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Podcasts Take Two
Calculating the real cost of the government shutdown
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Oct 17, 2013
Listen • 7:15
Calculating the real cost of the government shutdown
A preliminary analysis by Standard and Poor's pegs the cost of the shutdown at $24 billion. That's just a tiny fraction of the nation's almost $15 trillion economy, but the political standoff had a powerful negative effect on many small businesses.
US President Barack Obama speaks about the reopening of the US government following a shutdown, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 17, 2013. Obama warned Thursday that America's political dysfunction had encouraged its enemies and depressed its friends, and said the crisis had left 'no winners' in Washington. Obama called on warring politicians to come together to pass a long term budget and to give up the 'brinksmanship' that threatens the economy and squandered the trust of the American people.
US President Barack Obama speaks about the reopening of the US government following a shutdown, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 17, 2013. Obama warned Thursday that America's political dysfunction had encouraged its enemies and depressed its friends, and said the crisis had left 'no winners' in Washington. Obama called on warring politicians to come together to pass a long term budget and to give up the 'brinksmanship' that threatens the economy and squandered the trust of the American people.
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SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
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A preliminary analysis by Standard and Poor's pegs the cost of the shutdown at $24 billion. That's just a tiny fraction of the nation's almost $15 trillion economy, but the political standoff had a powerful negative effect on many small businesses.

The government has finally reopened. Federal workers are heading back to their jobs, and the stock market, while trading modestly lower, avoided a big collapse. All this after a last minute agreement that forestalled a possible default by the government, and restored funding for its operations.

Still, it was an expensive political crisis.  
 
A preliminary analysis by Standard and Poor's pegs the cost of the shutdown at $24 billion. That's just a tiny fraction of the nation's almost $15 trillion economy, but the political standoff had a powerful negative effect on many small businesses.

Bloomberg News reporter Kathleen Miller is part of a team that looked at the nooks and crannies of the economy to find out who was feeling the pain.  She joins the show with more.