If congress cannot settle on a budget to keep the federal government operating past midnight on Friday, April 8, the U.S. Mint and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing will continue to operate. Even though both agencies are bureaus under the Department of the Treasury, both are funded through their respective Public Enterprise Funds. The Public Enterprise Funds contains the seignorage (profits) made from the manufacture of the money.
Although Treasury Department has not made any official announcements, the U.S. Mint did send a note to their employees in February. U.S. Mint employees were told that “unless specifically instructed otherwise, United States Mint employees are required to report to work as usual even if there is a government-wide shutdown.”
Regardless of what the non-federal political leaders say, the Washington, D.C. area is a essentially a company town. In addition to the agencies based in the District, there is a significant federal presence in Maryand and Virginia that will impact the communities where they are located. A shutdown will affect the area as far north as Baltimore, Fredericksburg to the south, and many border towns in West Virginia that host “remote” federal facilities. This does not include the commercial contractors that provide support and services to many federal agencies. I saw one estimate that said 80-percent of the DC Metro Area would be affected by a government shutdown.
I know I am not objective on this subject because it is personal. Not only will a government shutdown hurt the economy of everyone in the region, but it can affect me personally. Since my current project is essential in the long term it is not essential for the short term operations of the government. This means I could be furloughed with my colleagues a lot of other people in a similar situation.
Television news shows us stories about the small towns that lost its mill, plant, or factory and its economy crashes. The stories are all the same, the facility closes and the small town of a few thousand is devastated—almost to the point of turning it into a ghost town. If that happened to an area with over 5.5 million people, what will be the economic impact to the entire nation?
While I agree that we need to fix the budget, get rid of government waste, and figure out how to get out of debt for the overall economic health of the nation, drastic measures are not the way to do it. Very few people can kick any habit “cold turkey” and neither can the government. It will just bring pain and suffering to the people who will not have the money manufactured by the U.S. Mint and BEP to circulate in the economy necessary to promote growth.
4 comments:
I would like to be the first to welcome you to the world that the rest of us non-government workers have been living in for the past two years. A great thing about this country is that we all have a choice where we work. Washington produces nothing, and is probably the most inefficient-run organization in the world wasting billions of other people's money every day. As a bright person, you could easily get a job in "the real world" (although it probably doesn't pay nearly as well as government employment does these days).
With deficit spending increasing by trillions of dollars in just two years (to the point where our dollar will likely become worthless script), I am one that favors looking at the big picture instead of the "beltway" picture (which are two distinctly different things). Washington bureaucrats and drug addicts should be treated the same since neither can control their actions by themselves. Washington (those in the beltway) has a disease that will adversely affect the rest of us (those of us outside the beltway) who are required either by law or common sense to control.
I am not a government worker. I work for what is called a Federally Funded Research and Development Center. Prior to working for an FFRDC I worked for government contractors and had positions in the private section. I have a 31 year professional history in many technical organizations including commercial and non-profits along with my current work for the government.
Government workers are not bureaucrats. Government workers are hard working citizens of this country who implement the laws and policies setup by the bureaucrats. Government workers pay the same taxes as everyone else does and are under greater scrutiny than everyone else. If you do not like what the government does, blame congress--they create the laws that the rest of us have to work by.
This misnomer that government workers are overpaid needs to stop. I had been looking to transition from my work in the FFRDC to a government job. If I did this, I would have to take a cut in pay. If I moved to a commercial organization, I can make 25-30 percent more than I do now. The only thing that the government has over the private sector is that their benefits are better.
Finally, this budget battle is bogus. It is playing with billions while the problem is in the trillions. It's like playing with pennies. If you want to change the issues, get out of the wars overseas and look at cutting the defense budget. Then look at Medicare and Social Security. The Defense Department, Medicare, and Social Security is 80 percent of the budget.
Scott -
A quick rant:
I understand and agree with much of what you said. Our government is bloated...period...and needs to be dramatically reduced in size. We have too many stupid laws and regulations that ultimately result in costly and inefficient bureaucracies that hamstring the regular guy outside the beltway. I am someone who does not believe the constitution is a "living, breathing document" as an excuse to limit freedoms. I personally think the founding fathers and the framers of the constitution were a lot smarter than those who claim a new enlightenment (which promotes "security" over freedom). Give me freedom and I will make my own security...I don't need or want big brother holding my hand.
But what about those who can't help themselves? Yes, that is the age old argument of those who want to bring our republic down to the lowest common denominator at the expense of the rest of us. We all know that the bureaucrats don't really care about those in need except where they can get their votes. They believe only Washington can solve problems and that the "masses" aren't smart enough or compassionate enough to lift a finger. Bogus!
Our current administration promised to end Gitmo, get us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, and provide world peace. Heck, Obama was even given a Nobel Peace Prize before he even warmed the seat in the oval office. Nothing has changed except we are in another war (Lybia), have hampered the private sector with more laws and regulations, and are trillions more in debt in just two years.
I do agree that this budget battle is bogus. We need to slash and burn most of the programs and departments not specifically mentioned in the US Constitution. I differ with you on defense as that is specifically a function of our government outlined in the constitution. Printing money is another job that our government should be doing (but not in a quantitative easing approach). But you are preaching to the choir on the rest of it. If the government got out of the way, we could have a thriving economy that would easily provide "productive" opportunities for displaced federal workers.
In conclusion, while we may politically differ on some things I do enjoy your blog and have the same tastes in coins that you have based on your comments about yourself.
-joe
I am trying to keep my opinions on this as nonpartisan as possible--especially since I am registered as "Not Affiliated" in a state with closed primaries. I am not thrilled with either side, especially the extremes.
My history with righting this blog are not the policies but the effect of the policies on the people affected. I wish that those who are making the policies (congress) are as concerned as I am about the ramification of their decisions.
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