Opinion: Government shutdown is a cataclysmic dysfunction

In the recent government shutdown, two million federal employees stopped being paid. Nearly a million were placed on indefinite furlough. There is a word for shallow thinkers who cheer these conditions: idiots.

In truth, from every perspective, ideology or political stance, “shutdown” is cataclysmic. Standard & Poor’s, who rates U.S. credit worthiness, calculates shutdown will suck billions from the U.S. economy and cut GDP growth. We will all be poorer.

Our U.S. Constitution limits government by dividing powers between branches. The “power of the purse” rests with the people’s voice, Congress. Because of this, the Antideficiency Act of 1870 made it illegal for an agent of the Executive Branch to make payments or enter into contracts in excess of congressional appropriations.

But it was