The GOP Government Shutdown of 2013 may end tonight, but plenty of damage has already been done.
Standard & Poor’s calculates that the shutdown that has so far lasted just over two weeks has taken $24 billion out of the economy, shaving at least 0.6 percent off of GDP in the fourth quarter.
The agency had originally predicted a 3 percent growth rate in GDP this quarter, noting that “we thought politicians would have learned from 2011 and taken steps to avoid things like a government shutdown and the possibility of a sovereign default.” But now recognizing that “our forecast didn’t hold,” it has reduced that estimate to 2 percent.
They “thought politicians would have learned from 2011.”
Funny people.