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Government Shutdown? 36 Facts Which Prove That Almost Everything Is Still Running
Submitted by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse blog,
All of this whining and crying about a "government shutdown" is a total joke. You see, there really is very little reason why this "government shutdown" cannot continue indefinitely because almost everything is still running. 63 percent of all federal workers are still working, and 85 percent of all government activities are still being funded during this "shutdown".
Yes, the Obama administration has been making a big show of taking down government websites and blocking off the World War II Memorial, but overall business in Washington D.C. is being conducted pretty much as usual. It turns out that the definition of "essential personnel" has expanded so much over the years that almost everyone is considered "essential" at this point.
In fact, this shutdown is such a non-event that even referring to it as a "partial government shutdown" would really be overstating what is actually happening. The following are 36 facts which prove that almost everything is still running during this government shutdown...
#1 According to U.S. Senator Rand Paul, 85 percent of all government activities are actually being funded during this "government shutdown".
#2 Approximately 1,350,000 "essential" federal employees will continue to work during this "government shutdown".
#3 Overall, 63 percent of the federal workforce will continue to work during this "government shutdown".
#4 The U.S. Postal Service will continue to deliver our mail.
#5 U.S. military personnel will remain on duty and will continue to get paid.
#6 Social Security recipients will continue to get their benefits.
#7 Medicare recipients will continue to get their benefits.
#8 Medicaid recipients will continue to get their benefits.
#9 Food stamp recipients will continue to get their benefits.
#10 Those on unemployment will continue to get their benefits.
#11 Federal retirees will continue to get their pensions.
#12 The federal school lunch program has enough money to go through at least the end of this month.
#13 Public schools all over the country will continue to stay open.
#14 Almost all federal law enforcement officials will continue working.
#15 The Federal Reserve will remain "completely functional".
#16 The Supreme Court will continue to operate normally and federal courts have enough money to keep going for at least two weeks.
#17 TSA employees will continue to molest travelers at our airports.
#18 Air traffic controllers will continue to monitor traffic at our airports.
#19 Hopelessly outmanned border patrol agents will continue to try to stem the tide of illegal immigration.
#20 Visas and passports will continue to be issued by the State Department.
#21 The Veterans Administration will continue to offer substandard medical services, and it will be able to continue processing benefit payments at least for now.
#22 The Obama administration apparently has plenty of money to spend on closing open-air memorials that are usually open to the public 24 hours a day.
#23 The Department of Defense announced the awarding of 94 new contracts worth a combined total of more than 5 billion dollars on September 30th - the day right before the "government shutdown".
#24 The "government shutdown" has not prevented the new two billion dollar NSA spy center from opening up.
#25 Federal prisons will continue to operate normally.
#26 Amtrak trains will continue to run.
#27 The Patent and Trademark Office will be open.
#28 The Consumer Product Safety Commission will continue to issue product recalls if the products "create an immediate threat to the safety of human life".
#29 The National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center will continue to track weather patterns.
#30 If the federal government needs to respond to a natural disaster, this "shutdown" will not affect that.
#31 NASA will continue to support the Mars Rover and the two American astronauts up on the International Space Station.
#32 All city employees of the D.C. government have been deemed "essential" and will continue to go to work.
#33 Even though the Obamacare exchanges are not working properly, people will still be able to access them.
#34 The IRS will continue to collect taxes, but it will be suspending punitive audits of conservative organizations.
#35 Barack Obama will continue to get paid for the full duration of this "shutdown".
#36 The U.S. Congress will continue to get paid for the full duration of this "shutdown".
Of course not everything is operating normally during this government shutdown. Government parks are closed. The EPA and the Department of Energy have almost totally closed up shop. But overall, most Americans are not going to notice much of a difference.
And perhaps now is a good time for the American people to evaluate whether or not they actually need a gigantic federal government that wastes enormous mountains of our money.
For example, our federal government recently spent $98,670 to construct a single outhouse in Alaska.
That is more than a lot of Americans pay for their entire houses.
For many more examples like this, please see my previous article entitled "The Waste List: 66 Crazy Ways That The U.S. Government Is Wasting Your Hard-Earned Money".
It is about time that Washington D.C. started experiencing some of the "belt-tightening" that the rest of the country has been going through. For far too long, the fatcats in D.C. have been living in an alternate reality where they have been able to live the high life at our expense. A recent blog post by Daniel Greenfield discussed how this shutdown is going to affect the alternate reality that the Obamas have been living in...
The government shutdown has forced Obama to make do with only a quarter of his 1,701 person staff. That would leave 436 “vital” employees. The 90 people who look after his living quarters would be slashed to 15 to “provide minimum maintenance and support”.
Buckingham Palace, which is twelve times the size of the White House and has its own clockmaker, only has an 800 person staff. King Harald V of Norway and his court make do with 152 staffers. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden gets by with 203.
On Twitter, Michelle Obama announced that she is unable to Tweet on her own without the aid of all of her sixteen assistants; many of whom take home six figure salaries. There are more directors, associate directors and deputy associate directors on Michelle Obama’s staff than there were in George Washington’s entire administration.
Presidents have fought wars and made peace, explored and annexed vast territories and built a nation out of a handful of colonies with fewer senior staffers than are needed to handle Michelle Obama’s Twitter account.
Oh the humanity! Will Michelle Obama ever tweet again? And how will the White House continue to function without at least one projectionist on duty at the White House 24 hours a day?
No wonder Barack Obama is so upset about this shutdown.
In the end, this shutdown could turn out to be very good for America. We have a government that is wildly out of control and that desperately needs to be reigned in.
During the Obama administration, federal debt held by the public has risen by 90 percent, and overall federal government spending has risen by a whopping 317 percent since 1990.
So is it really a bad thing that the federal government has been forced to cut back for a little while?
Our politicians can whine and cry all they want. They won't be getting any sympathy from me.
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I really don't give a shit if the government is still running.
I do. A real shutdown would be fucking great.
I think that The NSA should remain open because it is the only Government Department that listens to us?
The internet is the world's largest "suggestion box."
Excellent re-post. Some patriot took some time putting all that together. Our elected representatives who care about this country would do well to take heed, and take a look at the long game. If this is the longest "shutdown" maybe they will get their pictures in the history books. Much more, if they do the right thing now it should empower them to do so in the future, and things might not look so bad after all if they can muster the courage to make it all happen. We all know that it is the right thing, and the few items that do pop up can be funded based on need. Good show Tea Party, we are counting on you all.
The government is functioning perfectly right now and we're dialed in......don't touch a thing.
Great comment.
WTF is up with these countdowns?
#1: your mom is a whore
#2: stop the fucking countdowns
Hey, -1 dick, welcome to fight club. You have to fight me tonight.
Strange. 13 minutes between posts, and somehow you have exactly 11 down votes for both posts (as I am typing this). It seems like there are 11 accounts that the owner has way too much free time on their hands.
You have to fight me tonight.
Sorry....I don't fight girls.
I'll take on a real woman....but I don't fight girls.
Hey, Engiqueer, you just got your @$$ knocked out. Welcome to fight club.
And it's Dr. Richard Head to you.
I have a better one. WTF is up with this?
On Twitter, Michelle Obama announced that she is unable to Tweet on her own without the aid of all of her sixteen assistants; many of whom take home six figure salaries. There are more directors, associate directors and deputy associate directors on Michelle Obama’s staff than there were in George Washington’s entire administration.
How is it even possible that the FWOTUS has 16 assistants? And, how is it even possible that she would need help posting on Twitter?
WTF.... Really, WTF is going on here?
Michelle Obama blows chunks of industrial waste vomit...fuckin hag
You know how it is, those 16 'assistants' are The First Wookie's 'homegirls'. Like many celebtards in the music industry, they like to hook-up their pals with a seat on the power-trip entourage train. Need a job? Lemme hook you up....you'll get PAID and you don't gotta do jack-shizzle except look fabulous on our next shopping trip.....errrrr, good-will visit, to the French Riviera.
It's so ridiculous it's almost comical........almost. She's literally a modern, chocolate version of Marie Antoinette, with an even bigger 'tude.
amen, michael snyder.
Shut "the essential" down, then, too!
October 17. Patience grasshopper.
That would be bad for both R and D brand congresstraitors portfolios, but dream on.
the beauty of this shit is the more they flirt with it the more it can happen.
OldE
This is really like hearing "my no-good disloyal money-grubbing ex-wife ran out of money". To quote Dick Cheney: "SO?!"...
37. The CIA is still open for business Torturing, Rendering, PsyOp'ing, drung & money laundering.
Government is just another name for the things we do together. -BHO
#13 Public schools all over the country will continue to stay open.
Uh, they're almost entirely funded at the state and local level. Federal funding is only used to bribe states into accepting federal/corporate policies, standards, and oversight, primarily for the purpose of turning public education from Orwellian shit into stinkier Orwellian shit that the Gateses, Broads, Dells, Waltons, Kochs, et al can make money on.
Which is doubly super-awesome when you pay to send your kids to a private school.
Lot of dept of education furloughs though. A very good thing. Just a few air strikes could do so much good.
Makes you wonder - if jobs are non-essential, then why am I paying for them?
Shut up and pick cotton!
Yep, only shutting down what people actually use, parks, etc.
#15 The Federal Reserve will remain "completely functional".
It's a private corporation, of course it's fucking open.
It's a private corportion that's still open and still fucking with your money.
As a memeber of the left I agree we could do without a lot this but the main part that's still open for business is the war machine and the great we are from the Amerikan spy machine and we are to help save Amerika. If we could close these than then rest we can talk about and reach some sort of deal we all hate but it works. Never Happen, the last one out of Amerika just Fucking leave the last light on, who cares.
Welcome to our country. Very good engrish for first try.
Some of us are to have guns. Do not be alarmed. Try to form line. Food is waiting.
Sincerely, Chuck Norris
LMAO..WTF
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyszhTz8fQ4
Most revealing (and longest) vid I've seen- thanks!
They coudn't just take out the tires? They knew she was a freaked out chick when they stopped her. I love that circle manuever she pulled, it's funny if it wasn't so sad.
Wonder if Obomber will address the public the same way he did during the Trayvon affair? Prolly not, huh? It was his goons that did this. Speaking of freaked-out, do you know who she was, if she had issues, or even how old she was? One report said she was 18, another reported 34.
Nobody in my inner circle seems to give a shit. But unless I find out she was a known threat to society, I'm gonna keep this day as one of the saddest in many. Maybe I'm just a sap, but this one really bothers me.
I heard she's black, middle aged, dental assistant from Connecticut. Could've been Moochele.
Nah, Moochelle could never qualify to be a dental assistant. As reported above, she has staph, err, staff to handle her twitter account.
Her name is Miriam Carey. Here's an article with her picture. You won't hear a peep from the race baiters.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2442703/Miriam-Carey-Woman-kille...
When you die in project race card, you have a name. Her name will remain unknown.
You will, the moment Al Sharpton's flight lands in Connecticut.
Al Sharpton is a fat, race baiting pimp......fuck him....whomever listens to his sorry ass on msnbc ...or anywhere else....is fucked up
Thanks, Harbanger. I wasn't trying to give you an assignment. But really, thanks for the effort!
yeah what you said..and nice camera work as well.
Which way did he go, George? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs-Q0JmWjj0
People in the park hear gunshots, some are on the ground, some walking around oblivious.
"oblivious" is the keyword here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeniIRDwDVM
"#1 According to U.S. Senator Rand Paul, 85 percent of all government activities are actually being funded during this "government shutdown".
Just imagine the over reaction if 3/4's of it was.
While the sight of Andrea Mitchell & David Brooks having a "collective" seizure on the Washington Mall, tearing off each others clothes, biting and pulling each others hair out, in complete angst over what has befallen them (telecast live, nationally, naturally) does have some deep dark appeal to me, I'm not sure if the rest of country is really ready for the optics of it.
Prolly jus me ;-)
You know when you step back a watch can't you feel a perfect storm brewing? I think shit is about to get very fucking real.
Oh please. The shutdown is fucking theater. Obamacare is a stealth tax to increase federal revenue which benefits both the dems and repubs, both want it and the show must go on.
The only storm brewing is more tax and more; get to fucking work you debt slave!
Spot on !
Hey, not that I like Obama care, Obama, any dem, or any repub -- but at least under Obama care freeloaders have to PAY SOMETHING.
One of the many problems with health care, is uninsured people who get sick free load on everyone else - driving up the cost for everyone. Forcing everyone to have insurance would eliminate this. In my opinion the uninsured are freeloaders, unless they have $100k to pay for their own care in a dire emergency.
"In fact, this shutdown is such a non-event that even referring to it as a "partial government shutdown" would really be overstating what is actually happening. In the end, this shutdown could turn out to be very good for America. We have a government that is wildly out of control and that desperately needs to be reigned in."
When is that ever going to happen? Both republicans and democrats expand government. Republicans ran huge deficits when they controlled the whole game. Romney said he wanted to put 50,000 troops back into Iraq. So much for concern about spending.
Romney has seen the error of his ways, and has recently begun to associate himself with the T-Wing.
Just kidding.
#22 The Obama administration apparently has plenty of money to spend on closing open-air memorials that are usually open to the public 24 hours a day.
I read they also tried to shut down Mount Vernon, which is a private run tourist attraction.
Did you see how fast they got the signs out signifying that the closings were due to the government shutdown? Unreal political bs coming from the wh.
Those idiots even blocked a site that doesn't belong to the government. Never let a serious crisis go to waste, right?
Naturally, they've been planning for this all summer.
"63 percent of all federal workers are still working, and 85 percent of all government activities are still being funded during this "shutdown"
So this means 37% of goverment can be laid off and we'll still have 85% of goverment.
Goverment efficiency at its best
What it really means is, believe it or not, the gov't did a good job of getting the most bang for the buck for the money they are receiving. The furloughed employees were focused in areas where a lot of personnel are required to produce. I.e. it's expensive for the FDA to test a new drug, so the FDA was cut.
"Government parks are closed."
The National Park Service wanted to close parks not even owned by the government:
http://www.infowars.com/barrycades-government-tries-to-shut-down-private...
And shut down a farm that doesn't take a dime of government money:
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/10/02/shutdown-national-park-service-clos...
A list of shit which needs to shut down and stay shut down
Postal Service 800,000 privatise and sell, get off the books.
Department of Veterans Affairs 240,000 cut to 100,000
Department of the Treasury 162,119
cut to 50,000
---------
Department of Agriculture 100,000
Department of the Interior 58,026
Department of Commerce 41,711
Department of housing and urban development 9,300
Equal opportunities commission 3,055 Environmental Protection Agency 18,879
Department of Health and Human Services 18,500 Department of education 5,000
All sacked not needed
-------------------
Social Security Administration 65,000 All sacked and people given money back in form of government bonds
---------------------
FBI, CIA, homeland security halved
Not even trying.
you forgot the Department of Corned Beef...j/s
The postal service is actually in the constitution, sorta.
#1 According to U.S. Senator Rand Paul, 85 percent of all government activities are actually being funded during this "government shutdown" - Conservative News Service
When the government shuts down, all Essential Personnel will continue to work at their Job(s), but only accrue pay, and will not actually be paid until appropriations are funded. Essential Personnel are performing their Job(s) and will not be paid until the shutdown ends with a CR, Stop-Gap resolution, et al....The supermarket on base is closed but his golf course is still open.
You forgot one
3 weeks ago they had plenty money to go to war in syria now yogi and booboo are being told to turn off the waterfalls and and turn in the picnic baskets on thier way out the gate
Can't YET drone and kill picnickers and wedding parties in a US National Park like in Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Syria...
Duplicate
"The [some number] of [something] you didn't know" style of blog writing was popular 11 years ago. Not any more.
All three lanes open at Gate One of the base where I (a contractor) work the last couple of mornings. Took fifteen seconds between "10 MPH" and "Have a good day, sir." During recent "furloughs" it took 25-40 minutes for the 2.5 km creep from US231 to Gate One with two open lanes.
Funny, a lot fewer land barges, Porsches, Beemers, Harleys, Gold Wings, and RAM 3500s going in these days, too, at their usual 130 kph in an 80 kph speed zone, too. I like that, especially when they're not tailgating until the last microsecond, flashing lights, blowing their train horns, and flipping me off while they spit tobacco juice out the window at me.
Keep it shut down.
Crane Lake?
So the banks would settle for someone paying 63% of mortgages, car loans, and student loans? Elizabeth Warren will be glad to hear it.Thanks!
I've said it before and will say it again, "It's not a shutdown until the guillotines come out."
So if the government is shut down and you furlough a government worker, is the office still open where that worker can get unemployment?
Yes. Unemployment is handled at the state level. Not the federal.
" The EPA and the Department of Energy have almost totally closed up shop. "
The so-called "government shut down" sounds more like 2/5ths of Ron Paul's plan for trimming government spending if he had won the presidency.
FDA is closed as well. NASA running on about 5% staff (operators required to maintain current satellite operations). My lab could shut down at any time though we probably have a few months of budget funding/fudging life left.
Bring it.
BULLISH IT!TM
"El Listo" stricks again!
the fact that they shit thier pants over a 34 yr old black woman with a 18 month old child in a car seat having a bad shows up ,what are they gona do when those with a little more shit in thier britches show up.
time to copy the belgians...they ahve been without a democratically elected government for five years ...things are going on as usual..who needs a crappy government behaving like two drunks fighting in the street outside a crack house...dont forget the government has no discretion left if you treat the taxes it rakes in as its budget..it is spending 40% more than it gets in from tax...discetionary spending is not funded from taxes as mandatory spending is well in excess of taxes...what a bunch of jokers.
#37 Cops will still get their taxpayer funded steroids so they can go on 'roid rages and shoot single moms and grandmothers who flee traffic stops... http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/hundreds_of_nj_police_firefigh.html
Many of the things on the list are run by local governments. Not the federal.
Shutdown? This is simply another federal employee perk. Call it what it is-an unscheduled vacation. All of those "furloughed" employees know that they will be paid for 'shutdown' time. I bet they are hoping for several weeks of this nonsense.
If I were these (mainly Democrats) federal workers, I would be calling every Republican (the more Tea Partyish the better) and encourage them to "hold the line" to hopefully extend their vacation as long as possible. Don't be surprised if Federal unions start requiring an annual Shutdown vs the avg 10-year ones we now have.
Listening to the MSM evening news, it's all doom & gloom with the gov't shut down. No cancer research! Give me a break! That's such a scam anyway! I say let's really shut it down! ALL OF IT!
The local media here is doing their best to depict "outrage" over the so-called government shut down. The best they are able to come up with is a few disgruntled citizens who had their bike ride in a national park canceled. Oh boo-hoo.