Cartoon

The White House

Written by SK Ashby

(Cartoonist - Rob Rogers)

In other news, federal employees have lost at least $2.2 billion in pay as of this week because of Trump's government shutdown. That's $2.2 billion in consumer spending sucked right out of the economy for no good reason.

Meanwhile, Britons have started stockpiling their own food and medicine supplies at home in anticipation of their Brexit disaster.

Finally, economists estimate that at least 0.53 percent of GDP will be eliminated if Trump's government shutdown continues long enough to see funding for food stamps run out.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said there may not be enough money to keep food stamp benefits flowing to 38 million recipients past February.

That spending accounts for about 10 percent of the food U.S. families buy for their homes, with purchases spread across some 260,000 retailers, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Joe Brusuelas, chief economist with financial consultant RSM US LLP, estimates the loss of food stamp funding alone would strip at least 0.53 percent from the GDP.