Government Shutdown Day One: Who Cares?

Believing that the federal government shutdown - which began at 12:00:01 EDT Tuesday - would have no ill effects on the economy in general or stocks in particular, investors piled into high-risk assets, with the NASDAQ marking one of its best daily gains of the year.

Alternatively and somewhat counter-intuitively, precious metals sold off dramatically, with gold and silver monkey-hammered back down in an effort by the controlling cartel of central bankers to assure the world that all was safe, despite the globe's biggest and most important economy beset by problems stemming from its politicians.

The overall tone from the pols in the nation's capital is so unambiguously passe as to create some doubt that the impasse over the continuing resolution and the poorly-executed launch of state-by-state health insurance marketplaces for ObamaCare are anything but passing glitches that will soon be amended, such as Wall Street would like to believe.

However, every day that the government is shut down creates less-favorable conditions for the continued success of the world's reserve currency, the US Dollar, which fell modestly, according to the Dollar Index (DXY). Confidence in the leadership in Washington has hit an all-time low, not just from the general population but in foreign capitals as well.

Theatrics aside, Republicans and Democrats appear very far apart ideologically, though the perception one gets from idea leaders in the media is that the shutdown will last only a very few days, which is somewhat hard to believe, considering that the two sides aren't even communicating with each other, everybody in Washington seemingly on an unexpected holiday.

This farce of politics and money will not end well for those in power. The American public has had just about enough from Washington politicians, whose hubris knows no bounds and who operate without any sense of decency, wishing only to score political points in order to cripple the opposition.

With any luck, the politicians will not find a way out of the morass of deceit and despair they have wrought. And now, the countdown to the upcoming debt ceiling deadline can begin. October 17, the day upon which the government will supposedly run out of money, is not far off.

When people become complacent, trouble usually comes looking.

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