Government Shutdown and Finances , observation and effect on DMV area

[Anonymous]

Tysons mall was packed and busy last night. People buying, people eating, people shopping, Halloween costumes going at $90 a pop. Folks buying Yeti customized products and test driving Rivians. Lots of foot traffic and cars all night long.

[Anonymous]

We have never been busier at our restaurant. We also can't find workers. There is so much work out there. 100s of restaurant jobs in DC alone.
Our18-year old was hired without any experience in Tysons Corner and is working 25+ hours a week while going to school.
I don't know how much money you all need to make, but we make $30-$45 an hour right now.
I want to retired as I invested well, but I have to go in for the brunch rush yet again.
I don't know anyone out of work.
Rent actually went down in our condo building and they still can't find renters fast. The few units for sale will not have buyers, because ti's cheaper to rent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why?

Is OP a journalist?

[Anonymous]

We are slowing down spending for sure, but still trying to do fun stuff with the kids. We went on a long planned weekend campout, and instead of stopping nearby for pizza one of the nights, did all our cooking at the site. I need to buy new sneakers but I'm just putting it off, and trying to stretch groceries a little more instead of just buying whatever we want. We didn't go quite as all out for our kids' upcoming birthday gifts as we might have, and coordinated with my parents to make sure between us we've covered the items as the top of their lists. I was going to cook all their birthday meals and cakes (except pizza for the party) myself, but now our oven needs repair, so we'll see.

I don't know how immediately visible this is at scale. It's not a complete pullback from all spending, just a scaling down and delaying. You wouldn't see us in restaurants on a weekly basis anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tysons mall was packed and busy last night. People buying, people eating, people shopping, Halloween costumes going at $90 a pop. Folks buying Yeti customized products and test driving Rivians. Lots of foot traffic and cars all night long.

As a furloughed fed...not sure these are my peers you're seeing. I've never seen a Rivian in our parking lot. Hasn't hit most of the contractors I know so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not gov, but all my gov employee friends are upper middle class and have enough savings or spouse’s incoming to afford them to comfortably ride out the furlough. This is a free extended vacation for them, and we know everyone will all get full back pay as usually.

These furloughs are just another huge waste of our tax dollars and only hurt low-income households which generally are not gov employees.

It hurts the worker bee Feds the most as they 1)tend to have lower pay and 2)still have to come to work 3)because they are still coming to work, they aren't eligible to apply for unemployment benefits

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am seeing no impact inDMV. All restaurants are packed. People are still spending like crazy. Houses selling like hot cake. No owing down in economy.

Whatever, move on from this thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On x some people are saying the House won't be back this year.

And none of them should be getting paid until those spineless republicans do their jobs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tysons mall was packed and busy last night. People buying, people eating, people shopping, Halloween costumes going at $90 a pop. Folks buying Yeti customized products and test driving Rivians. Lots of foot traffic and cars all night long.

You don’t know that tool

[Anonymous]

As I see it there are six categories of people impacted here:

1) feds reporting to work, supposed to not be paid, but money was moved around to pay them. These folks haven’t missed any pay, but see the missed pay coming if things don’t change. They will eventually be paid.
2) feds reporting to work, not being paid. But they will get paid when things reopen
3) feds not reporting to work, not being paid. These folks got paid in past shutdowns but aren’t sure if they will get paid this time.
4) Fed contractors reporting to work, getting paid.
5) Fed contractors, not reporting to work. They likely haven’t missed a paycheck yet because of how private companies payroll work, but they won’t get paid for this period of time so are looking at missed paychecks upcoming, and several have lost jobs.
6) companies that serve Feds and Fed contractors and aren’t getting business due to the belt tightening of the first five groups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On x some people are saying the House won't be back this year.

And none of them should be getting paid until those spineless republicans do their jobs

Trump doesn’t want govt to reopen. First item on the agenda is Epstein files. He’s going to pressure republicans to keep it shut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What burns me up - and must learn to let go — is that when this mess is over - and we are given our money (the feds who’ve had to go into office and pretend nothing is going on) they will pay us in one lump sum. This is basically giving them an interest free loan (as we will be taxed at the highest rate - so they win. Too late to get out. Thanks for the vent!

I thought about the interest part the other day. If this situation continues into the new year, the lump sum/back payment will count towards our earnings for 2026. This will increase our overall income for 2026 and may push some into a higher income tax bracket when you file in 2027. Additionally, it could lead to complications with the Thrift Savings Plan, causing the maximum contribution limits for the year to be reached more quickly because of the lump sum

I thought TSP contributions would be credited to the current year. I max yearly but have only contributed 19k so far this year. That would be several thousand short if they don't credit it.

I don't know how it works since we've never faced anything like this before. The 2018/19 shutdown happened during the last pay period of the calendar year, so it didn't have much impact on screwing up taxes and TSP. However, the current one could if it extends into the next calendar year. We would have six missed paychecks, which, after taxes and deductions, would be about $22,000 for me. I don't want 22k added to my income for 2026.

[Anonymous]

Isn't this similar to:

Fed Government Shutdown 2025: non-political thread
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1295254.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tysons mall was packed and busy last night. People buying, people eating, people shopping, Halloween costumes going at $90 a pop. Folks buying Yeti customized products and test driving Rivians. Lots of foot traffic and cars all night long.

no one was buying things you are an idiot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On x some people are saying the House won't be back this year.

And none of them should be getting paid until those spineless republicans do their jobs

Trump doesn’t want govt to reopen. First item on the agenda is Epstein files. He’s going to pressure republicans to keep it shut.

this

Plus elections on November 4th he's building a bunker he's never reopening