Ultimatums are for children and Congress: Listeners respond to the shutdown
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Across the U.S. today, government offices and national parks are closed and more than 800,000 federal employees are staying home without pay.
Welcome to Day One of what could be a lengthy shutdown of the federal government. At issue is the inability of lawmakers in Washington to agree on a budget.
Yesterday, as cable news networks’ apocalyptic countdown clocks ticked toward hour zero of the federal government shutdown, we asked listeners about their experiences with financial ultimatums.
On Facebook, we posted this question:
We got a number of responses, many of which revolved around a similar theme — financial ultimatums are for children:
“Yes, but it involved a four-year-old, whose response was more reasonable and mature than what I’m seeing from Congress. So I would suggest that maybe we cut off Congress’s allowance and revoke their TV privileges and refuse them dessert until they cooperate.” — Elizabeth Platt Hamblin
“No, I’m an adult and I only deal with adults.” — Cliff Barbier
“I probably locked myself in my room, because I was a child and who does that between responsible adults?” — Kevin Chen
Of course, one of you did have an adult perspective on the matter:
“I rented a room in my house to a young man who thought I should give him back his security deposit, which I had kept in lieu of a month’s rent. He attacked me in my bathroom while I was in the shower. He has free rent now, he’s incarcerated.” — Ellen M. Cosgrove
So, Congress. There you have it. It’s time you grew up, at least according to some Marketplace listeners.
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