NEC Dir. Hassett: It Costs the U.S. GDP About $15 Billion a Week for a Shutdown

EXCERPT:

HASSETT: “You know, my friends over at the Council of Economic Advisors gave me a report at the end of the week that said that it costs the U.S. GDP about $15 billion a week for a shutdown, or about a tenth of a percent of GDP. And so if the shutdown continues for a long time, then there are going to be a lot of things that don't happen, and it will show up in the GDP number. Now, the good news is that the economy is booming. We've got GDP now at 3.8 percent. We've got retail sales year-over-year up 6 percent. We've got a capital spending boom. We've got deals like the ones that you've been talking about this morning happening left and right. And so there's a lot of good news out there, and I think the government shutdown in the end is just going to be a footnote in history.”