Old Picture of President Obama & Speaker Boehner
The NY Times Editorial Board describes the shutdown, here, as “John Boehner’s Leadership Failure.” USA Today wrote, here,
“This shutdown, the first in 17 years, isn’t the result of two parties acting equally irresponsibly. It is the product of an increasingly radicalized Republican Party, controlled by a disaffected base that demands legislative hostage-taking in an effort to get what it has not been able to attain by the usual means: winning elections.”
On Saturday Night Live, Saturday, 10/5/13, Miley Cyrus and the cast mock-umented the GOP celebration over the shutdown with “We Can Stop (The Government).”
But Art and Politics aside, what are the effects of the Shutdown on the Economy?
The Government Shutdown increased Unemployment by 1.8 million, the Unemployment Rate increased 16.2%, from 7.31% on August 31, 2013 to 8.48% on October 2, 2013. At the same time, GDP growth dropped 20%, from 2.5% to 2.0%.