The Upside of the Government Shutdown

Reason.com ^ | 10/7/2013 | Ira Stoll

[JSDude1]

The shut-down elements that are attracting much of the news attention turn out to be fairly easily replaceable.

----

The government “shutdown” is starting to feel a lot like the sequester — a lot of alarmist warnings that the sky is going to fall, followed by business pretty much as usual.

That’s not to minimize the genuine inconvenience or worse for those government employees who have been furloughed, or for cancer patients involved in clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health, an institution that House Republicans voted to fund but that Senate Democrats are holding hostage.

But for most of the rest of us, it turns out that the government can “shut down” and life goes on pretty much the same as it did before. Now there’s a valuable insight that it’s almost worth having the government shut down to discover.

As the Washington Examiner’s Byron York has reported, only about 17 percent of the government is actually shut down, as measured by expenditures. So it’s not a full shutdown as much as a slimdown or a partial shutdown.

[JSDude1]

near the end of the article: "If there’s an upside to this shutdown, it is the opportunity it provides to take federal government services that are assumed to be necessary and put them under new scrutiny. Can we do without them? Are these things that can be done better, or as well, by state or local government or by the private sector, either for-profit or not-for-profit?"

[Paladin2]

"So it’s not a full shutdown as much as a slimdown or a partial shutdown."

More like a minor inconvenience.

[oldbrowser]

the private sector cut non-essential employees years ago.

[stubernx98]

1. the Department of Education 24 programs none work.
2. 50% of the EPA
3. All Federal Grants(use reward for success prize instead,
4. Privatize Social Security as Bush tried
5. Abolish Congressional staffs.
6. Dead Federal Parks to states.
7. Kill off FCC
8. Privatize NSA - works better.
9. Reduce all government employees pay by 40% so it will equal the private sector
10. Privatize FAA except for standards div.
11. Fire all employees of the National Park Service and jail their management.
12. Got to a flat tax or Federal Sales tax and eliminate the IRS - no deductions.
13. Kill the war on Drugs.
14. the ATF is not needed either.

I could go on but.....

[Gene Eric]

Image if you health care was tied to the shutdown.

[Gene Eric]

your

[grumpygresh]

The NSA is still spying, SWAT teams are pouncing, and 0bama is goin’ golfing. The IRS is placing liens, and the TSA is hiring sex fiends.
What more could you want.

[SgtHooper]

I read that Tip O’Neil participated in the shutdown of the govey 7 times during the Reagan administration.

[boycott]

We’re learning that the “non-essential” aren’t really very essential.

And I am with you. This shutdown is turning out to be a lot like the sequester. I hope the republicans don’t blink. We might realize we can reduce the size of government just fine.

[DISCO]

The shutdown has lowered my gas bill by .20 cents a gallon. how could that be? The EPA has only 3% people working. The rest are non-essential. Doh!

[gattaca]

I would like to add the GSA and Bureau of Land Management to that list. I know people who work for both and they equate their “service” to the military serving their country. They get all kinds of perks and bonuses.

[SkyPilot]

a lot of alarmist warnings that the sky is going to fall, followed by business pretty much as usual.

The problem with that statement is that the Sequester DID have terrible implications for one us institution: The Military.

Eleven Air Force combat wings were non-mission ready due to lack of parts, flying hours, and fuel.

Thousands of DoD doctors, nurses, and medical professional quit in disgust after the furloughs stole 20% of their paychecks (while the Entitlement Takers in this nation didn't lose one dime).

Navy ships and subs that needed depot repair were mothballed instead.

And on, and on, and on.

It is right to want to cut spending, the but the military took takes the brunt of Sequestration: 50% of all the cuts despite it being only 17% of the budget (and shrinking) while Entitlements, the biggest driver of our debt and deficits - are exempt.

Commentators who repeat (over and over again) that Sequestration had no effect are either liars or completely ignorant of the cold hard facts.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Well and it gives Barry Cades the opportunity to stick his finger in the public’s eye by shutting down all the monuments and parks.