This is for a stupider and more childish reason than any of those, but it's a very, very painful *headdesk* rather than an "End of the Republic."
It's embarrassing, and hurtful, and damages our economy and our international standing and hurts the vulnerable, damages our scientific research, and all sorts of other things -- but it's not even the most damaging thing the House Republicans have done this year. The "sequester" thing is worse than the shutdown.
It's surreal. I don't have many hours left on my current contract (with NASA)... but right now I'm not allowed to use them - nor am I allowed to go get my arctic gear which arrived at the office the morning of October 1st. Sigh.
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(no subject)
Date: 2013-10-06 07:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-10-07 07:12 am (UTC)but at least there the bureaucrats kept going even though there were no political leaders.
The US seems to like doing it the other way around.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-10-06 09:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-10-06 09:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-10-06 10:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-10-06 11:44 pm (UTC)Though many of the programs that provide assistance to needy families and individuals like food stamps, Medicaid, and Medicare will continue running during the shutdown, the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is barely holding on.
The nearly $7 billion dollar program that provides access to food, formula, nutritional education, breast-feeding support, and health-care referrals to 9 million poor mothers, babies, and children is having to rely on $125 million in contingency funds from the USDA to continue operating throughout the month.
Douglas Greenaway, the president of the National WIC Association, a D.C. based nonprofit, calls the money a “sneeze” and warns that clinics will be forced to close their doors and end benefits if normal funding doesn’t resume by the end of the month.
[...]
Fifty-three percent of all infants born in the U.S. rely on WIC, according to the National WIC Association and participants in some states have already faced the reality of going without the services.
Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/04/poor-families-taking-a-hit-from-government-shutdown/#ixzz2gzKzdums
There are more items listed in the article at the link, including 5354 children already taken out of school and 19,000 more at risk, due to the effects on the Head Start program.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-10-06 11:46 pm (UTC)Edit to clarify: What I mean is, they are hitting mainly the most disadvantaged, which is a very safe group to hit until quite a distant point, when you get riots instead, which is still politically safe for the groups in power because rioters are naughty bad people. It doesn't actually destabilise a society because the bottom layer is so squashed to begin with.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-10-07 01:53 am (UTC)Don't forget that we've gone through this before -- three of our last four Presidents have dealt with a shutdown. This is for a stupider and more childish reason than any of those, but it's a very, very painful *headdesk* rather than an "End of the Republic."
It's embarrassing, and hurtful, and damages our economy and our international standing and hurts the vulnerable, damages our scientific research, and all sorts of other things -- but it's not even the most damaging thing the House Republicans have done this year. The "sequester" thing is worse than the shutdown.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-10-06 10:32 pm (UTC)