This Is What All The Fuss Is About -- OMG -- January 18, 2018

From the Obama White House regarding a government shutdown:

• vital services that ensure seniors and young children have access to healthy food and meals may not have sufficient Federal funds to serve all beneficiaries in an extended lapse
• call centers, hotlines and regional offices that help veterans understand their benefits will close to the public
• and, veterans’ compensation, pension, education and other benefits could be cut off in the case of an extended shutdown
• every one of America’s national parks and monuments, from Yosemite to the Smithsonian to the Statue of Liberty, will be immediately closed
• new applications for small business loans and loan guarantees will be immediately halted.
• research into life-threatening diseases and other areas will stop and new patients won’t be accepted into clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health
• work to protect consumers, ranging from child product safety to financial security to the safety of hazardous waste facilities, will cease. The EPA will halt non-essential inspections of chemical facilities and drinking water systems
• permits and reviews for planned energy and transportations (sic) projects will stop, preventing companies from working on these projects (there goes the California bullet train -- LOL)
• loans to rural communities will be halted (since it takes months for the application process to be completed, no one will even notice)
• hundreds of thousands of Federal employees including many charged with protecting us from terrorist threats, defending our borders, inspecting our food, and keeping our skies safe will work without pay until the shutdown ends
• hundreds of thousands of additional Federal workers will be immediately and indefinitely furloughed without pay (history says they will all get back pay; in the meantime, they will qualify for unemployment insurance)
  

The following services that will continue during the government shut down:

• social security beneficiaries will continue receiving checks
• the U.S. Postal Service will keep delivering mail
• active military will continue serving [and will still get paid]
• air traffic controllers, prison guards and border patrol agents will remain on the job [and still get paid]
• NASA Mission Control will continue supporting astronauts serving on the Space Station [thank God]

When the list starts with "call centers" and "healthy meals" one knows how serious a "government shutdown is." LOL.

And this was written with a bias and an agenda.

Meanwhile, for me today was a buying opportunity when the market took a breather and actually dropped back a bit. Thank you Ms Pelosi and Mr Schumer.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial, job, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read here or think you may have read here. 

There are two issues here, whether the government shutdown is due to:

• lack of budget
• reaching the debt ceiling

If it's the latter -- reaching the debt ceiling -- yes, entitlements could be cut completely or decreased. The US Secretary of Treasury would call the shots, I assume. My hunch is that a lot of money would be shifted from other agencies and/or programs to cover military, retired military, and social security payments. But yes, if it's a "debt ceiling" issue and this issue lasts for a protracted period of time -- perhaps two pay cycles -- then there might be cut in federal pay and benefits, but my hunch is that Congressional pay would have to be cut first if any incumbent hoped to remain in office.