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The government shutdown is causing heated rants on Facebook from both political parties. Some are blaming each other; others are just blaming our stubborn Congress, either way it hasn't been pretty.
Some interesting things have been going on while the government has been shut down.
Did you know Congress is still getting paid? The government has been shut down for 14 days according to this handy ticker, and Congress has earned $3,666,606.81 in that time. That's nice, it would also be nice if they could figure out what is going on.
Apparently, the shutdown makes it easier for people to pretend to be the IRS to get your personal information, according to Forbes. Let's say the “IRS” calls you. The government is closed, true, but you're still worried because it's the IRS and that's terrifying. You try calling the IRS to see if this is a legitimate call, but they aren't answering their phones because of the, say it with me, shutdown.
Small businesses are feeling the effects. CNN Money has examples of some small businesses that can't hire employees they needed; now they don't have the money for them or the workload. One of the saddest examples is that of Ron Putnam. He operates a mobile event cart that sells smoothies and coffee. Putnam was planning on attending the San Diego Miramar Air Show with his cart. The show hosts thousands of spectators, but with the SHUTDOWN the air show was canceled. Putnam had already bought supplies for the event, and said the setback hurt 25% of his revenue for the year.
I'm sure you know the national parks and zoos are closed. There are some lawbreakers out there brazen enough to ignore the signs and step over the caution tape to see some of this country's most historical and important monuments. Does this make the whole ordeal look ridiculous? Yes, yes it does.
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