3 ms·

I'm sure there are _some_ discretionary choices made but ... what does a shutdown that doesn't hurt look like? At some level, the government is huge and expensi

by abeppu 3y ago

I'm sure there are _some_ discretionary choices made but ... what does a shutdown that doesn't hurt look like? At some level, the government is huge and expensive, and society is adapted to it continuing to operate. If we had a no-pain way to not spend all that money, we should do it. But I'm guessing that putting up some fences around a few monuments is pretty cheap (it's not like they put up a fence around the whole grand canyon or something) relative to the funds that are being stopped. I think the political showmanship here is that it's easy to have an above-the-fold image of a "closed due to shutdown" sign in front of the Lincoln memorial that's immediately comprehensible, but there's not a great pic to show more substantive but dry government work that doesn't happen or gets delayed. It's hard to visually instantly convey "you're still paying all your taxes but you're getting a whole lot less government right now."

dylan604 3y ago
If everyone's turn-by-turn navigation stopped working, there would be riots in the streets (if they could figure out how to get there). If you want to bring attention to the everyday person, turning off GPS would definitely get their immediate attention.
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago
  Don't a lot of modern systems combine GPS with GLONASS and Galileo?
  - jhoechtl 3y ago
    Pretty much every smartphone younger than four years.
    - antonjs 3y ago
      Also most receivers for super economically important things like a avionics or marine navigation, but shutting off WAAS specifically (augmented accuracy data for GPS broadcasted using a much smaller set of satellites) would affect air traffic that need it to land in low visibility at an increasing number of airports. Though, to the OP's point about GPS, WAAS is operated by the FAA, so it isn't clear to me whether not passing the defense authorization would affect it in the near term.
      - dylan604 3y ago
        If they stop paying the ATC controllers, there won't be any planes needing to land. So no problem! /s

by abeppu 3y ago

dylan604 3y ago

If everyone's turn-by-turn navigation stopped working, there would be riots in the streets (if they could figure out how to get there). If you want to bring attention to the everyday person, turning off GPS would definitely get their immediate attention.

yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago
Don't a lot of modern systems combine GPS with GLONASS and Galileo?
- jhoechtl 3y ago
  Pretty much every smartphone younger than four years.
  - antonjs 3y ago
    Also most receivers for super economically important things like a avionics or marine navigation, but shutting off WAAS specifically (augmented accuracy data for GPS broadcasted using a much smaller set of satellites) would affect air traffic that need it to land in low visibility at an increasing number of airports. Though, to the OP's point about GPS, WAAS is operated by the FAA, so it isn't clear to me whether not passing the defense authorization would affect it in the near term.
    - dylan604 3y ago
      If they stop paying the ATC controllers, there won't be any planes needing to land. So no problem! /s