U.S.—The economic toll of the government shutdown is growing by the day, and experts now believe the cost of having the government partially closed down is nearly as bad as the economic toll of a functioning government interfering in our economy, businesses, and private decisions in the first place.
“It’s really bad—almost as bad as when the government is running on all cylinders,” said one financial expert, Gary Rothberd. “The cost of having the government shut down is now very close to being as terrible as when they’re messing with everything.”
Economic effects include government workers who aren’t being paid, reducing the amount of money being spread around in the economy. This is reportedly almost as bad as the cost of the federal government having taken that money away from private citizens to redistribute to other causes as they see fit.
Several economists suggested reducing the size of the federal government, but these recommendations have been met with criticism from people who are being paid by the federal government. “A smaller government? It would never work,” said one publicly funded economist. “The only answer is to make the government bigger, so we can solve the economic problem the government has created.”