How will a government shutdown effect me if I don’t work for the government?

[Anonymous]

Updates

1 y

Apparently this happens often?

[Soteris]

The shutdown was avoided for like a month. As for how it would effect you? Depends on who you are really. The government is what keeps the country running so if they can't do their job then things are going to start falling to pieces on the edges.

Things like food aids and whatnot would stop. Government employees that for example look over national parks would also be among the first impacted. If it goes longer then probably something like aircraft traffic control would be impacted and air travel might stop.

Police and the military won't be paid and would stop working as it should. Emergency services like FEMA would no longer be funded so disaster relief would not come. Government services like passport renewals would no longer be possible and maintaining infrastructure like roads or bridges would not happen.

There would no longer be any inspections on for example businesses to ensure they do not for example pump raw sewage into rivers or sell you rotten food.

The longer it goes on, the more things around the country will just break down and stop working until finally the country itself can't function and a total system collapse happens. If it goes this far, it probably never will, then I do not see a way for things to return to normal. USA as a country would be dead and something new would have to be rebuilt from the broken pieces remaining.

[Asker]

Whose idea was it to shut down?

[Soteris]

If there was anyones idea then it is probably the MAGA republican minority in the house which tried to force it by voting down the GOP budget. Though, I dont think anyone actually specifically intends to shut down the government, it is more something they try to threaten to get extra concessions for their faction. Only someone who either dont understand it or are actually crazy would actually go as far as to want this.

As such it mostly just happens when one side goes too far in their greed and can't pull back fast enough to avoid it.

[BoopBoopBeep]

Police aren't federally funded so that's not accurate. The military still goes to work as if nothing changed. The rest of what you said is true.

[Soteris]

@BoopBoopBeep That is incorrect. The federal government does provide part of police funding around the country. I think the quick estimates are that states provide 2/3rds of the police funding and the government provides the last 3rd.

Also, its not really about people going to work without being paid, its that they can't keep doing that. People can't live or breath charity, they have come to rely on their pay to do things like pay rent or whatever. Even just a months lost pay can force many to seek out other employment to actually cover their costs.

[BoopBoopBeep]

@Soteris

From investopedia:

The money for policing comes from local governments, state governments, and federal programs. However, most police spending comes from local governments. In 2017, for instance, local governments accounted for about 87% of that spending. Police spending by state governments in that year, which mostly went to funding highway patrols, represented about 1% of direct expenditures. By contrast, it represented 13% of direct expenditures at the municipal level, 9% for townships, and 8% for counties. State governments spend more on corrections than local governments, and the level of spending is about even on courts.
1
Urban Institute. "Criminal Justice Expenditures: Police, Corrections, and Courts."

"They can't keep doing that"... I agree, but the last 35-day government shutdown hardly left society crumbling because a bunch of marginally useful people couldn't play bureaucracy for a month.

[Soteris]

@BoopBoopBeep Yeah, a 35 day government shutdown would not be enough for things to truly turn dire unless the economy was already pressuring people enough that they could not miss a single paycheck.

[BoopBoopBeep]

@Soteris Some of the important positions are still funded through emergency provisions or something. I've been through 3 shutdowns, never missed a paycheck. I've also never actually had it made clear how many people fall in which camp. Last shutdown about 50% of my floor stayed home. 2 shutdowns before that (going back to the one in '13) I didn't even know if anyone was missing.

[Soteris]

@BoopBoopBeep I am not going to even try to speculate about who gets paid and who does not. I know that there are still money circulating in the government at least to some point even during historical shutdowns and I also know that there are politicians trying to find "creative" solutions to injecting new money. These measures however do have very real limits and under a long enough shutdown it won't make a difference.

[BoopBoopBeep]

True story.

[love_conquers_lust]

What country are you in? It very much depends. Most essential services will remain. Here is a sample list for the upcoming one in the US:

https://evans.house.gov/federal-government-shutdown-faqs#:~:text=A%20federal%20government%20shutdown%20would,business%20loans%20for%20small%20businesses.

[jahaims]

This isn't the first shutdown in your lifetime

[BLP11520]

They passed some thing at the last minute

[Asker]

To give them more time? This happened like 3 hours before they were going to shut down on sat night

[Snakeyes7]

Not a damn thing.

[gorydetails]

IT won't.

[eagle1951]

no shut down