$24 billion. This is the rough estimate for how much money the government shutdown cost the United States economy. While the situation has been temporarily resolved – we'll see what happens in January – the fact remains that a much-needed amount of economic activity was essentially nullified due to Congressional intransigence. Whether or not this number will rise remains to be seen, but it's clear the Democrats and Republicans have, once again, destabilized the economy by their petty political antics.
Standard and Poor's, the U.S. ratings agency, released a report earlier this week that showed the shutdown reduce daily economic growth by about $1.5 billion. This evens out to about $24.5 billion, considering the government opened yesterday. Additionally, S&P estimated that GDP will fall by 0.6 percent this quarter due to the shutdown.
S&P maintained its negative debt rating watch, suggesting in a press statement that while the current impasse has been overcome, the same structural and socio-political issues are still very much in play.
"If people are afraid that the government policy brinkmanship will resurface again, and with it the risk of another shutdown or worse, they'll remain afraid to open up their checkbooks. That points to another humbug holiday season," S&P said. "The bottom line is the government shutdown has hurt the US economy."
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