shutdown of the the timing couldn t be worse, we re heading into the thanks giving and christmas shopping seasonses, right? paycheck delays for an even larger group. that hurts the economy. mark zandy thinks it could but a government shutdown, alison could be nothing compared to something further down the road. the failure to lift the debt ceiling. let s take a moment to compare these two and how they would affect the economy. so let s start with the shutdown the in a shutdown, banks would stay open, mail would be delivered, congress would get paid, social security, medicare, medicaid, all of that is paid. military pay, though would be delayed. the courts could stay open about ten days. passports will still be issued, at least for a while, because they are funded by fees. here s the other things we are worried about. in a default, in a default to pay the interest on our loans,