Start the conversation
Comment on This Story
Or to contact Money Morning Customer Service, click here.
It's Day 4 of the government shutdown - which means Day 4 of your life being more dangerous than it was in September...
You see, besides the effects of 800,000 workers being furloughed, the government shutdown affects the general public in ways most of us don't realize.
Some are downright scary.
Here are 10 you should know now:
How the Government Shutdown Endangers Your Life
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is just sick over the government closure. The CDC has sent home workers who study and track disease outbreaks and other health risks. "I usually don't lose sleep despite the threats that we face, but I am losing sleep because we don't know if we'll be able to find and stop things that might kill people," CDC director Tom Frieden told CBS News.
- The National Institutes of Health (NIH) must now turn away patients for clinical trials. With nearly three-quarters of the NIH staff furloughed, some 200 patients (including about 30 children, most of whom are cancer patients) who otherwise would be admitted weekly to the NIH Clinical Center will not be admitted.
- The Food and Drug Administration has suspended most routine safety inspections, and federal occupational safety and health inspectors have ceased workplace inspections - except in cases of imminent danger.
- The National Highway Travel Safety Association (NHTSA) has stopped announcing new car recalls and won't update safety defect complaints until funding is restored. Posted on NHTSA's website: "Due to a lapse of Federal Government funding, NHTSA is unable to post any new recalls after close of business September 30, 2013."
- Almost all of NASA's operations have been grounded by the government shutdown. Closed is NASA's Earth Object Office, responsible for tracking and reporting asteroids that threatened the planet, like the 150-foot chunk of space rock that barreled near Earth in February, coming closer than the moon. The message posted on NASA's website reads: "Due to the lapse in government funding, this website is not available. We sincerely regret any inconvenience. For information about available government services, visit USA.gov."
And Chicken Little shrieked THE SKY IS FALLING !!
Well, I'm sitting out here in the Land of the REAL PEOPLE, who live on a BUDGET
working a full-time job AND a part-time job on top of that (for those of you in our school systems who can't do math, that is 60 hours a week compared to the congressional average of 20 hours a week work-week) BUT THEN after my taxes come out (IE, YOUR PAY) and I pay my fixed bills (the house payment, utilities, car payment etc.) I have less than $100 A MONTH LEFT to you know, pay for "LUXURIES" like food, toilet paper, gas for the car, etc).
So, while you are on your EXTRA paid-days off (because we know you'll figure out some way to pay yourselves), why don't you AT LEAST GET A REALITY CHECK and GO VOLUNTEER somewhere so you can see REAL PEOPLE up close WORKING REAL JOBS who are PAYING FOR YOUR FAT SALARY AND BENEFITS!!
INSECURITY
Who would want to work for the Federal government now after realizing they are subject to annual Fall furloughs amounting to 2 weeks of leave without pay? They also must be wondering it someday the government will either reduce or temporarily discountinue pension payments for retirees. Besides more risk for investors whenever Congress hangs-up, there is less job security for Federal government retirees nowadays. Most of them had to stick it out for 30 years to receive a full, but often modest annual pension. They already put in their time for just a "promise", not a guarantee.
LIVING ON BORROWED TIME
Nobody (that's any good) will want to work for the Federal Government as a career for 30 years anymore, only to be furloughed every Fall for 2 weeks without pay. Retirees have to first give 30 years of work to earn their full, if not modest Federal pension. It used to be up to 80% of the average of their final three years salary, but the new Employees Thrift Plan reduced the defined benefit (pension) part of the payout since 1985. ( Today's Federal Retirees need a job or source of income to maintain their lifestyles during early retirement).
FROM RAGS TO "RICHES" TO RAGS AGAIN
You see senior citizens working in the Deli at Safeway in Downtown Portland, Oregon or sometimes even bagging groceries and retrieving shopping carts from the parking lot elsewhere. Its a possibility for some needy Federal Retirees. Start out as a courtesy clerk in High School at Safeway, go to college, work 30 years, get a reduced pension, have to go back to doing bagging, part time, of course. The circle of life repeats again forever.
I am so glad my parents are not alive to see this day; the GOP is full of idiots now. When hosts on Fox gleefully repeated what House Reps were saying about the Shutdown (that it was no big deal and didn't affect many people), I was shocked. Do they live on Mars? Why do our House Reps keep trying to get rid of the ACA when those who work at WalMart and Meijer for less than 40 hours a week so the company doesn't have to contribute towards health care need that health insurance? My niece died at age 44 because she did not have health care; Farmer Jack had her on 36 hours a week. My husband's cousin pays $1200.00 a month for insurance as she has a pre-existing condition and she worked at a hospital. I do not have enough fingers to list the friends who have been retired early as the company moved and left them with no pension and no insurance. How can anyone say we are the richest country in the world when so many children go to bed hungry every day. Our Congress needs to stop trying to snow us with stupid reasons for its refusal to create jobs, to take subsidies from big companies who pay no or few taxes, to eliminate speculation on oil prices, and to fund health and education properly.
Shirley:
Its not just the GOP members of Congress that are the "idiots" by a long shot. No, its much bigger than that, unfortunately. The average I.Q. of an American today, as measured by I.Q. Tests, is unofficially said to be about 92. Not surprisingly, most all our elected officials in Washington D.C. and elsewhere are just as "average" as the typical Joe or Jane, especially the typical or average voters. So, we have elected AVERAGE people to run the U.S. Government and they are failing, all together. What does that say?
First, there is no medical procedure that can cure stupidity or dumbness. Neither can ObamaCare. Secondly, a 92 I.Q. in 1956 was considered "clinically dumb", while a 84 I.Q. equaled a "Moron". So, by comparison, a 92er today is a veritable Einstein. You can not get good government or policy from Dumb Johns, either GOP or Democrat.
What do you do? This is all a political game to the same arrogant, pompass elected officials we have continued to send to DC election after election regardless of how things deteriorate. They wont suffer, but potentially we sure could. Do we really trust these people to socialize medicine? Look at the fiscal track record of other social programs! I think shortly after ward we would be saying things like… yeah I remember when people died because they could not afford care, now they die because it is too late by the time they get to it, or because a procedure was refused or delayed or a program discontinued. We became comfortable, complacent, and fixated on our possessions and comfots while our economic future and freedoms were slowly eroded. We seem to just now be waking up. A bit too late ?!
NOT MY FAULT
Most Americans are still denying that their party and its members have a role or are partly to blame. Voters don't willingly take responsibility very often. Politicans create diversions like the "shutdown" and the media follows along. Many of the American voters don't seem to much care.
We have no voice so people just withdrawal and tend to their immediate daily needs and afterwards, escape into their private fantasy world of video games and DVD's. Others drink a six-pack until they forget and doze-off. We are just trying to dull the pain or ignore the facts and hope it all goes away like a bad dream. Keep wishing!
Its the people's fault for putting-up with it all time and time again. They reelect the same individuals for years or find a comparably stupid replacement with a smile. Voters who actually vote refuse to accept their responsibility in election outcomes and instead participate in the "Blame Game". Monkey see, monkey do.