Shutdown Could Cost $200M a Day

This is just what the economy needs to fully recover. The shutdown could cost the Washington area up to $200 million a day—and that’s not even counting the losses when all the tourist sites are closed, local economists said Sunday. More than 700,000 jobs in the Beltway are likely to be affected, coming just months after 26,500 jobs were affected by the sequester in August. “This is serious,” said economist Stephen Fuller. “For the Washington area, this is a tsunami.” In addition to the government contracts directly affected and national tourist sites shut down, federal agencies such as Social Security will not be able to process any new applications and basic agencies for the city, like trash collection, will be halted. Asian markets already took a hit Monday on fears of the shutdown.