basis, with the work the u.s. embassy does here with visas. as we fight our own austerity measures in the uk, we're getting on with things. >> the international perspective is interesting and eye opening. becky anderson on carnaby street. you heard becky talk about belgium, canada's government closed for a couple months, too. the year 2009. steven harper shut down parliament for two months to, quote, recalibrate. during that time the budget was tabled as well as dozens of government bills killed. we are getting a ton of comments on our blog. join the conversation about the government shutdown on the blog. go to cnn.com/ali. or you can post your thoughts on ali's facebook and twitter pages and do the same at my facebook and twitter pages as well. we still have about ten minutes left in our special. we'd love to get more comments from you on this possible government shutdown. share your video stories with us by going to