How Hard Has Massachusetts Been Hit by the Federal Shutdown?

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Kate Nagle, GoLocal Contributor

A new report shows the impact of the government shutdown which started earlier this month, ranking states as to who is "most affected" and who is least -- and according to WalletHub, Massachusetts fell just below the middle of the pack in the country at #30.

Read the report here.

The criteria looked at for each state include federal workers per capita, federal contract dollars per capita, small business lending per capita, social security payments per capita, student aid applications per capita, number of veterans per capita, and finally, real estate as a percentage of Gross State Product, to determine which states were feeling the shutdown the most.

See How New England States Rank for Government Shutdown Impact BELOW

Massachusetts was tenth in the category of federal contract dollars per capita, meaning it is one the areas of the country that rely most heavily on federal contracting work, much of which has also been put on stand-by due to the shut down.

"We're seeing an impact for sure," said Grace Ross, former gubernatorial candidate and community activist, noting that the shutdown was already being felt in Worcester. "I get it that [Congress] gets elected, they get paid to fight over policy. But they're ignoring their oath of office, which is to represent their constituents."

Chris Pinto with the Worcester Republican City Committee, however, had a different take. "From my perspective, I can not even tell that there is a shutdown, " he said. "Working in the private sector I don't get a government forced vacation that I will be compensated for later on."

Questioning Congress

Ross said that she had been getting reports that the shutdown was already having a significant impact on Worcester. "We've heard that cancer patients are being denied their trials, that they've been shut down since day one," she said. "There are folks who could literally die, and yet Congress has their healthcare. They're all healthy. They protected themselves, but what about their constituents?"

"We're hearing that they're closing the doors of federally funded shelters for battered women. I'm checking with my colleague who works with veterans, we've heard that if any of the armed services are killed overseas, they aren't flying the bodies home."

Ross noted the economics of the shutdown had "Federal employees who aren't getting paid -- I know someone who's been on furlough since October 1 -- that's money coming home to our state that's not there. That impacts our economy.

Ross noted that she saw historical similarities with . "Our big fear during the first recession in 2008 was that there would be a second dip at the federal level. We're making exactly the same mistakes."

"The solutions are sitting right there," said Ross. "If the government took back a even a tiny portion of the loans they made to the mega-banks, we could stop this"

Spending Under Scrutiny

Pinto said that government spending was part of the issue of hardships currently facing the states.

"Folks need to really understand that if the US Government continues to spend money that they do not have their will be dire consequences," said Pinto.

"The Cloward-Piven Strategy, which Obama clearly seems to be a fan of, calls for the overloading of the US public welfare system in order to precipitate a crisis that would lead to a replacement of the welfare system with a national system of "a guaranteed annual income and thus an end to poverty". In other words, Socialism."

He continued, "What people should be concerned about, and what the supporters of socialized medicine completely ignore, is that in true socialism there is no private property. In other words, when the leftist policies lead to the collapse our economic system, Nancy Pelosi, Jim McGovern and the rest of the democratic socialists of America will propose as a solution will be to seize the 401k accounts of everyone in the name of the greater good. Of course there will be those useful idiots of the left that still won't wake up to reality even after that occurs."

"The GOP needs to stop Obama Care, the unaffordable care act before it does more damage to the US Economy and the constituents of the 2nd Congressional District need to demand that Jim McGovern put his family on this plan. During the writing of this law Obama refused to take any input from the Republicans. Jim McGovern participated in forcing upon Americans via a legislative trick, which denied Scott Brown his "41st vote" to stop the law."

"If this law was so important to pass through trickery, then why haven't all the democrats in congress signed up their families for it already?" posed Pinto.

Related Slideshow: New England States’ Impact From The Federal Shutdown

We are well over a week into the shutdown of our Federal Government, and we are now beginning to show measurable consequences from the furlough and suspension of sevices. Here are the rankings of the impact on the New England states: