Today at TILE we talked about the government shutdown that almost was. The United States is the richest nation in the world – doesn’t the government have plenty of money to spend? Can Washington D.C. really just screech to a halt because politicians can’t agree on a budget? What was the whole situation really about?
Governments, businesses, and individuals all use budgets to track what they earn and what they spend. Of course, not all budgets are the same size. The budget for the United States is expected to be $3.7 trillion – yes, trillion – in 2012. And the federal deficit – the difference between expected revenue (i.e., taxes) and expected spending (on things like defense, education, and health care) – is estimated to be $1.5 trillion. That’s a pretty big gap, especially when you consider that the goal of a budget is to set a path for the future – and usually to make sure you don’t overspend.
The government doesn’t want to overspend, so by law Congress and the President have to agree on an annual budget – setting the path for the year ahead. As recently as last week, the discussion was at a standstill; no one could agree on what to cut from the budget and how much to cut. We were told that if there were no agreement, then the government would “shut down.” Remember when you were a kid in a toy store – you wanted to buy the Barbie, the Legos, and the cool guitar, but only had enough money for one? Did you feel frustrated and paralyzed just wishing for more money to appear? That’s kind of how it was on Capitol Hill last week.
What would a government shutdown have actually looked like? Well, not everything would stop outright. Programs considered essential to how people live, like Medicare and Social Security, not to mention law enforcement, would continue. Postal workers would still deliver the mail, and anything having to do with local government (like trash collection) would continue. But a lot of other things would shut down. Government workers – including members of the military – would stop receiving paychecks. Our 368 national parks and museums would be closed, and you would be out of luck if you needed to renew your passport. Fortunately, at the last second, the President and the Congress agreed on a budget that keeps the government running until the end of this year. Crisis averted… at least for the moment.
What does this mean for the TILE community? Well, a budget (or game plan) is an important tool to make sure your spending doesn’t get so disastrously out of whack. Everyone needs a budget – and the policy of agreeing on one before the money hits your checking account is probably a good idea. This applies to both people like you and the government of the largest economy in the world. Hard choices are a part of life, and it is the rare person (or country) that has enough resources to do everything it wants.
- Amy