Government shut down

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kwcat
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Government shut down

Post by kwcat » Thu Nov 13, 2025 7:05 pm

I was just curious if anybody that reads this might understand these numbers.? Watching Local nonstop news tonight they were talking about the shutdown being over. They said during the time of the shutdown it cost the US economy $15 billion per week due to the fact that 670,000 workers were furloughed.
Simple math says that each one of those workers then was making $22,000 per week. Did I misunderstand something or did they just semantically miss relay the news?



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DMMDCats
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Re: Government shut down

Post by DMMDCats » Fri Nov 14, 2025 6:47 am

<full comment redacted as some can’t…>

As far as me, the shutdown cancelled $4,000 worth of work. So, maybe “they” counted all the projects placed on hold.



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Re: Government shut down

Post by catbooster » Sun Nov 16, 2025 10:05 pm

When they say it cost the economy that much, I think they mean it reduced the GDP (value of goods and services) by that much. It's not directly about how much the workers make.

If worker A makes a widget that sell for $X to a wholesaler who sells it for $Y to a retailer, who sells it for $Z to a customer, the effect to the economy is much more than just what the worker made. Similarly, if the widget is sold to a factory that uses it to produce some other product, not having it may have reduced the production of the other product, etc. The overall effect can reduce productivity or effect the workers in multiple businesses through the country.

At least, that's how I'd interpret it. But I'm not an economist.



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