For anyone watching the agonizing debate leading up to last week’s government shutdown, it was a frustrating exercise in democracy. We believe in checks and balances, but certain elements of the Republican Party held this country hostage, resulting in a partial shutdown of the government.
The decision by those politicians in the House to tie the Affordable Care Act to government funding served as theatrics to an argument that had already been settled by the judiciary (even though there are still questions about the law’s effectiveness in controlling health care costs).
Nearly 800,000 federal workers were furloughed, potentially costing the United States $1 billion per week, according to one report. According to various estimates reported in The Atlantic, that will result in a reduction of fourth quarter GDP by about 0.15 to 0.2 percentage points for every week the shutdown lasts. On the housing front, about 8,300 Department of Housing and Urban Development employees were affected, out of a total of 8,700. In the banking realm, the Small Business Administration was greatly impacted. The SBA was forced to close all of its loan programs, except for disaster loans.
As of this writing, the shutdown was still in effect. And there was no indication about just when it would all end.
It all sounds scary. Although the U.S. economy is gradually getting better, the shutdown has pushed a dangerous roadblock in front of a slow but steady recovery. But more frightening is the impending date of Oct. 17. That’s when the U.S. Treasury expects the U.S. will only have $30 billion in cash on hand to pay its bills, most likely leading to a never-before-seen default. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Treasury would run out of cash between Oct. 22 and the end of the month.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew last Thursday said the 2011 debt ceiling standoff created uncertainty in the marketplace, hurting consumer confidence. Another similar situation would potentially be catastrophic, he said.
“Since 1789, regardless of party, presidents and Congress have always honored all of our commitments,” Lew told the Economic Club of Washington, D.C.
All of this is potentially a nightmare for the economy and consumer confidence – but fitting for a month that also includes Halloween.
The Drone Predicament
A small helicopter no larger than a bread box hovered around the Millennium Tower construction site in Boston’s Downtown Crossing recently, and the subsequent exclusive video taken by a Banker & Tradesman staffer that received a lot of buzz in the world of social media provided a rare glimpse into the future of construction and real estate – especially construction of the mammoth buildings being planned across the Hub.
Yes, drones are finally here.
Joseph Larkin, a principal at Millennium Partners, told Banker & Tradesman that the firm was using the drone to capture “the views that will be enjoyed from different residential units once Millennium Tower is complete.”
In Massachusetts, the use of drones to showcase homes and new construction is slowly taking off – even though the Federal Aviation Administration currently bans their use for commercial purposes. The agency plans to publish some kind of regulations on the unmanned aerial vehicles sometime in 2015.
But this leaves developers and others in the lurch while the government tries to cobble together some regulations. And as more towers fill Boston’s skyline, more developers will be seeking to use drone technology or similar methods to stay one step ahead. As usual, technology is moving faster than the laws meant to regulate it.
