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Thread: The Real Lesson of the Shutdown

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    The Real Lesson of the Shutdown

    The Real Lesson of the Shutdown

    One of the lessons of the Trump–Pelosi standoff on border security is that government shutdowns are a foolish way to resolve partisan disputes.

    But the other lesson may be far more important. The partial shutdown, with agencies such as the Transportation, Agriculture, and State Departments, as well as other independent agencies, closed for business, demonstrated how irrelevant so much of our $4 trillion government is to the everyday lives of Americans.

    As I traveled over the last several weeks to Florida, California, and many states in between, and asked people what they thought of the shutdown, many said they didn’t even know the government was shut down for more than a month. Their everyday lives were disrupted or inconvenienced only, if at all, in a trivial way. It turns out there are countless Americans who don’t watch CNN or MSNBC and so didn’t learn about the supposed horrors of agency closures.

    This was a particularly painless shutdown for the average taxpayer because the essential activities of government were mostly unaffected. Seniors got their social-security checks. The military was protecting us. We got through the airports with minimal delays — until the last week when some TSA officials and air-traffic controllers weren’t on the job.

    It was also telling that the only real “victims” of the shutdown (about whom the media obsessed) were 800,000 government employees who were furloughed. Yes, I know many people in Washington who work for the federal government who faced financial stress for several weeks (and I also know many for whom this was a deferred-pay vacation).

    But wait a minute. What is the primary purpose of a government program or agency? To give workers a paycheck? I thought these agencies were in business to serve the taxpayers and provide important services for our economy and our citizens. Businesses don’t keep workers on the payroll if what they produce isn’t necessary to customers or if they don’t add to earnings. They certainly can’t do that if they are losing money. The federal government is $1 trillion in the red a year despite record revenues in 2018.

    The media tried to find stories of major negative effects from the shutdown, but amazingly, their findings were pretty slim pickings....

    Shutdown, what shutdown?
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    That is the real "danger" with shutdowns. People will realize that they don't miss the government.
    ΜOΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ


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    Had it lasted, there would have been more significant consequences. Let's face it, some of those government services staffed by those who are considered essential but not getting paid would eventually have been shut down as those "essential" workers had to choose between their contractual agreements and the reality of having to pay bills. Furthermore, many of those non-essential services would also eventually begin to impact general commerce because it's not like the rules would all be suspended, so without those who administer 'the rules', everything associated with those rules would be suspended indefinitely. That would mean no imports, no international travel, no flights, no shipping ...
    In quoting my post, you affirm and agree that you have not been goaded, provoked, emotionally manipulated or otherwise coerced into responding.



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    Quote Originally Posted by Dr. Who View Post
    Had it lasted, there would have been more significant consequences. Let's face it, some of those government services staffed by those who are considered essential but not getting paid would eventually have been shut down as those "essential" workers had to choose between their contractual agreements and the reality of having to pay bills. Furthermore, many of those non-essential services would also eventually begin to impact general commerce because it's not like the rules would all be suspended, so without those who administer 'the rules', everything associated with those rules would be suspended indefinitely. That would mean no imports, no international travel, no flights, no shipping ...
    Oh good God, "no imports, no international travel, no flights, no shipping"--the end of the world. Great imagination.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris View Post
    Oh good God, "no imports, no international travel, no flights, no shipping"--the end of the world. Great imagination.
    It might impact you if all of the imported produce in the stores was no longer in the stores to buy and you couldn't get the medications that you need to survive because they are manufactured outside of the US.
    In quoting my post, you affirm and agree that you have not been goaded, provoked, emotionally manipulated or otherwise coerced into responding.



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    The real lesson of the shutdown is that Laguardia Airport should have shut down 34 days sooner, then there would not have been a shutdown. I know all the hard right hacks think that shut downs are not really shut downs because their social security and AARP checks are still being mailed out, but for normal humans that walk upright, shutdowns are not a joke, especially when the true effects of it can never be felt initially because employees work without being paid.
    “Conscientiously believing that the proper condition of the negro is slavery, or a complete subjection to the white man, and entertaining the belief that the day is not distant when the old Union will be restored with slavery nationally declared to be the proper condition of all of African descent, and in view of the future harmony and progress of all the States of America, I have been induced to issue this address, so that there may be no misunderstanding in the future”

    - Jefferson Davis

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dr. Who View Post
    It might impact you if all of the imported produce in the stores was no longer in the stores to buy and you couldn't get the medications that you need to survive because they are manufactured outside of the US.
    Who, you lay out an imaginative causal chain all without explaining causation at any step. Possibility doesn't imply probability or even plausibility. Your imagination lacks one thing: Imagining life without a government telling you what to do.

    Private people and businesses were already picking up the slack of the non-essentials, and would continue to do so. Causation: Profit. Essentials would find other work before they and their families starved. Causation: Hunger, desire to care for family.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Safety View Post
    The real lesson of the shutdown is that Laguardia Airport should have shut down 34 days sooner, then there would not have been a shutdown. I know all the hard right hacks think that shut downs are not really shut downs because their social security and AARP checks are still being mailed out, but for normal humans that walk upright, shutdowns are not a joke, especially when the true effects of it can never be felt initially because employees work without being paid.
    People take a lot for granted. A government shutdown doesn't mean business as usual when the full effects are realized. The first to feel the effects would be business, in innumerable ways, which could result in layoffs. The downstream effects would affect everyone.
    In quoting my post, you affirm and agree that you have not been goaded, provoked, emotionally manipulated or otherwise coerced into responding.



    "The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.”
    Mahatma Gandhi

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dr. Who View Post
    People take a lot for granted. A government shutdown doesn't mean business as usual when the full effects are realized. The first to feel the effects would be business, in innumerable ways, which could result in layoffs. The downstream effects would affect everyone.

    ...causal chain all without explaining causation at any step.

    But let's play along with your imagination. Let's say the effect were felt by everyone. Everyone would realize it was a small price to pay to wake up to the fact that most of the government is a big waste. And only wonder why they hadn't woken up sooner.
    Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. ― Gustav Mahler

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