{"id":119985,"date":"2025-10-15T19:33:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T15:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/?p=119985"},"modified":"2025-10-16T02:35:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T22:35:39","slug":"15-billion-freeze-how-washingtons-shutdown-is-bleeding-the-u-s-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/15-billion-freeze-how-washingtons-shutdown-is-bleeding-the-u-s-economy\/10\/15\/market-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"$15 Billion Freeze: How Washington\u2019s Shutdown Is Bleeding the U.S. Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"The federal government shutdown, now stretching into its second week, is exacting a steep economic toll on the United States\u2014an estimated $15 billion a day, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Speaking in Washington during the IMF and World Bank annual meetings, Bessent warned that the political deadlock in Congress is \u201ccutting into the muscle\u201d of an economy that had otherwise been accelerating under a wave of new investment.<br \/><br \/>Bessent urged Democrats to \u201cbe heroes\u201d and join Republicans in passing a funding bill to reopen the government. \u201cThere is enormous pent-up demand in this economy,\u201d he said. \u201cPresident Trump\u2019s policies have unleashed a new boom, but the shutdown is the only thing holding us back.\u201d<br \/><br \/>Despite the disruption, Bessent painted an optimistic picture of the U.S. growth outlook. He argued that the surge in investment\u2014particularly in artificial intelligence, infrastructure, and industrial manufacturing\u2014is sustainable, comparing the moment to past eras of technological revolution such as the railroad expansion of the late 1800s and the internet boom of the 1990s.<br \/><br \/>Still, the Treasury chief acknowledged that the shutdown is starting to strain key sectors. Federal contractors, research programs, and regional service economies are already showing signs of slowdown as federal operations remain frozen. \u201cEvery day of delay is another hit to productivity, confidence, and jobs,\u201d he said, emphasizing that prolonged paralysis could erase recent economic gains.<br \/><br \/>On fiscal matters, Bessent revealed that the U.S. deficit for fiscal year 2025\u2014ended September 30\u2014was smaller than the previous year\u2019s $1.83 trillion gap. Though the Treasury has not yet released official data, he suggested that the deficit-to-GDP ratio could drop toward the 3% range \u201cwithin a few years\u201d if the economy maintains its momentum and spending restraint continues.<br \/><br \/>The Congressional Budget Office has offered a more cautious assessment, projecting that the deficit only narrowed slightly to $1.82 trillion despite higher customs revenue from new tariffs. But Bessent insisted that the underlying trajectory is improving. \u201cIf we grow more, spend less, and constrain future outlays, it\u2019s absolutely possible to see that number start with a three again,\u201d he said.<br \/><br \/>Bessent credited a combination of Republican tax incentives and tariff policy for sustaining private investment, predicting that this dynamic will fuel years of expansion once the government reopens. However, his message carried a clear warning: the current shutdown is no longer a symbolic standoff\u2014it\u2019s a direct economic drag.<br \/><br \/>For now, the U.S. economy continues to hum on private-sector momentum. Yet the longer Washington remains gridlocked, the more that $15 billion daily loss could turn from a political talking point into a genuine economic wound.<br \/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The federal government shutdown, now stretching into its second week, is exacting a steep economic toll on the United States\u2014an estimated $15 billion a day, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Speaking in Washington during the IMF and World Bank annual meetings, Bessent warned that the political deadlock in Congress is \u201ccutting into the muscle\u201d &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":100963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,39,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-forex-markets","category-global-stock-markets","category-market-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119985"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":119987,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119985\/revisions\/119987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}