Government Shutdown

“Many of our food banks are currently distributing the food that they typically stockpile for the Thanksgiving and Christmas season,” said Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance CEO Sylvia Blain.

Many groceries rely on customers with food stamps, especially in low-income and rural areas.

The move comes while official statistics on jobs, inflation, and consumer spending are stalled during the government shutdown.

Each SNAP dollar generates $1.50 in economic activity.

“Some of the products we move that go into making plastic materials or paint, those businesses are really off right now,” said Austin Golding.

Due to the government shutdown, some pieces of the calculation puzzle for corporate earnings and outlook reports are missing.

“If we don’t know what the quality of the data will be. Well, that’s uncertainty. That’s risky,” says Columbia finance professor Laura Veldkamp.

Some passengers have already experienced delays, which could get worse as the shutdown drags on. But experts say you don’t need to panic right now.

As the government shutdown wears on, federal employees have begun to miss paychecks. But contract workers at government facilities face different repercussions.

In non-shutdown times, the BLS would be collecting employment data this week. Not doing that could have economic implications.