STRAIGHT TALKS
MARK BARNES: A self-imposed US shutdown process might have uses in SA
Just after midnight on Saturday, the government of the US shut down. It’s not the first time it’s happened, and it won’t be the last. It’s happened 18 times since 1976. Essentially, a US government shutdown occurs when the president and Congress fail to pass appropriate legislation for funding government operations. A bit like a trip switch, if there’s a short circuit the system shuts itself down as a default. This time they couldn’t get approved a simple requirement to extend some funding authority for a month. That’s all, but that’s not the point. If the government doesn’t get the authority to spend the money, then it is technically insolvent, which requires the government to shut down until that can be resolved – like extending the repayment date on a loan. In the past it has taken from one day to three weeks to sort out.When a shutdown happens, so-called nonessential services, such as administration, government websites, national parks, etc, deliberately stop functioning, and th...
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