How much has the Minnesota government shutdown cost us?
The shutdown may be over by the time this is read; as of Thursday Gov. Mark Dayton said he would accept the last offer by the Legislature, with three provisions.
Regardless of that, our state is losing huge amounts of money with each day of the shutdown at a time that the economy is already in tough shape.
Think about the money our state economy is losing.
The loss of state revenue through the sales of fishing licenses, lottery tickets, and state park fees, as well as other fees collected for services will impact us for a long time.
Unemployed state workers aren’t likely spending money at this time, and neither are the people who have been laid off because their employers are contractors with the state and the jobs and projects have stopped. Bait shops probably aren’t selling a lot of fishing gear to people who can’t legally fish, and now the sales of beer will impact local retailers who count on that income from summer sales to get them through the winters.
And these impacts are just at the surface. There are many more costs that are below the surface. And even when the shutdown is over, how much more money it will cost when the government reopens and begins to catch up.
Kudos to the lawmakers who have refused to accept the pay that they are legally entitled to accept during the shutdown. When Minnesotans are struggling because of the shutdown, it is only ethical for the people who have caused this problem to feel a little pain, too.
The shutdown is a result of lawmakers who won’t compromise because they believe some Minnesotan’s hold certain philosophic beliefs on the economy. The lines in the sand have been drawn, but at what cost to Minnesota?
