Non Political Govt Shutdown Thread

[just654]

That's what I thought, tbh.  Then at COB yesterday we got word from our contracts department that we were not to show up for work.  I don't know what our client had to say about it.  Last we had heard from them they said to report as normal.

 

And there's the answer.  What I figured but wasn't sure.

 This is not True..I am a contractor sitting at my desk right now..not for the DOD either but for DHS..my compnay told me the our contract is fully funded and this will not effect us at all

[twa]

 This is not True..I am a contractor sitting at my desk right now..not for the DOD either but for DHS..my compnay told me the our contract is fully funded and this will not effect us at all

those deemed essential stay working, with many it is a issue of where they work or who they work for deemed non-essential

 

Homeland Security is not affected at all at this point

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I work for a large contractor and its policy is that employees who are deemed "non-essential" can either take their own vacation time or charge to indirect/overhead with the understanding that they have to make up the billable hours. So, if a particular contract lends itself to that (projects with specific scope and hard deadlines where overtime would be needed and approved by the government) they can do that. Luckily I'm in that boat, so I'm at home today. Our company isn't "covering" us during this time though. They are pretty strict with indirect costs, so it's no surprise.

 

My assumption would be that the smaller the contracting company, the less impacted the employee. My previous employer was a 100-person company and in situations like this we were just given an indirect code to charge until things were sorted out. With the bigger boys, you seem to be on your own in these situations. Once you run out of available vacation time, you have to start taking leave without pay.

[spjunkies]

I'm thinking that my company will let us use vacation time for this and thank goodness for that because I have 160+ hours to use since I almost never take any time off. I feel really bad for my co-workers who barely have any time to use though.

 

Sucks that I'll have to use up the hours that I worked hard to earn on this BS.

[Larry]

Went to the local Social Security office, Friday, to apply for a replacement SS card. (Because I have to have a physical SS card, to renew my Driver's License.)

I had to do it in person, because I either have to hand deliver my passport and birth certificate to an SS office, or I have to mail the original documents (no copies, not even certified copies) to Washington. (They promise that they'll mail them back when they're done.)

Showed them the documents, they handed me a piece of paper that says they'll mail me a card in a few weeks.

Now I'm wondering if my paperwork got processed, or if it's sitting in the inbox of some clerk who isn't working.

[China]

Went to the local Social Security office, Friday, to apply for a replacement SS card. (Because I have to have a physical SS card, to renew my Driver's License.)

I had to do it in person, because I either have to hand deliver my passport and birth certificate to an SS office, or I have to mail the original documents (no copies, not even certified copies) to Washington. (They promise that they'll mail them back when they're done.)

Showed them the documents, they handed me a piece of paper that says they'll mail me a card in a few weeks.

Now I'm wondering if my paperwork got processed, or if it's sitting in the inbox of some clerk who isn't working.

 

I'm guessing it's sitting there.  Question 36 in the link I provided above:

 

 

36. Can I get a new or replacement Social Security card, benefit verification statement or earnings record correction? No.

[Larry]

I'm guessing it's sitting there.  Question 36 in the link I provided above:

I'm just hoping that my request got processed before the shutdown.

(But I agree with you. A government bureaucracy, responding to a routine taxpayer request, within two business days, when there's a shutdown coming? Probably not.)

[China]

This madness has got to stop:

 

Government Shutdown affects beer industry

 

Even beer is not immune to the effects of a government shutdown. With nearly even facet of Federal regulation facing furloughs for the time being, one of them is tasked with regulating alcohol - and that has impacts on both new brewers awaiting their licenses and existing brewers making new beers.

 

The Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is forced to furlough all but 35 of their 518 employees starting today, per their shutdown plan shared on the Treasury Department’s website. That plan calls for only emergency personnel to remain on staff. Those dealing with permitting and certificates of label approval are specifically called out as “non-exempt.”

 

That means the processing of brewery permits, which give clearance for breweries to open, are stalled for the time being. While a short government shutdown may not result in a significant lag in what’s usually a multi-month process by the TTB to give approval, a longer shutdown could stall what has been explosive growth in the craft beer industry, which has been adding new breweries at the rate of nearly one per day.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Gallen5862]

The House passed the funding DC Bill. The House is now debating an NIH or National Institute of Health at the 2013 level or at the same level the Democrats supported in the Senate CR.bill.

[Xameil]

I just heard that the Labs in Natick were also closed...

[@DCGoldPants]

No Panda cam still. Small deal since the zoo has some excellent staff and you know the animals are being taken care of. But still, I liked checking in for my daily zen.

[spjunkies]

No Panda cam still. Small deal since the zoo has some excellent staff and you know the animals are being taken care of. But still, I liked checking in for my daily zen.

Here is a subssubstitute

 

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/10/01/the-government-shut-down-its-panda-cam-so-we-made-our-own/

[Larry]

SS card arrived today. Apparently yes, they did process it before the shutdown. (Or the department that issues them didn't shut down.)

Now, I think I have everything I need to renew my Driver's License.

[sacase]

This shutdown is wrecking havoc with national security. Pretty much the whole intelligence apparatus of the USG is furloughed, yeah 30% is present, but most of those are either senior people or people who are actively supporting on going operations overseas with lives at right, they are not the people doing the day to day work. This is the time to spy on America cause you won't get caught....

[Old Bay]

 This is not True..I am a contractor sitting at my desk right now..not for the DOD either but for DHS..my compnay told me the our contract is fully funded and this will not effect us at all

 

Glad for you, man.  But we're still not working.  I thought we were fully funded, too, but I guess not.  But what I do isn't considered 'essential'.

 

I've got planned vacation for next week, so this pretty much means I'll take a two week vacation at the beginning of the fiscal year.  Hopefully it'll be over by the time I get back.

[Fergasun]

I'm a Defense civilian.  My function is funded more like a contractor, that is we get paid to deliver products/services.  Typically we will be working on last year's funds for the first month of the new fiscal year.  I suspect we've got maybe a month of funds available (guess it doesn't matter after October 17).  

 

We may be impacted if we can't get new money because all of the people we need to approve our money are on furlough.   

 

I suspect this weekend you will see a bill pass that guarantees Federal civilian back-pay.  The reason being there is a pay-check coming up and people may be wanting to ask their banks for loans to bridge their pay.  My understanding is that folks will get 60% of a paycheck on Friday (the 11th).  People may get angry because of the optics, but I can't imagine Congress will be so punitive to not give back-pay (and I wonder if the individual departments might have that discretion).  Civilian workers are about as middle class as you can get; we were furloughed 6 days and it hurt and it was a big deal.  I feel sick when people around my office joke about the "vacation" others are getting.  

 

Defense Contract Management Agency is not able to buy off on products from defense contractors, so I've seen some of them go on furlough.  When the defense contractor impacts start to ripple like that, there will be a lot more pressure building to end this starting next week I believe.     

[Kilmer17]

http://washingtonexaminer.com/wheres-sense-of-crisis-in-a-17-percent-government-shutdown/article/2536862

 

So the government shutdown, at least as measured by money spent, is really a 17 percent government shutdown. Perhaps that is why the effects of the shutdown, beyond some of the most visible problems, like at the monuments and memorials on the Washington Mall, don't seem to have the expected intensity. Seventeen percent of federal expenditures is still a huge amount of money, and the shutdown is affecting many people. But many more who are dependent on federal dollars are still receiving their money, either as salary, transfer payment, or in some other form. Viewed that way, it's no wonder both Republicans and Democrats appear to believe they can last the shutdown out, at least for a couple of weeks until they try to resolve the debt limit crisis due to arrive October 17.

 

I'll say it again.  Make them shut it down if they pull this stunt.  See how brazen they are if people cant fly because airports are closed,

[Larry]

Assuming that this is also a good place for "non-political debt ceiling crash" discussion. 

 

Boy, I really don;t want to cash in all of my stocks.  I've made a ton of money, on paper.  And, if I cash them in, I'm gonna get hit for a boatload of Capital Gains taxes, that I would have really preferred to have on next year's taxes. 

 

But, dang, I'm really getting the impression that the orders have gone out, and start pushing the "crashing the debt ceiling really won;t be that bad, those other people are just trying to scare people, and if the markets get scared, then it's not because of people like me, announcing that I think crashing the debt ceiling won;t hurt". 

 

Really makes me think that I really ought to be all cash for the next month or so. 

[TheGoodBits]

Assuming that this is also a good place for "non-political debt ceiling crash" discussion.

Boy, I really don;t want to cash in all of my stocks. I've made a ton of money, on paper. And, if I cash them in, I'm gonna get hit for a boatload of Capital Gains taxes, that I would have really preferred to have on next year's taxes.

But, dang, I'm really getting the impression that the orders have gone out, and start pushing the "crashing the debt ceiling really won;t be that bad, those other people are just trying to scare people, and if the markets get scared, then it's not because of people like me, announcing that I think crashing the debt ceiling won;t hurt".

Really makes me think that I really ought to be all cash for the next month or so.

The thing with Wall Street is that anything that happens in the next few weeks is something they've been predicting or factoring into their risk for months now. Just ride it out, too late at this point to expect to save yourself from any huge loss that might be coming.

[Larry]

Dunno.  Market's been going steadily up. 

 

I have trouble believing that the market expects a "default". 

 

Looks, to me, like they're all assuming that "they wouldn't do that". 

 

(And they're probably right.  But all it takes is for the brinksmanship to make everybody else nervous, and a 10% drop, just based on fear, is certainly possible.) 

 

(And, if I'm right, and the market does drop as the cliff approaches?  Then I can buy back in, at the lower prices.) 

[Kilmer17]

As long as you don't need the money in the next few years, any losses you sustain will be made back eventually.

 

If it's spread across the board, you should be fine. 

[TheGoodBits]

Dunno. Market's been going steadily up.

I have trouble believing that the market expects a "default".

Looks, to me, like they're all assuming that "they wouldn't do that".

(And they're probably right. But all it takes is for the brinksmanship to make everybody else nervous, and a 10% drop, just based on fear, is certainly possible.)

(And, if I'm right, and the market does drop as the cliff approaches? Then I can buy back in, at the lower prices.)

Dunno. Maybe the market factored in a 60% chance that the govt would shut down and a 40% chance that the debt ceiling would be exceeded in everything that's happened for the past 6 months. Maybe that's the difference between a 2% return and a 6% return. The fact that it hasn't tanked since the shutdown is telling IMO.

[twa]

Buy gold JMS needs the bump

[China]

Metro Detroit sex toy company offering free vibrators to furloughed government employees

 

DETROIT — It's marketing genius.

 

Tom Nardone of Birmingham, the founder of the Detroit Mower Gang, a prolific pumpkin carver, bulletproof vest manufacturer, a married father of three and the creator of a successful Troy-based sex toy business named PriveCo, has harnessed the federal government shutdown to bolster name recognition for his company's website, vibrators.com.

 

For as long as the government is closed, his company is offering 200 free vibrators per day to furloughed government employees.

 

News of the offer has already been picked up by national women's magazine publisher Cosmopolitan. 

 

Nardone said this in a comment he left on a Cosmopolitan.com post about his offer:

 

 

 

Hi! I'm Tom from Vibrators.com. Thanks for posting about us. We are going to fill as many orders as we can. We figure we can ship out 200 or so a day without slowing down the shipments of other customers. So, if you are bored with no work to do, order one. It really is free.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

 

[Predicto]

heheh

 

On a minor note, my daughter has a high school cross country meet set for tomorrow in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.  They were just told that the park and course are closed, and are scrambling for a replacement course on City or State property.