"Symbolism" and Trivia

No one in the media, or in any political discussion I have read, points out the real idiocy of the current government shut down, which it that it is due to something utterly trivial. The government spends $3.5 trillion annually, and is now shut down due to squabbling over the allocation of $5.3 billion, a whopping 0.15% of actual spending. The government spends $5.3 billion every 13 hours.

Economists like everything to be related to GDP, so we have shut down the nation’s government over the expenditure of 0.003% of GDP.

Evening news spends half of its thirty minutes rhapsodizing about the travails of 800,000 government workers, ignoring that government is about serving some 325 million people who live in the nation. They are saying, in effect, that we should ignore national governance and the well being of 325 million people because 0.7% of those people are momentarily not getting a paycheck.

There is validity to arguing about whether or not we should build a wall, but to shut down the government over it? That’s like a parent terminating his own employment to punish his child for wanting a bigger allowance.