Operation “Government Shutdown”
As many already know, October 1, 2013 marked the first day of the sixth federal government shutdown in the United States of America’s history. The shutdown spanned over sixteen days causing about 800,000 federal employees to become furloughed without pay, government operations put in a minimal manning status, national park closures, and many other unfortunate situations. The government shutdown was ended on October 17, 2013 as a result of Congress and the Presidential staff coming upon an agreement to continue operations for a short period to hopefully develop a solution all parties can agree upon. With that being said, on January 15, 2014 will we face the same fate due to our government being unable to devise a plan to fund our government operations and get the debit ceiling under control (Pisani, 2013)? The future of our country strongly depends on the decisions made by the lawmakers of this nation. We should not have to live in a state of mind where we do not know whether or not we will every recover our economy and get America moving back forward again.
Effects on local community
Living in the city of Augusta where a large population of workers and businesses depend on government as a source of revenue can be hard in the wake of a shutdown. Most government employees received 60% of their pay before taxes and these individuals still had to pay for their living expenses. Imagine being a government employee, securing your lifestyle around your employment as many do with stable jobs, and then the next thing you know you are in the predicament of reaching in your savings or going in the hole due to the events (Barro, 2013). Businesses suffered the same issues, when people felt the effect of the shutdown they became less likely to spend money on certain items, services, etc. The effects of the shutdown also affected veterans who