Have you been personally affected by the government shutdown? NO POLITICAL COMMENTS!

Parent Cafe
41

<p>My DH, a federal worker and the primary breadwinner in our family, just finished recording his out of office message. Hope this doesn’t last too long - as others have mentioned, mortgage payments (due today, of course) and other bills still need to be paid on time, even if salaries are not.</p>

42

<p>Funny, the market is up. I didn’t expect that today.</p>

43

<p>Some news sources have reported that the market always went up after all previous 17 shut downs.</p>

44

<p>National Geographic Museum in DC is offering free admission to furloughed government workers & the general public since the Smithsonians are closed. <a href=“https://e.nationalgeographic.com/pub/sf/FormLink?_ri_=X0Gzc2X%3DWQpglLjHJlYQGh2BKu4sfCMrY6tnLzdPOTdyzdUBHYzfSlAJnVXMtX%3DWQpglLjHJlYQGjwfHqcAwgDJKNADkszfLiIfrB4DhXBuA2n&_ei_=EjJJdeDzf1j1puPCtcoMZDqWkAgtjw[/url]”>https://e.nationalgeographic.com/pub/sf/FormLink?_ri_=X0Gzc2X%3DWQpglLjHJlYQGh2BKu4sfCMrY6tnLzdPOTdyzdUBHYzfSlAJnVXMtX%3DWQpglLjHJlYQGjwfHqcAwgDJKNADkszfLiIfrB4DhXBuA2n&_ei_=EjJJdeDzf1j1puPCtcoMZDqWkAgtjw&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

45

<p>I’m a federal contractor in an industry you’d think should stay relatively untouched, but it’s not. I did NOT get the 4 hour ‘orderly shutdown’ today, I had to prep for that yesterday and quite frankly, it was a disaster. The policies of various contractors vary widely, we’ve gotten little to no guidance from mine. My boss has her stuff from the potential 2011 shutdown and that was what we were operating under–only accrued vacation is allowed to be used, not regular PTO, and only until it runs out. Once it runs out, we go unpaid.</p>

<p>In my personal situation, I started with my company in June and have 29 hours of accrued vacation. I worked an extra 4.75 hours over the last week to try and get me through Friday…but starting Monday morning, I go unpaid. I’m very, very scared</p>

46

<p>The big tourist sites in Boston are shut. Faneuil Hall, Old Ironsides, Old North Church, etc. Minuteman National Park (Lexington and Concord sites) is shut. Cape Cod National Seashore is shut. </p>

<p>This is a big tourist season, particularly for older Americans and people from Europe. Local businesses will feel the pain.</p>

47

<p>There will be a lot of collateral damage.</p>

48

<p>Our national parks might benefit from a respite from human traffic. It isn’t all bad.</p>

49

<p>I don’t think the small businesses outside of the parks are going to be too happy when their businesses don’t have any customers.</p>

50

<p>How the shutdown affects education/ed departments:</p>

<p>[The</a> Shutdown and Education: Your Cheat Sheet - Politics K-12 - Education Week](<a href=“The Shutdown and Education: Your Cheat Sheet”>The Shutdown and Education: Your Cheat Sheet)</p>

51

<p>While it doesn’t compare to people out of work, I feel sorry for people who have a major vacation disrupted because of park closures. This happened to us during a previous closure–we were on Oahu for one day, primarily to see the U.S.S. Arizona, and it was closed.</p>

52

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<p>No, but those tourists will spend their money elsewhere and someone else will benefit, or they will save it, and that is not bad either.</p>

53

<p>Even though these people found something else to do they don’t seem to happy about it. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/news/fiscal-crisis/2013/10/01/statue-of-liberty-closed-to-visitors/[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/news/fiscal-crisis/2013/10/01/statue-of-liberty-closed-to-visitors/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>and then there is this: </p>

<p>"The same could not be said for more than 110 employees of the concession business that Bradford Hill operates on Liberty Island and Ellis Island in the harbor.</p>

<p>Mr. Hill said he laid off all of his workers, including himself, on Tuesday and advised them to apply for unemployment benefits. He said he had canceled deliveries to his food-service operation on Liberty Island."</p>

54

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<p>Stuff happens. There are no guarantees that you get to do what you want to do, when you want to do it. We didn’t get to see the USS Arizona on our visit to Oahu because it was too windy that day. Waaa.</p>

<p>Mr. Hill laid off his employees so they could file for unemployment benefits. He will probably hire them all back once the parks reopen.</p>

55

<p>I am sure he will but I find your dismissal of what some people/businesses will experience because of the gov’t shut to be pretty cold. But I guess that is just how some people roll.</p>

56

<p>As of now the Air Force/Navy game is cancelled.</p>

57

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<p>:confused:</p>

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<p>Peace Corps is a special kind of case. They are taking a wait and see attitude for the time being.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.peacecorps.gov/shutdown/?from=hpb[/url]”>http://www.peacecorps.gov/shutdown/?from=hpb&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://files.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/pdf/documents/Peace_Corps_Operations_Plan_in_the_Absence_of_Appropriations.pdf[/url]”>http://files.peacecorps.gov/multimedia/pdf/documents/Peace_Corps_Operations_Plan_in_the_Absence_of_Appropriations.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

58

<p>Does this affect public universities in any way? I read online that the Department of Education is partially closed and that the exceptions will be dealing with Federal Direct Loans and Pell Grants. But does the running of the actual institution come from students’ tuition, professors’ research grants, private donations, etc?</p>

59

<p>Grabble , see my post #50.</p>

60

<p>Oh, I totally missed that. Thanks, abasket. That clarifies things.</p>