Another Shutdown. *Sigh

Another shutdown. *sigh

The shutdown does eliminate the possibility that my family will be visiting a National Historic Site this weekend. Steamtown is just minutes away from where I type this. It’s closed though. As are other sites of culture and recreation. So, too, are some websites. While tutoring yesterday, I couldn’t access bea.gov. I could, however, get to bls.gov and commerce.gov. Healthcare.gov is running, though the open enrollment period has closed. (A red banner across the top of the webpage shares the good news, though, that the court decision won't affect coverage . . . at least not yet, if it is upheld. Reassuring, I'm sure.)

Let’s ponder, though, the discrepancy between the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There’s a seemingly arbitrary nature of what is considered essential and nonessential. TSA is at work. But IRS is not. Capitol police are on duty, though I don’t know if they’re getting paid. Members of Congress, though, are definitely not getting paid. The Smithsonian is shutting its doors January 2 because that's when they're unspent funds are spent.

This shutdown, though, doesn’t at all affect any of the main drivers of government outlays. Social Security, Medicare, and Defense are all unmolested. In fact, a lie told by our president recently, that for the first time in ten years uniformed members of the Armed Forces are getting a pay raise, called my attention to a news article saying that, in fact, members of the Armed Forces have gotten pay raises every year since 1983. Most American workers haven't been able to say they've gotten pay raises every year for 35 years.

Please set aside for a moment questions about whether or not those men and women deserve these pay raises. Instead, set this into the context of the bigger picture. The shutdown, which is really just our federal government’s inability to pass a continuing resolution and which has become a perennial feature of modern-day American politics, won’t touch any of the most significant motivators of our increasingly indebted federal politics. Further, it provides a convenient excuse to fixate on a wall or whatever along our southern border. Far better to distract the American public with that shiny coin than to think about more substantive issues such as . . .

a stalled trade war casting uncertainty on the market place

automation, a dual-edged sword facing the American worker

the increasingly expensive nature of medical coverage in this country

increasing numbers of Americans killed by gun violence

rising mortality and falling life expectancy

the disturbing trend that suicide rates, while falling in the world, are rising here

a budget deficit approaching $1 trillion in the tenth year of an economic expansion

This isn’t a shutdown. It’s an exercise in arbitrary, or maybe not-so-arbitrary inconvenience. The older Americans are still getting paid. The younger ones, maybe. But usually not. And the pressing, long-term, structural issues keep getting ignored.