By Thursday at midnight (that’s into Friday) the United States faces a grim choice. Either lawmakers on both sides of the aisle must come to an agreement to fund the government or the U.S will default on its obligations for what is understood to be the first time ever. An American default would be just short of catastrophic for an already troubled locale economy and that of those overseas.
Before we go any further, let’s take a look at the gravity of the situation here. In the most r ecent shutdowns, they were fairly limited in scope and often didn’t really last long. This time however the U.S not only would shutdown government wise it would also default on its financial obligations and other debts that are owed to outside sources. It is widely understood that the latter has never happened before and there is a probability that a financial collapse would almost inevitably follow.
There’s a ton at stake here and honestly both political parties are to blame. According to what we could find about the stakes at play here, the following list isn’t even fully exhaustive but is just a few examples of how the default and shutdown would hit the ordinary American.
- Social Security payments
Disabled workers; retired workers, and eligilbe people in between to the tune of 65m people receive such benefits every month. If the government shuts down and defaults on its obligations then of course those payments would quickly dry up or be significantly delayed. To address this portion of the potential default — some lawmakers are expressing interest in prioritising certain payments (SS being one of them.) Though with that idea there are a few legal setbacks that might arise according to CBS News.
2. Around November 1st military members and their families or widows would feel the hurt
Veterans benefits (the many types that there are) would essentially temporarily cease to exist. This includes survivors benefits and the like acording to what we could find. Payments across the board would end up being significantly delayed and likely only go to active duty service members while everyone else would have to wait.
3. Child tax credits…
The newly formed CTC payments that started in July would actually temporarily be delayed. These have become an important part of life for families who do have children considering they’re monthly payments. This is probably the worst of the probable consequences because the payments have helped so many comeeven just slightly into a better financial life than they had as a family prior to them.
4. Treasury Sec Janet Yellen….
Now admits that if something isn’t done by the 18th of October then America is in for a grim future until the solution can be found. The consequences would probably vary as time goes on as things shut down and the default goes on longer.
5. Medicaid…
Because states depend on the feds for reimbursement of administering such and its cost that could end up being yet another scandal for Biden. This is a critical one considering millons of people are enrolled in Medicaid simply because it helps make healthcare often significantly more affordable for an already troubled American consumer.
Patience is running thin along these lines because of Senators like Manchin and Sinema who are holding out over the very large infrastructure bill that they oppose. It’s worth reporting though that neither have actually placed much of a price on their preferred version of the bill — thereby holding everything up just the way Republicans want such to happen.
We’ll be covering this more as Thursday rolls around tomorrow.
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