Shutdown Impact

(WOLL) COLUMBIA,S.C., —

It was two weeks pf political hot potato that left Federal employees dealing with furloughs and in some extreme cases out of a job. While Congress managed to pass a last minute deal to avert hitting the debt ceiling’s 16.7 trillion dollar upper limit, USC economic professor , Dr. Bill Haulk says it’s only a temporary fix.

Haulk says the deal keeps Americans in the clear until February, but if a permanent solution on how to better balance the budget is not reached, the next hurdle could go far beyond Furloughs and job loss.

In fact, Haulk says Congress could be forced to raise taxes or make spending cuts overnight.
The lack of confidence in government is another issue, Haulk says could cause a domino effect forcing the interest rate on auto loans, home loans, credit card, small business loans to spike.

Haulk says he’s cautiously optimistic about a better outcome during the next debate over the budget.

“Hopefully this crisis scared people enough that there’s some real desire to come to the table and come up with a deal…will it happen, well, I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”