The shutdown may have ended
when President Obama signed a deal late on Wednesday, but some of the
consequences will stay with us. Standard & Poor’s has estimated that the
shutdown cost the economy $24 billion.
That’s not a small amount
of money. How does that stack up against other big expenditures? Here’s just a
sampling of what else costs that much:
·
The net cost of to the government from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP): $24
billion
·
The Department of Agriculture’s
proposed budget: $22.6 billion
·
All air
transportation programs, including the Federal
Aviation Administration, security, research, and other costs: $21.9 billion
·
The Child Tax Credit: $22.1 billion
·
The Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program
(formally known as welfare): $17.7 billion
·
The cost of Head Start, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP),
and Women Infants and Children (WIC) program combined: $25.2
billion
The topline figure may not
take many other costs into account, such as loans that didn’t go out from the Small
Business Administration, permits that got held up, and the loss of billions in tax revenue. Plus the
government could still get a downgrade on its credit, which could ding
business and consumer confidence and bring about more costs.
The shutdown was just the
latest budget crisis that has been costly to the economy. A recent report found
that the uncertainty created by fights over funding the government and raising
the debt ceiling that have cropped up since 2010 has cost the economy nearly a million jobs.
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