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Shutdown Hits Industries Nationwide (wsj.com)

The partial government shutdown is affecting a wide range of business and financial concerns nationwide. From a report: Shuttered government offices are stalling the approval of new loans, initial public offerings, the processing of tax documents, and the approval of new products such as prescription drugs, among other effects. While some programs are reopening on a temporary basis or providing workarounds for affected companies, most services won't return to normal until the government fully reopens and 800,000 federal workers sift through the backlog.

Here is a round up of the impact: The partial closure of the Securities and Exchange Commission is delaying the ability of companies to open the IPO market. Companies that were seeking to list shares in January are delaying plans since the regulator has stopped reviewing and approving new and pending corporate registration statements. Airlines expect to have sluggish revenue growth in the first quarter in part because of revenue lost from government travel cancellations. Delta Air Lines Inc. Chief Executive Ed Bastian, for instance, said the shutdown would cost his airline $25 million in lost revenue from government travel. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has dramatically curtailed inspections of domestic facilities at food-processing companies during the shutdown, though unpaid inspectors have resumed work inspecting higher-risk products such as fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, seafood and dairy products.

At the Internal Revenue Service, the shutdown has created delays in getting some employer identification numbers, holding up some routine business deals. Some small-business loans are also stuck in limbo. The Small Business Administration has stopped approving routine loans that the agency backs to ensure entrepreneurs have access to funds, halting their plans for expansion and repairs and forcing some owners to consider costlier sources of cash. The government process for reviewing proposed mergers has been slowed by the shutdown, but it is still operating. Businesses that have government contracts are feeling the strain across a variety of industries, including the building of highways and bridges.

36 of 664 comments (clear)

  1. Trump owns it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    “I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck. I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it.”

    Donald Trump

    1. Re:Trump owns it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "I say we write the $57 dollar check so the kids can have their milk money and you can put gas in the car."

      So, do we do that again when president toddler decides he wants 2 walls?

    2. Re:Trump owns it by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yea, but the cost of opening the government is $5.7 Billion....

      5.7billion now (on top of nearly 2billion already granted in the budget to repair/replace existing border fencing) - and that's just the down payment to get started. Most conservative estimates start at about $20billion to complete the project- some go over $100billion (although that's probably unrealistic). Trump's own widely derided estimate was $7bn to $12bn total.

      Either way- that's not an insignificant chunk of money when you consider our infrastructure is in poor shape compared to much of the rest of the world, our health care is last place out of the industrialised world, we're falling behind in science, etc.

      The preferred designs can be cut through with common household tools or easily traversed with a ladder. Even republicans representatives who live along the border say that it wouldn't be effective. The people who cross the border illegally are fewer than the people who arrive legally and overstay their visa. ... and you know what country most people who arrive and legally overstay their visa come from? CANADA- it's not even Mexico.

      It's absurd to waste $5.7 billion on a downpayment on a much more expensive wall. It's just a really bad idea. It's a vanity project with no merit... let's not waste money on a stupid vanity project please.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    3. Re:Trump owns it by stealth_finger · · Score: 4, Informative

      Trump offered to give Democrats everything they wanted and, thanks to TDS, they turned down his offer before they had even heard him make it.

      Apart from dropping the 5.7billion demand that mexico isn't paying for to build an ineffectual wall.

      --
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    4. Re:Trump owns it by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Informative

      Out of a $44~ Trillion budget.

      You left out a decimal point. In 2019, the budget will be $4.407 billion. The government will have revenue of $3.4 trillion, leaving a trillion dollar deficit (and growing) during what's supposed to be "the greatest economy in history, just a tremendous economy".

      Who's zooming whom?

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    5. Re:Trump owns it by r2kordmaa · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Trump is demanding for the one thing he has been publicly told he will not get. And he had two years to get it from GOP. If you think it's about money or the wall, you are completely missing the point. It's about who wears the pants. Trump deliberately set up the situation to show that he could demand whatever he wanted and get it. He expected Dems to just fold once he finished painting everyone in the corner and had no consideration on what to do in case Dems didn't fold. And now he has no idea on how to weasel out of the situation without folding himself.

    6. Re:Trump owns it by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Save money by not changing the oil in your car. You may be able to get by expanding your change schedule, and perhaps missing a few change sessions. But if you go too long without change your oil. Your car will suffer more damage that is more expensive then those oil changes are.

      What is happening now, is we are starting to show the value of these "non-critical" government employees. While we can get by for a little while with out them, over time things just getting worse.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    7. Re: Trump owns it by FuzzyDaddy2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But why now? He had two years with a republican congress, why didnâ(TM)t he build the wall then? He had the entire time leading up to the senates passage of legislation to push for or stand up for the wall. The reason we are shut down is he changed his mind at the last minute. He could have negotiated for his wall without causing all this damage.

    8. Re: Trump owns it by buswolley · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Nope.
      Nothing stops the prez from signing a clean bill to reopen the government.
      He is taking hostages to get what he wants. Working them with no pay.

      --

      A Good Troll is better than a Bad Human.

    9. Re: Trump owns it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The United States Government does not negotiate with terrorists.

      If the Democrats cave now, they will set a precedent that the government can be held hostage over whatever new boondoggle wants the next time.

      This is about more than a wall or about reopening the government, it's about our government NOT using it's own citizens lives as bargaining chips.

      Anytime you see someone asking for more power, or strongarming the government by holding money, jobs, people, etc, hostage, ask yourself one question:

      "If was able to get away with this tactic, would I be happy?"

      Regardless of your opinion on Donald Trump, hinging our entire government on a single issue is a tactic I do NOT want to see made common in the future. The Democrats need to hold firm, that way this doesn't become the new normal.

    10. Re:Trump owns it by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well Trump claimed on national TV that he will own the shutdown. That was extremely stupid of him. Because of that the blame will go to him. Now don't expect any politician to actually care for who is getting hurt, they are all in to winning the next election.

      Now Trump is getting all the blame. The house of representatives, who had a big win (Many along districts along the border, where the wall is to be built) for the democrats, because people wanted to fight Trumps evil motives. The democrats have the ability to make Trump and the GOP suffer.

      Now that $57 on a 44k budget is a big deal. $44k isn't a lot to live on, and the $57 can go to useful things, like new clothing, healthier food, or just making this months rent.

      Also to note, the Tax Cut last year which was suppose to super charge the economy, kinda failed to do such. The Ultra rich who benefited the most, just bought back stock. They didn't reinvest in their company to make them grow. Other companies lowered the amount of raises, because of the extra money people got from taxes. So now we have less money for services. So it is like this guy who made 44k use to make 45k last year, and still had all the expenses. so the $57 is even more painful.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    11. Re:Trump owns it by gtall · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It doesn't matter why he said it, it matters that he said he'd take the blame for shutting down the government because holding his breath wasn't working.

      Trump also didn't give the Democrats anything near what they wanted. He only promised to kick the DACA can down the road for 3 years, and this after he's trying to cancel the program outright. Last we hear, the Supreme Court was indicating it won't take the appeal from a lower court going against Trump. The Democrats want to make the DACAs citizens.

      And building some goddamn Great White Wall while lying about how it will stop illegal immigration ignores the fact that most of the people crossing the southern border are coming the legal entry points and requesting asylum to escape the drug gangs who help fill America's illegal drug appetite. It also won't stop the drugs which don't come across barren stretches of border, they come though on the usual trade routes...that is the ones that are not manufactured by Americans.

      What's that moron going to do, govern by fake National Emergency and threat budget bills because he got that morning and discovered a fly in his McMuffin? If the Congress doesn't want to fund the Great White Wall, then it shouldn't get funded. They have the power of the purse strings as provided by the Constitution.

      The only reason he wants that wall is because he promised he'd get one. That promise was pitched to him by his campaign advisors who admitted they needed something simple he could understand and pitch. But Trump never just pitches anything. He decorates his pitch so much so that it cannot possibly do whatever the core underlying idea would have done. He just makes shit up because it crosses his mind while his mouth is open.

    12. Re:Trump owns it by bryanbrunton · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I am okay with the costs of the ACA. Because moving to a public healthcare system would be cheaper than the current corporate system.

      The rest of the world has proven that to be true. Only in the backwards USA do Republican morons dispute what the rest of the world has figured out.

    13. Re: Trump owns it by pnutjam · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Anyone who's dealt with a toddlers temper tantrum knows giving in the first time is a mistake.

    14. Re:Trump owns it by ilsaloving · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It amazes me the lengths that Trump apologists will go to vindicate their lord and saviour.

      Trump has been full of shit on this wall since before he was even elected. First he said Mexico would pay for it. Then he said he would use tariffs to pressure Mexico to pay for the wall (showing that he doesn't understand how tariffs work...). Trump can't even properly justify why he needs almost $6bil to build this wall!

      He had two years with house republicans to get that wall. But now that the Democrats have the house, NOW it's suddenly THEIR fault? Did the Democrats shut down the government? No, Trump did. Period. End of Story. The Democrats are not holding 800k lives in the balance. Trump is. Period. End of Story. Trump is basically acting like a terrorist, and the democrats are doing exactly what they should be doing and refusing to negotiate under duress.

      But no, lets blame the Democrats because... because... if you don't blame the democrats then it's Trumps fault and you don't like that!

      And if Trump does declare a national emergency? Part of me hopes that he won't be that breathtakingly stupid, but another part of me hopes he does, as it will cross the line and prove to the entire country what kind of a megalomaniac he is.

  2. Another non-tech article by Vanyle · · Score: 4, Informative

    Why is everything here getting so political? I read about this on every other news feeds, I don't need it here as well.

    1. Re:Another non-tech article by bobbied · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why is everything here getting so political? I read about this on every other news feeds, I don't need it here as well.

      Then WHY did you click on this story and post a comment?

      It's not like it wasn't readily apparent what this story was about and what the comments would look like.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  3. Screw the TSA, save everyone else. by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 5, Insightful

    FDA, Air Traffic Control, Parks Service, etc are all needed. But yet the media chooses to harp on the plight of the poor TSA smurfs. You know, the people who say "papers please" before you're boarding a flight in your own country and make you pass through a nudie-scanner or get your crotch groped by them. Yeah, yeah, they're "just doing their jobs." Guess what? If no one was willing to do the job, the job wouldn't be so obnoxious.

    Keep everything else, but if TSA were all fired (but we kept real security measures like armed crew, air marshals, reinforced/locked flight deck doors, and a policy of non-cooperation with hijackers), and replaced with private security, it would be a net gain for freedom in the USA.

    As it is, the TSA was mostly created as corporate welfare for airlines. It took security out of their hands, thus washed their hands of liability. Strict ID checks also make re-sale of tickets more difficult, thus protect airlines' revenue stream from change fees.

  4. Because everything is political by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    this massively impacts our lives. If this keeps up the economy will tank. Then we're gonna start seeing mass layoffs to boost stock prices.

    Politics impact every aspect of your life. This is the "Stuff that matters" part of the tag line. There's a taboo on talking about them because our ruling class would like very much for you and me to leave all that icky government stuff up to them.

    --
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  5. Hopefully the major impact will be by bobstreo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    generating a large list of people who should never be re-elected.

    Politics in the US should be about what is best for the country, not some personal/political grudges or egregious self interest/self promotion.

    If political parties have lost sight of that, voters should make their voices heard (loudly) If voters can't be bothered to fix this mess, they deserve their representation.

  6. All government salaries combined by sjbe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    say we make it permanent and fire all furloughed workers. We might actually be able to balance the budge,

    All government salaries combined account for around $200 billion. We could literally fire every single federal employee and we still wouldn't have even covered half the federal deficit ($779 billion last year).

    Who's with me on this....

    Nobody with a brain in their skull.

  7. Re:Schumer Shutdown by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Informative

    So far, the Democrats have refused to even consider writing a budget.

    The president is the one who is supposed to submit the budget in the US system. Don't they teach US civics over there?

    There's no way you can blame Trump - he's not the one refusing to make a deal.

    The Democratic House has already passed several bills to reopen the government in the past couple of weeks. The Senate GOP won't even allow a vote on them.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  8. Sigh. by ledow · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Meanwhile, in civilised countries, if a budget approval isn't given, the previous authorised budget is automatically continued until such time as a new budget is approved.

    Nobody goes unpaid.
    Government doesn't get shutdown.
    Nobody has to implement emergency measures.
    Everything carries on as it did before until someone can get changes approved and sign off on the new budget.
    At no point does anything go any more unfunded/underfunded than it already was before the new budget was proposed.

    It's almost like those other countries spotted what a stupid idea "shut down the government", including using it as blackmail, was many, many, many centuries ago and worked around it.

  9. Re:New Legislation - Gov Can't Hold Back Business by werepants · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This right here is the problem with modern politics. People like you have given no real thought to what life was actually like 100+ years ago, and sit and criticize the foundations of the very institution that allows you to be a complacent armchair critic in the first place.

    Without government, there's a good chance you wouldn't be literate.
    Without government, we wouldn't have had the research dollars (or more importantly) the free speech protections that enable science and ultimately lead to things like the computer and network infrastructure that you are using to bitch and moan.
    Without government, you would stand a very good chance of not being here in the first place, thanks to childhood mortality prior to sanitation mandates, food inspection, food stamps and vaccination requirements lowering childhood mortality from 300/1000 in the early 1900's to less than 1/1000 today.
    Without government, there would be nothing to keep anybody who wanted to from taking all of your possessions, or enslaving you, or just killing you for entertainment.
    Without government, companies can and will put things like radium in your beverage, they will put workers in harm's way to save a few bucks, and they will keep you busy 16 hours a day, 7 days a week so you don't have time to post ignorant rants on the internet in the first place.

    Life was brutal and short prior to effective government. There are still plenty of places today that are governed weakly or not at all, and childhood mortality remains extremely high in these places.

    The problem is, making big changes to life requires years or even generations - you don't build up an economy in a month, and you don't destroy it in a month. You don't produce a vibrant scientific community, or a skilled workforce, or a powerful military, or an innovative tech sector without serious patience and investment. But people like you swallow the GOP's bullshit line that "government IS the problem" without giving a moment's thought to the real sources of prosperity - those being stability, knowledge, trade, and liberty.

    If you want to live in a place without a powerful, liberal government, go ahead - even in this day and age, there are plenty of countries like that available. But don't sabotage mine because you're too shortsighted to understand where your comfortable life comes from.

  10. You should read your own citations sometime by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Israel's wall has been fairly effective:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_West_Bank_barrier#Effectiveness

    No barrier is perfectly effective. People break out of prisons on occasion - that doesn't discount the utility of prisons in general.

    Using "perfection" as an excuse to leave our border unprotected is just stupid. Most people that are anti-wall should just admit they are open borders activists. No amount of border security will make them happy.

    from the article you cited:

    Haaretz reported, "[t]he security fence is no longer mentioned as the major factor in preventing suicide bombings, mainly because the terrorists have found ways to bypass it."[56] Former Israeli Secretary of Defence Moshe Arens says that the reduction in Palestinian violence is largely due to the IDF's entry into the West Bank in 2002.[57]

    Maybe people who are for the wall should admit they haven't studied the issue and attribute false motivations to those who have?

  11. Re: Schumer Shutdown by FuzzyDaddy2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Actually, the house did pass a budget, as soon as the new congress started. It was the same budget the senate passed a few weeks ago. Right now Mitch McConnell refuses to bring it up for a vote because the president is wonâ(TM)t sign it.

  12. Re:Schumer Shutdown by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So far the only person who has tried to end the shutdown is President Trump. [...] This is officially the Democrats' Shutdown.

    Trump took ownership of the shutdown on national television. Troll detected.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  13. Re: Schumer Shutdown by Smidge204 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Should be noted that the bill mentioned passed UNANIMOUSLY. 100 for, 0 against, 0 abstaining. So even if the handful of new senators all vote against, the bill would have veto-proof majority.

    The Senate should pass the bill like it did a month ago and send it to the President. If he vetoes it, they could easily have the votes to override the veto.

    But that would make the GOP look bad, so that's not an option for McConnell.
    =Smidge=

  14. Re:"ineffectual" wall by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This argument always makes me chuckle. Yes, let's make America as peaceful as the middle-east by duplicating the stupid decisions they make over there.

    Once upon a time, the US allowed unlimited immigration, and the country prospered.

    "Us" and "Them" are political constructs designed to divide and conquer.

    I would never choose to reside in the apartheid hell that Israel has become, and if that abomination becomes a reality in the US, I will be leaving.

  15. Re: Schumer Shutdown by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Cloture votes only happen for bills that are actually brought to the floor, which McConnell didn't do; so, again, tell me about how Senate Democrats "blocked" this from being voted on?

  16. Why doesn't Congress just approve the budget? by SkOink · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Congress can end this shutdown without the president's support or approval. They can pass a budget bill, and send it to the president. If he vetoes it, they can vote to override the veto.

    I don't understand why more people aren't holding Congress to task on this. They literally don't need the president's buy-in at all to get a budget passed.

    --
    ---- I'll take you in a Hunt deathmatch any day.
    1. Re:Why doesn't Congress just approve the budget? by Dragonslicer · · Score: 5, Informative

      The House of Representatives already passed a budget (which included something like $1.5 billion for border security) on their first day of the year. The Senate hasn't voted on it because Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, has refused to call for a vote on any budget that would be vetoed.

  17. Re:Schumer Shutdown by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Trump then also proposed a compromise,

    It's not a compromise if he gets everything he wants, and especially not if the only thing he's giving back is the hostages.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  18. We don't negotiate with terrorists by rsilvergun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I know that sounds harsh, so here's somebody way more articulate than I am to explain why the verbiage is appropriate.

    Trump & the GOP are testing us. This isn't about the wall, this about ruling by fiat by continuously threatening the security and stability of the United States. We can't let that stand. If we do we become a defacto dictatorship.

    --
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  19. Re:Schumer Shutdown by jeff4747 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Trump then also proposed a compromise

    Trump "compromised" by promising to not do what court orders forbid him to do. Can't deport the DACA kids when courts have already told him he can't deport the DACA kids.

    I hereby compromise with you. I will not burn down your house. In return, I want $5.7 million dollars. Good deal, right?

  20. Re:"ineffectual" wall by LordKronos · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No barrier is perfectly effective. People break out of prisons on occasion - that doesn't discount the utility of prisons in general.

    Seriously? You are comparing a wall that spans over 1000 miles and where the response time is measured in hours with a prison wall where 1 person can see from one side to the other, and that has guards with machine guns every couple hundred feet ready to open fire the second someone begins climbing?

    As I've said previously on this topic, physical barriers only work when the delay they add is proportional to the response time, or when the barrier improves the response time. Out in the desert, even if you know the exact moment that someone breaches the border, the response time can be hours. Adding 5 or 10 minutes for someone to scale the wall is trivial. If you can track down and intercept someone who breached the border 1 hour 50 minutes ago, you can almost surely track down someone who breached the border 2 hours ago.