Shut down

Personally, I think it is a shame. Hundred thousands of American civil servants are forced to stay at home, without pay!

A situation like this is just unthinkable in Belgium. If our government would make their civil servants, teachers e.d. stay at home without pay, there would certainly be a revolution. Figure, some two years ago we were without a government for over one year, and still everything went its usual way. We teachers taught our students, the ministries did their usual work (not much, admitted), the police was on the streets and the hospitals had their nurses and doctors.

In my mind, it is just not possible that because some politician can't agree, so many people are put without an income. How are they going to pay for food, for housing, for everything else???

I'm ever so glad I live in Belgium. It is not the ideal country, the prices are high, the politicians are corrupt, but we do have decent social security. We automatically pay for it, it goes off our wages. That's why we retain (in my case, I'm in the highest category of taxes) we only keep about half of our bruto wages. But when we are ill, we don't have to pay a lot to be in the hospital or for medicine. And there is nothing to pay for schools, either.

Yes, I like travelling and going places, but I really would only want to live here. Next to social security, we also have the best chocolate and the best beers in the world!