NYT: The Cost of the Shutdown

[babylonsister]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/opinion/the-cost-of-the-shutdown.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0

The Cost of the Shutdown
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Published: October 2, 2013


Many Republicans seem to be celebrating the government shutdown as an opportunity to show that less spending isn’t really so bad. “People are probably going to realize they can live with a lot less government than what they thought they needed,” said Representative Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee on Fox News. Her upbeat attitude helps explain why so many in her party thought nothing of shutting down a government they distrust, all to dismantle a health care law they oppose.

What these lawmakers aren’t telling Americans is that the shutdown will actually be very expensive and will wind up costing the taxpayers and the economy far more than the regular operations of government. The same people who have built their careers on railing about the deficit are actually increasing it.

snip//

The research firm IHS Inc. estimates that the shutdown will cost the country $300 million a day in lost economic output. That average will probably grow if the impasse continues, as more agencies run out of saved funds and receive no new appropriations. Moody’s Analytics estimated that a shutdown of three or four weeks would cut 1.4 percentage points from fourth-quarter economic growth and raise the unemployment rate.

This heavy cost is entirely unnecessary. Republicans routinely claim, without evidence, that the Affordable Care Act is hurting the economy. But they ignore the actual damage that their single-minded crusade against the law has done to the country.

[BlueMTexpat]

1. The shutdown cost and the costs of ALL the GOP grandstanding, votes to repeal

Obamacare and general other GOP idiocy should be repeated to their Tea Party followers ad nauseam.

Of course, the faithful TP followers won't believe the facts. But they should still be presented. The media does a piss-poor job of that in general, IMO.

But it's nice to see at least some trying. Thanks for the link.