This is a Company Town

And the 'Plant' is the Federal gummint.

And local news sites are spouting off the usual tragedy.  They will spout the company line. Of course, it impacts hundred's of thousand of area listeners directly, or first order indirectly.

But let's keep it in perspective.

Last week, when Trump was gonna sign a continuing resolution pushing the fight to February, the Feds declared Monday to be an official holiday.  Tuesday is Christmas.  And the shut down didn't happen until after work on Friday.  Next to nothing happens in the Federal government (except sometime the now-fully-funded military) on a weekend.  Less happens on holidays.  Essential personnel, what few there are, report to the Department of Commerce as usual, so if a pipe bursts someone is there to shut off the water.

Talk of riots and massive fires in DC is fiction.  Locals with relatives in from out of town they were going to entertain by dragging them to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, well, they will have to think of something.

But the partial shut down doesn't REALLY start til about 7AM Wednesday, the 26th.

I say 7AM because with their faults as inefficient putterers when it comes to their job, Federal workers do like to get in early.  More than average.  You avoid some traffic and have more time in the afternoon for personal stuff.

So that is when their extended holiday starts.

They were to be paid on Friday the 28th. (ed:  they still will be, the machine for that direct deposit can't be stopped now.)  If the government is still closed then they might not be.  That'd be the first real hardship.  For what they do, gummint workers are decently paid.  If they don't have some money set aside for shutdowns then that is on them.  And it's not like they won't be paid eventually.  For not working.  That money might be delayed, is all.  Never in my lifetime has a shutdown caused a federal worker to lose a dime of pay.  Next payday:  11th January.

No the people that set up a food truck next to a government campus, THEY will lose some money, yes.

But don't feel bad for the civil servants.  Well, some civil servants.  More than half of them aren't impacted at all.

And TSA screeners are essential personnel.  FAA is funded.  That's the flight controllers.  If someone tells you your flight will be delayed because of the shutdown, they are wrong.  Or the screeners are conducting shennanigans.


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Addition.  Oh, Federal Contractors might get hosed over, individually, if the shutdown is long.  Depending on their company.