Shutdown costing US economy about $15 billion a week

The U S governing body shutdown has become the longest in history and with no sign of a resolution soon its economic toll is deepening Now in its th day the shutdown has surpassed the previous record set in early during President Donald Trump s first term Every week that passes costs the economic activity anywhere from billion to billion based on analysts estimates with several landing in the billion range In the past the hit to economic expansion has been temporary with furloughed employees getting back pay and the federal ruling body making up for the halted spending once reopened This one stands to inflict more damage and not just because of its length economists say The financial sector is more fragile than seven years ago with numerous Americans fretting about inflation and job prospects And unlike during the - shutdown the fallout extends beyond federal workers missing paychecks to millions of Americans losing full access to food assistance heading into the holiday season The experience historically is that cabinet shutdowns don t cause calamity announced Jonathan Millar a senior U S economist at Barclays This time could be different The Trump administration has tried to fire thousands of federal workers during the shutdown and suggested that not all of the estimated furloughed workers should be retroactively paid Even though those efforts may fail they ve cast additional uncertainty about how much the market system would recoup Depending on its length the shutdown could lower fourth-quarter economic expansion by as much as percentage points according to the Congressional Budget Office If the stalemate extends to Thanksgiving week about billion won t be recovered at all the CBO declared The spillovers into the private sector are already playing out from idle governing body contractors to businesses relying on tourists getting hit by the closure of certain parks and museums Selected of the nation s busiest airports are seeing delays because of shortages of air traffic controllers who are among the employees who must work but aren t getting paid Here s a look at the toll across the U S Furloughed workers The impact from missing paychecks is being felt across the country not just in places like the DC area that have high concentrations of federal authorities workers In central Arkansas Seneca Blount has had to withdraw money from his retirement savings plan and ask for help from his church to cover bills including his rent after he was furloughed from his job at the National Labor Relations Board The -year-old veteran who lives in Maumelle near Little Rock has worked there months and previously served years in the military Blount disclosed he s delayed a car-loan payment but he wonders what will happen this month if he misses another check I can t keep this up I literally just signed a lease for my apartment complex revealed Blount who also pays child advocacy and other expenses as he co-parents his daughter Bills don t care about furloughs With furloughed federal workers technically counted as unemployed the jobless rate could jump to in October when the account is eventually issued from in August according to Bloomberg Economics Ripple effects An estimated billion in federal spending on goods and services has been suspended in the first month of the shutdown It s now entering a sixth week and the ripple effects are extending to contractors and suppliers that were expecting to get those funds That raises the exposure that these contractors have to furlough their own workers cut pay for their workers or even lay off their workers if they re in especially financially dire straits mentioned Bernard Yaros lead U S economist at Oxford Economics Thousands of privately owned businesses that rely on loans from the U S Small Business Administration are missing out on funds The SBA estimated the shutdown has blocked billion in loans for small businesses as of Oct money that would typically be used for operations including day-to-day expenses and expansion costs The impacts to businesses are beginning to pile up and impacting both their current and future upsurge Neil Bradley executive vice president at the U S Chamber of Commerce explained in a message Businesses need executive to function Food aid delayed The Trump administration stated this week it would partially fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Scheme or SNAP benefits for November to comply with a federal court order though it would cover only half of what families normally receive and could take weeks to implement Melissa Lewis a -year-old single mother of two children in Lincoln County Tennessee is among the million people who rely on SNAP benefits She commented she is concerned she may not be able to provide for her family without the aid as she has had to stop working temporarily due to a series of back surgeries I ve never had this feeling of I don t know how I m going to be able to feed my kids Lewis revealed A lot of people are going to suffer and the ruling body s not understanding they re fighting themselves while we re all suffering she added Clarissa Clarke authorities relations officer for the North Texas Food Bank expects demand to increase if SNAP benefits aren t distributed And though the food bank was able to get its supply of food for the rest of the year that might not be enough especially going into the holiday season when demand typically rises Another undertaking that has seen disrupted funding is Head Start which offers school and daycare services This allows various parents to work look for jobs or attend school when they otherwise would not be able to More than children and families lost access to the services as of Nov revealed the National Head Start association warning that the number would likely grow each day the establishment remained shutdown At the heart of the debate in Washington are subsidies enacted by Democrats in that make premiums cheaper for the more than million Americans who get wellbeing care through Affordable Care Act marketplaces The credits set to expire at the end of the year could cause the average premium to more than double according to KFF a physical condition plan research organization The economic damage will escalate further if the shutdown extends beyond Thanksgiving and weighs on consumer confidence and spending during the key Christmas buying season Mark Zandi chief economist at Moody s Analytics disclosed Jarrell Dillard and Josyana Joshua Bloomberg News with assistance from Jade Khatib Bloomberg L P Visit bloomberg com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC