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The shutdown continues ... and now some assessments are being made as to what degree the U.S. economy might be affected.
The White House first came out and said it would cost our economy 0.1 percent of GDP for every 2 weeks of shutdown. This has now been increased ...and it appears the new view is that we will lose 0.13 percent every single week. Now, I might not be too good at math ...but if this shutdowns ever did last a year ... as the administration brazenly said they were willing to do ... oh, heavens!
Still, investors do not seem to be too worried about the effect of the shutdown. In fact, since the December 22nd onset the market (S&P500) has risen around 8%. But will stocks continue to rise in the face of slowing growth as a result of the ongoing political tug-of-war? Let's hope for a quick end to this so workers can get paid ... and we can get back to other worries ... like China, tariffs and trade. Funny how headlines from less than one month ago suddenly seem to be in the far distant past.
But there are many things ... important things ... that get removed from the headlines and somehow we seem to forget about them ... as new things (sometimes stupid replacements) become top news stories.
There is one thing that has not been in the news of late ... but it affects each and every one of us ... and will eventually affect our children ... the national debt.
Let's think about this a moment.
Back in September 2017 ... which really wasn't too long ago ... our national debt crossed $20 trillion for the first time.
Since then, without a major war to fund ... or a recession to fight ... or even money spent on a promised overhaul of our infrastructure ... we are within shouting distance of hitting the $22 trillion mark.
And political voices which once loudly warned about this ... have decided to scream about so many other things ... and reduce concern over our debt to a polite whisper.
It doesn't seem to matter who is in power. Some areas may be closed in Washington ... but the printing presses keep chugging along.
And, unfortunately, they seem to be speeding up.
Ah, the shutdown continues ... with no end in sight ... and it might cost us plenty. In fact, the White House announced their previous estimate of cost was a tad low (CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/15/source-white-house-believes-shutdown-will-be-twice-as-costly.html
... but both sides have dug in their heels ... and are trying to show they are assertive. Do you wish you could be more assertive in your own dealings? Here are ways to do so (ArtofManliness)
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/how-to-be-assertive/
How much time do you spend looking at screens each day (and, yes, this means computers, iPhones and tablets)? Americans spend half their waking hours looking at screens. Yikes! (StudyFinds)
https://www.studyfinds.org/survey-americans-spend-half-waking-hours-looking-screens
Hooray for technology! Nike has just solved a big problem for some people ... as you can now tie a pair of sneakers ... using an app! Spare no expense to keep you from the horror of tying your own shoes (BBC)
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46876941
Are you a boss friendly with many of your employees? That might be detrimental ... as requested work is often delayed ... for they might assume you will not really get too mad at a friend (HBR)
https://hbr.org/2019/01/research-when-being-close-to-your-employees-backfires
Meanwhile it is time to send a stark reminder again ... as our national debt continues to rise ... to ridiculous levels. But borrow we will ... as we have become experts (USDebtClock)