The Shutdown Did Irreversible Damage To D.C.’s Economy, Experts Say

WedgeX · Jan 25, 2019

There's also a certain amount of irreversible economic damage that's been done, Fuller says. Businesses that saw decreased sales during the furlough, such as restaurants and food trucks downtown, can't expect to recover those losses.

"We've lost a percentage point, or maybe two percentage points, of growth here. We won't get those back," Fuller says. "The spending that didn't take place in January by these workers won't be doubled up next month."

The effects have been particularly pronounced in the District of Columbia, where officials say the shutdown wiped out between $6 and $12 million in tax revenue per week.

Fuller estimates that the Washington region lost about $1.6 billion in economic activity and earnings during the first 25 days of January, although a large portion of foregone income will be made up when federal employees are repaid.

https://dcist.com/story/19/01/25/the-shutdown-did-irreversible-damage-to-d-c-s-economy-experts-say/

Apparently, it threw DC into a Recession.

An end to the partial U.S. government shutdown is finally in sight—at least a temporary one—but the longest government closure in American history has already done major damage to the local economy. On Friday morning, D.C. government and civic leaders made that damage clear. The District's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) told a working group assembled at the seat of the D.C. government that the shutdown has sparked an economic recession in the District.

"We're in a recession, fundamentally," said CFO Jeff DeWitt. "We're effectively running in a very, very severe recession unlike any we have ever seen." He added that about 20 percent of the people employed in the District were not receiving their full pay because of the shutdown, whether they work for the federal government or in the private and nonprofit sectors. As a comparison, D.C.'s unemployment rate was around 11 percent during the Great Recession in the aughts, DeWitt noted, warning of a possible downturn in the District's revenue forecast.

https://dc.curbed.com/2019/1/25/18197590/government-shutdown-dc-local-impacts-recession

The Party of Small Business, of course, doesn't care about the effects on small business.

Khanimus · Jan 25, 2019

The Party of Small Business doesn't in-fact know how to run a business.

Rvaan · Jan 25, 2019

There's a Chick-Fil-A truck in Downtown DC that my mom goes to from time to time. She went over to it yesterday. It was the first time she had ever seen it without a line.

Kirblar · Jan 25, 2019

WedgeX said:
https://dcist.com/story/19/01/25/the-shutdown-did-irreversible-damage-to-d-c-s-economy-experts-say/

Apparently, it threw DC into a Recession.

I heard New Year's Eve was a disaster for a lot of local restaurants.

TAJ · Jan 25, 2019

Rvaan said:
There's a Chick-Fil-A truck in Downtown DC that my mom goes to from time to time. She went over to it yesterday. It was the first time she had ever seen it without a line.

There's our silver lining.

HotHamBoy · Jan 25, 2019

It's just going to get worse. People will start hoarding money because the threat still looms. In 3 weeks we might be right back to shutdown town.

Deleted member 6949 · Jan 25, 2019

The Republicans are literally sabotaging the country to make Vladimir Putin happy. I don't know what he has on them, but it must be good.

Cruxist · Jan 25, 2019

Rvaan said:
There's a Chick-Fil-A truck in Downtown DC that my mom goes to from time to time. She went over to it yesterday. It was the first time she had ever seen it without a line.

That truck always has a line! It's one of the busiest in the city, which is mildly hilarious, but CFA is not really in the city center.

DashReindeer · Jan 25, 2019

hippopotamus said:
The Republicans are literally sabotaging the country to make Vladimir Putin happy. I don't know what he has on them, but it must be good.

Yup. Putin must be laughing all the way to the goddamned bank right now.

Linkura · Jan 25, 2019

Plus people are going to be far less likely to take federal jobs now.... a large % of which are in DC.

PeakPointMatrix · Jan 25, 2019

HotHamBoy said:
It's just going to get worse. People will start hoarding money because the threat still looms. In 3 weeks we might be right back to shutdown town.

Yep. I can't see anyone safely spending a dime until we have long term funding.

WedgeX · Jan 25, 2019

Linkura said:
Plus people are going to be far less likely to take federal jobs now.... a large % of which are in DC.

I imagine people will always take the jobs - but specialists/people with tons of education might just decide to stick to the private or non-profit sectors instead. Which is a damn shame.

Omanisat · Jan 25, 2019

Khanimus said:
The Party of Small Business doesn't in-fact know how to run a business.

Making them smaller and smaller all the time.

Transistor · Jan 25, 2019

Khanimus said:
The Party of Small Business doesn't in-fact know how to run a business.

He's just trying to bankrupt America like his other businesses

Metal B · Jan 25, 2019

"Irreversible Damage" is the trend after 2016 ...

$10 Bagel · Jan 25, 2019

I think this is going to have more effects like this. We know our government is run by children who might leave us without a paycheck for a month.

Gotta save as much money as you can before these children try to make you homeless again

WedgeX · Jan 25, 2019

Kirblar said:
I heard New Year's Eve was a disaster for a lot of local restaurants.

I believe this. I stayed in for New Years Eve, but every time I've gone out since the restaurants have been empty, staff a bit too excited to see someone come into their business.

Bandage · Jan 25, 2019

Destroying your own economy to own libs?

Ichthyosaurus · Jan 25, 2019

Feature, not a bug, for Trump.

Prototype Viktor · Jan 25, 2019

hippopotamus said:
The Republicans are literally sabotaging the country to make Vladimir Putin happy. I don't know what he has on them, but it must be good.

He has money in his hand open to them, on them

Jive Turkey · Jan 25, 2019

hippopotamus said:
The Republicans are literally sabotaging the country to make Vladimir Putin happy. I don't know what he has on them, but it must be good.

I doubt he has anything on them. He just knows the average Republican lawmaker would be all too happy to throw their entire family under a bus if they thought they could profit from it.

Caja 117 · Jan 25, 2019

Prototype Viktor said:
He has money in his hand open to them, on them

And possibly Republicans emails from that hack.

I bet you anything that there is probably a lot of heinous conversations between GOP lawmakers.

Strike · Jan 25, 2019

Ichthyosaurus said:
Feature, not a bug, for Trump.

"He'll run this country like a business!"

He has.

FaceHugger · Jan 25, 2019

Strike said:
"He'll run this country like a business!"

He has.

My ex's dad was saying that shit before he got elected. I had to ask if he actually knew about Trump's business dealings, as he has failed catastrophically at almost everything he's ever done.

Whelp. He has certainly run things like one of his businesses so far. Only we won't get a check in the end like many of those he defrauded. We'll just be stuck cleaning up the GOP mess again.

Deleted member 420 · Jan 25, 2019

If we lose nando's...

SquirrelSr · Jan 25, 2019

Trump certainly ran it like one of his businesses. Except this time he can't declare bankruptcy and skip town.

louiedog · Jan 25, 2019

SquirrelSr said:
Trump certainly ran it like one of his businesses. Except this time he can't declare bankruptcy and skip town.

I wouldn't be surprised if he did the latter.

Soda · Jan 25, 2019

WedgeX said:
I imagine people will always take the jobs - but specialists/people with tons of education might just decide to stick to the private or non-profit sectors instead. Which is a damn shame.

I work as a scientist at a private research university in the US. My coworkers and I know several highly-trained scientists that are now trying to bail out of government research, and we've all agreed that our opinion of government careers has dropped significantly. Of course we always knew shutdowns could occur, but the frequency (and now duration) has increased significantly recently.

thefit · Jan 25, 2019

They aren't even sure when backpay will roll out they predict Thursday, Friday or Saturday with regular pay back to the 8th. Man, the hurt isn't over. This kind of economic interruption fucks people's life's for a long time. I'm sure we've all been there where we get that emergency and we have to figure it out imagine that with no light at the end of the tunnel and then you find the light at the tunnel and you walked into another tunnel. This sucks.

entremet · Jan 25, 2019

The Congressional Republican leadership continue using shutdowns like the idiots they are.

pokeystaples · Jan 25, 2019

Espi said:
I think this is going to have more effects like this. We know our government is run by children who might leave us without a paycheck for a month.

Gotta save as much money as you can before these children try to make you homeless again

Yup. We normally do pizza/take away night on Friday's and rent a bunch of movies, but there's no telling what's going to happen 3 weeks from now.

thefit · Jan 25, 2019

Now people really know economic anxiety and it has nothing to do with Mexicans it was the republicans all along specifically Trump. Vote them out we should be having short term bill, that's not they way it's supposed to be.

Ichthyosaurus · Jan 25, 2019

SquirrelSr said:
Trump certainly ran it like one of his businesses. Except this time he can't declare bankruptcy and skip town.

He won't declare bankruptcy but he can certainly skip town - into Daddy Vlad's waiting arms.

Wood Man · Jan 25, 2019

Rvaan said:
There's a Chick-Fil-A truck in Downtown DC that my mom goes to from time to time. She went over to it yesterday. It was the first time she had ever seen it without a line.

I know that truck. Yes there is always a huge line.

Chasex · Jan 25, 2019

Linkura said:
Plus people are going to be far less likely to take federal jobs now.... a large % of which are in DC.

Yep, exactly. I'm in DC and work in cyber security, and was planning a switch into Federal. I was actually pretty far down the path for one agency. I like the idea of public service and *shocker* I love America. I would honestly sacrifice a lot, including taking significantly less pay to help improve the national security and get to see some tip of the spear nation state actor stuff. But part of the deal with Federal is supposed to be job security and stability...well, so much for that. Will wait until Trump is out at the least, but they really need to deal with this budget ceiling shit and stop holding the government hostage all the time.

Rendering... · Jan 26, 2019

Hey, at least it was for a good and important reason.

BrutalInsane · Jan 26, 2019

Nations elects failed real estate slob / grifter / reality TV personality to most powerful position in country, gets what's expected.

The Shutdown Did Irreversible Damage To D.C.’s Economy, Experts Say

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