To feel a bit scared about what Chris Evans just said about something happening in America to make the economy crash here and it all being a total and utter disaster?

[mameulah]

Genuinely feel a bit shaken up. Did anyone else hear it?

It's 16 years ago that it last happened. It is quite worrying that non essential government workers can suddenly be put on unpaid leave. Worrying for those people on an individual basis, worrying for the people who want/need to access the services which are closed and then the wider implications for the economy.

So what are the chances of it happening here if the economy worsens?

Dobbiesmum - thanks for the link. Very interesting

Last time it happened under Clinton it cost the American economy $1bn. Small potatoes for them, but they are one of the major world economies and lenders and as such, ripples there will affect the world economy. I don't recall the exact effect the last one had on the world economy (was less interested then) but reason tells me that we should be watchful.

This is what I dislike about the American political - it's so partisan that the Republicans would ransom their entire country just to make a party political point. Obama will never give up his healthcare bill (rightly so), as it is in law now and he won an election with it out in the open so it's not as unpopular as the Republicans would like to think.

American political system, I meant....

Why aren't American Congress-members considered non-essential workers?

Viva Yes that is the immediate human toll of this action. They have been told they may not get their back pay either if they have to work or if they are on paid leave. As far as homeland security goes it makes the USA government look like a bunch of clowns when we are told that the admin staff at the Pentagon have been sent home.

And Panda Cam has been switched off . Yes I know that is small potatoes compared to everything else but the BBC mentioned it.

VivaLeThrustBadger - do you mean what if non-essential workers in the UK were put on unpaid leave due to poor economic conditions? Because what's happening in the US won't happen here because we don't run government and budgets in the same way. But non-essential workers in the UK could be put on unpaid leave, subject to the agreements they have with employees/unions and all the necessary consultation requirements being met.

Can't happen here Viva. It can only happen in America because of the separation of the two houses.

It would be unthinkable for the majority govt here to block a budget bill. Just wouldn't happen. The Lords don't have the power to block a budget (they can only delay it but can't block it, again it's highly unlikely they'd delay it).

If the UK went 'bust' then obviously civil servants wouldn't be paid, but that isn't what's happening here. There is money to pay US civil servants, but until the budget is approved by the republicans in the senate it can't be authorised. Therefore technically the money doesn't exist - although it does, in real life.

I havent listened to Chris Evens since the late 90's. Is he political now?

Of you actually listen to Robert Peston you may as well read the daily mail.

Yes, I meant not paying non essential staff.

Just slightly worried. At work there was a major rumour last month that we wouldn't get paid (nhs) as our trust is close to administration and had to get a loan to pay wages. If they hadn't got the loan people said we wouldn't get paid.

Surely the govt would pay us if the Trust couldn't?

So it does make me think that public services are sailing a bit close to the wind.

I don't think it is anything to feel shaken about OP. I didn't hear what Chris Evans said, but it is quite an easy subject to be sensationalist about.

It used to happen in the US quite a bit back in the 80s. It does seem like a slightly nerve wracking way to manage things but in a funny way it is the sign of a democracy fully functioning.

Thing to watch out for is how the markets react & so far they seem to be holding their nerve. Might be a good time to buy dollars though!

Viva that is worrying. Essentially your contract is with the trust, I would imagine? And the trust is a separate entity that could, in theory, go bust. It's not the government, it's been set up as a company. But within the legislation that governs trusts there must be provision for this sort of thing? So for eg the govt would step in with emergency funding, but the trust itself would then be dissolved?

Post. I used to think that. I am not an economist however, but it seems to me, that because the FTSE is now made up of companies that have interests worldwide including the Far East, that what haooens in Amercia does not have anywhere near such a wide inpact on the FTSE as it used to have?

YABVU to take economic advice from an egocentric multi-millionaire when you appear to have access to what we like to call "the internet" which contains an abundance of information you can analyse to reach a conclusion yourself.

Bellamy Why are posters so sneery? So what if this was the first OP had heard of it Vivacia? It may be a little surprising but hardly something to be aghast at.

I wasn't sneering, I wasn't aghast. I was genuinely surprised (as you say) that somebody could have missed this news until now.

This is not meant in any way to be patronizing or belittling of American politics, but I really do recommend that people go out and buy The West Wing on DVD. Aside from being quite probably the best tv show ever made, it helped me gain a much better understanding of the Anetican political system.

There's even a storyline where this very thing (failed budget negotiations leading to Government shutdown) happens.

Frankel I knew I knew about this but was sure I couldn't remember it in RL. I learnt it off of the West Wing

American political system

FavouriteThings, the US is still the world's largest economy. If the global markets are still holding their nerve, then I think that should be seen as a source of some comfort.

lljkk, I don't think its to do with them being essential workers or not. I think it has something to do with the fact that Congress can't control their own pay. The flip side of the coin is that unlike our MPs they can't vote a pay rise for themselves but it does mean that, slightly perversely, in a situation like this they carry on getting paid while other government workers don't.

@ Wilson. Nothing to be ashamed of, it was a very educational program!

I bet it could be arranged so that no one in Congress was paid, or their staff, or expenses incurred during the shut-down period. Only a skeleton security & cleaning staff for the premises. President could lose pay too, but not his lodgings.

I wonder if that would sharpen their cooperation skills.

"It used to happen in the US quite a bit back in the 80s. It does seem like a slightly nerve wracking way to manage things but in a funny way it is the sign of a democracy fully functioning."

No. It's a sign of a bunch of grown men and women throwing a temper tantrum because they lost an election and a policy vote. They thought Obama would roll over. They thought wrong.

Exactly Tee.