∞∞∞ wrote:Got a call from one of my airline clients.
They're deciding to hold off on NTPs for three small capital improvement projects until the shutdown is done and they crunch the numbers to see how much revenue was lost during the shutdown.
Earlier, the tariffs cancelled about five projects of mine due to higher-than-budgeted costs. And now three are on hold (which will likely be cancelled if history repeats itself). These are private projects which suppliers, fabricators, tradesmen, engineers, architects, and other well-paying jobs lose out on...for no good reason. And of course the client can't make the improvements on their services.
Just chaos.
The chaos is where the real costs of the shutdown creep in. I was a construction contracting officer in the previous shutdown, and we had to stop-work massive multi-million dollar projects. The increased equipment rental terms, the increased per diem, the inefficiency... all of those things have real dollar consequences that eventually get paid by the Government. The last shutdown cost the taxpayer $52.5M per day according to OMB.
I think of the real impact to lives. I wonder what the minimum wage people who clean my office are doing right now. I wonder about all the NIB/NISH people (blind and severely handicapped) on contract whose daily routine is completely thrown out of whack and what their caregivers are doing when they are bringing in no money. I wonder about all of the food truck vendors who usually have a line of me and my coworkers starting to line up each day right about now.
Real bills start getting missed this week for people who live paycheck to paycheck. 800,000 civil servants miss a paycheck this Friday. Active duty Coast Guard will miss a paycheck on Tuesday of next week.
All because three people refuse to compromise.
