The new fiscal year in the US was not celebrated with festive fireworks, but with a hackneyed shutdown — the 22nd in nearly 50 years. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that taxpayers are shelling out $400 million per day so that government employees, who are technically placed on unpaid leave, will receive their paychecks once the funding issue is settled.  

Around 750,000 people — almost the size of a major city — are sitting at home without working, yet the government keeps paying them. One has to wonder what exactly lies behind this practice.  The five-week shutdown of 2018–2019 taught a painful lesson: $3 billion was lost forever, and everyone suffered — both the economy and decent Americans.

President Trump, who consistently blamed the Democrats for the budget failure, even hinted that he wanted to use the shutdown as a way to carry out mass layoffs and “clean up” unnecessary programs.

Interestingly, shutdowns in the US are not a new phenomenon: there have been 22 over the past half-century, making them almost a national tradition. While federal employees are paid their lavish wages, ordinary Americans count every dollar, waiting for the madness to end.