The pain of the government shutdown is showing

President Trump escalated the border wall fight in a televised speech last night, at the cost of leaving the government partly closed. He criticized political opponents for blocking the wall, although Democrats have offered $1.3 billion for border security measures like surveillance and fencing.

The effects of the shutdown have begun to ripple across the economy, with mortgage applications delayed or canceled, public companies unable to complete deals and the well running dry for many federal employees.

• Payday would have come this week for many of the 800,000 federal workers affected. With no paychecks on the way, their savings are evaporating and their credit cards are being maxed out.

• The impasse is being felt elsewhere in the economy, including in home sales. Buyers are pulling out because of "economic uncertainty," according to a National Association of Realtors survey. And closings are being delayed or canceled because customers' mortgages were backed by federal agencies.• Several regulators are down to a skeleton staff, and companies are telling investors that their pending takeovers and stock sales could be delayed.

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Today's DealBook Briefing was written by Andrew Ross Sorkin and Stephen Grocer in New York, and Tiffany Hsu and Gregory Schmidt in Paris. New York Times, January 9, 2019.

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January 9, 2019

Post Script. If we drilled down to the personal stories of the people suffering, #TrumpShutDown would be unbearable to read about.This is just a brief outline of the damage to the economy itself from it - read & remember. #GOPCollaborators #TrumpResign