What Does A Government Shut-Down Mean?

That is... a very good question. I'll be staying tuned to this thread as well!

The newspaper said it would impact driver's license renewals, road repair, and home loans. I'm not sure what else would happen. Last time they did it, when my dad was still in the Navy, he didn't get his paycheck (that week; he still was paid for all the work he did, but not until the next payday) because the payroll people weren't working. . .

Well I heard that people that did their income taxes might not get a refund check back from the government. And also some tourist sites like Alcatraz in san fransisco might have to shut down.

Oh, yeah, they also said all the state parks would be closed. Including Rushmore, which is a huge tourist draw. Seems like a bad fiscal decision to me.

my friend, who works for the fire lab here said all national parks will be closed, all the rangerstations will shut down, if your trying to get an FHA loan you're out of luck. there's more but that's all i can remember right now

What it means is that all federal employees not deemed "essential" will be sent home until a certain blasted political party stops demanding more and more and more every time we think we have a deal.

So they'll keep the military functioning, and the federal prison system, and the air traffic controllers... everything that pertains to national security or public safety. But the national parks will shut down, passport-processing will cease, and even the IRS will stop working (but we'll still be expected to send our tax returns on time).

Contrary to common fears, Social Security checks will still go out (at least for a month or two). And all government paychecks not sent on time will be included as back pay once things start up again -- but that's small consolation for families living on the edge, who cannot afford a delay.

And lest you be concerned for the welfare of the Congress, fear not -- they get paid, in full and on time, no matter what havoc they wreak on our lives.

The country continues to be run by elitist morons...and that applies to the whole stinking lot of politicians in D.C. on both sides of the aisle. I'm convinced there isn't a decent one in the bunch.

I just heard that for us where I work, if we are working on Federal projects and get a "stop work" order, we go home and use our vacation! I don't think it will affect me, because most of my projects are private industry, but I do have some Federal and others in the office are strictly Federal, so we'll see what happens.

i wish the Tea Party would quit trying to push their ideology on us and just get on with passing a budget! Worry about defunding planned parenthood later if that's what they're hell bent on doing. I really think people are going to regret voting these idiots into office in the last election.

Actually it is NOT a certain political party. It's everybody there. EVERYBODY!

You don't sound ignorant, because I truly don't know what will be impacted either. Back under the box Thanks for the above explanations. We all are very concerned about this.

Well, they reached a last minute compromise, so we won't have to find out what it means.

Cuts were conceded at… 38.5 billion, wasn't it? Planned Parenthood kept it's funding, thankfully. And I don't know what they did with the EPA.

I think I heard the EPA business was taken out of it too.

I say Tea Party because they are the ones holding out for Ideology (Planned Parenthood - which makes very little sense other than a gesture to make their base think they're doing something. It also has absolutely nothing to do with cutting costs because its so minute compared to stuff they could be targeting). The Democrats apparently did much more compromising than the Republicans. Not saying any of them are anything wonderful, but if I had to point a finger of blame, it would be toward the Republicans / new Tea Party members.

I am against Planned Parenthood providing abortions. I think that is a huge issue. I don't want my tax payer dollars going to that. Education and birth control yes...abortions..no.

I just wonder when people will take personal responsibility. You screw up...don't ask the government to fix it for you or to provide a cheap way out.

Sorry, my dime should not provide abortions.

Banking is another issue. Regulating how many overdraft fees and the amounts is ridiculous. If someone overdraws their account they should get a fee. For every single time.

Don't feel bad. I tuned into the news for the first time yesterday in about 3 weeks. I didn't even know there was a problem with the government in the USA shutting down. I watched CNN for about 1 hour yesterday evening when they were counting down at the 3 hour mark before "shut down".

I never did hear what the problem was behind this whole thing.

Then don't pay for it. PP abortions are privately funded, not paid for by tax money - federal law already prohibits this.
What the Republican party was pushing for was not to stop tax payer money going to abortions (as this doesn't happen but in extreme cases), but to completely defund PP altogether - that means stopping all the services they provide, from providing birth control, STD screening, to cancer screening for women( The ~97% of everything else they do) merely because they also provide abortions.

(For those that don't know: Start with looking up Hyde Amendment and go from there)

No, I don't. I tend to pay attention to economics, not politics. Politics interests me to the extent that it affects the economy LOL.

Misty, you're my hero! Since I'm such a well-known hothead, I was afraid to be any more direct about what I meant in my post above... but you covered it beautifully, and you also set straight the (carefully orchestrated) misconception about abortion funding. Thanks!

It's a shame that a lot of Americans are so frustrated that they just give up and conclude they can't trust anybody. There are good people in Washington! You can tell them apart from the rest by the way they seek to be more inclusive, rather than exclusive... and the way they work to inform and empower us, rather than using fear to herd us like sheep.

In politics and in life, it seems to me that good things (and good people) are always driven by hope, rather than fear.

You're right and I apologize. There are good people in Washington. Unfortunately, they can't get anything done right now because of all the idiots there. And I am frustrated, very frustrated.

The Baggers scare the crap out of me. It's not about cutting costs, not in the slightest.

No taxpayer money goes to fund abortions.

http://thelastword.msnbc.msn.com/

Scroll down through the article to see the chart which explains what Planned Parenthood does. I'm not pro-abortion, but I am pro choice. Its not the government's business to tell anybody they can't have a legal procedure. However, I think Planned Parenthood is a great way to prevent abortions because they are about reproductive health and contraception. This is just a smokescreen issue to get the anti-choice people on their side.

Ha! I can be a hothead too as they could probably tell you over on IMO, where I don't hang out much anymore.

Yes, I do think there are some good people in Washington, but I see where this country is heading, and I see that most people aren't bothering to dig any deeper than the retoric. I would count myself in that category before I "woke up" prior to this last presidential election.

I guess people like you and me need to keep on trying to educate and hope some people will start opening their eyes to what's really going on before its too late.

I'm 'Mr. Negativity' on the site when it comes to politicians.

I know there are well meaning politicians in Washington, but they don't get much of a chance to succeed when they have to go up against the "good ole boy network".

Add me to the list . It's a scary world out there. I think I'll just stay home with my cats.

No apology necessary! It's an understandable reaction, especially when we all feel so powerless. As for the Baggers -- you're so right to be scared. Those people have no idea what America is about. Either they've never even read the Constitution, or they're just hoping the voters haven't. (Which, I shudder to think, may be the case more often than not.)

Full agreement here -- and good work! I've never heard it stated quite so clearly.

I don't mean to set myself up as an expert on politics -- I'm really not. I just try to pay very close attention to multiple news sources, to make sure I'm not falling for anybody's lies and distortions, or missing any nuances. (And Fox doesn't count as a news source. They lie constantly, even about facts that are easy to check -- because they know their viewers won't bother.)

You said "Sometimes I prefer not to know," and boy, do I understand that! That's why I didn't become a lawyer or go into politics myself -- because being surrounded every day by so much injustice and corruption is just more than I could bear.

But as you also said, "the world is getting to be a seriously frightening place." That's why I'm so outspoken now, instead of the nice polite girl I used to be. I'm truly afraid that America may have run its course, y'know? Maybe this has been an experiment to see how long a nation based on such high ideals can survive before greed and corruption finally drag it completely down into the mud. How long before not enough of us can even remember what Thomas Jefferson envisioned for this country?

You're right -- the good ol' boys who lie and scheme and play dirty tricks with no apparent shame whatsoever... they make it very difficult for politicians with principles to be effective. But that's where we can make a difference! Instead of throwing up our hands and saying to hell with the whole lot of 'em, we've got to stand rock-solid behind the good ones -- or even the less-bad ones, when that's the only option. Because if we do nothing, the bad guys will win every time.

Yup, me too... except when there's an election. Or a caucus. Or a protest march!

Driver's license renewals? That's a state operation, shouldn't be affected.

Road repair? Only on those projects that have federal funding. No federal money in your local potholes.

Home loans? Only if it's government guaranteed, such as FHA or VA.

What usually happens is that a lot of government workers go home for a while (it's been up to two weeks, in the past), but they get paid for it, eventually, so it just means a free vacation for them.