Many CEOs from firms such as Honeywell Internatonal to JetBlue Airways Corp are in agreement that an extended shutdown of the US government would have the potential of jeopardizing the gains achieved from the 2008 financial crisis.
The government, because of a Congressional impasse, had began furloughing 800,000 federal employees. The main bone of contention is whether any changes to the President's health care law, called Obamacare would be allowed through an extension of government grants of funding.
One of the more vocal CEOs, Foot Locker Inc's Ken Hicks, had called out the implementation of the 2010 health care law. He said there won't be any lessening or even limiting rising costs and this is a small matter to be the fulcrum of the government shutdown. He nods when the fragile economic gains would be lost at these 'challenging times.'
The first partial shutdown of government in the past 17 years would subtract nearly 1.4% from economic growth. This was the conclusion reached by Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Chief Fixed Income Strategist Guy LeBas. He added that an extended budget fight would risk dampening consumer sentiment, restraining sales in key markets such as the auto and luxury goods industry and cause problems in others such as the travel industry.
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