What a pity! As Americans work long hours simply to put food on the table, their elected representatives in Washington have chosen theater over duty. The government is shut down, and Capitol Hill echoes with speeches instead of solutions. The same lawmakers, earning nearly $200,000 a year, now preside over a crisis that punishes the very citizens they claim to serve. Today marks the twenty-third day of the shutdown.
The shutdown has done more than idle hundreds of thousands of federal workers. It has silenced the nation’s instruments, the economic data that guide policymakers, businesses, and markets. Retail sales, inflation readings, and manufacturing reports are frozen in bureaucratic limbo. America has not seen an inflation report since mid-September, nor a jobs report since early October. The pilots of the economy are flying blind, charting policy and investment decisions without the gauges that show where the nation is heading.
And so begins the somnambulism. The nation moves, reacts, and legislates, but no longer sees.
The Proxies
In the absence of official numbers, the markets have turned to proxies. Wall Street analysts scour credit card transactions, shipping manifests, and private payroll reports, substituting them for government statistics to reconstruct the missing picture. Economists model inflation rates from online prices. Traders read sentiment from bond yields and futures curves, chasing faint signals in the dark.
At the Federal Reserve, the situation is no less precarious. The central bank meets next week without a clear view of the labor market or consumer prices. For an institution that prides itself on being “data dependent,” the irony is cruel. As Chair Jerome Powell conceded recently, “You do have a bit of tension between labor-market data — we see very low levels of job creation — and yet people are spending. We are going to have to see how that plays out.”
Policymakers must now set interest rates by instinct, not evidence, a delicate exercise in judgment with global consequences.
In the absence of current data, rumor becomes information, and confidence becomes a proxy for truth. The world’s largest economy now relies on intuition and optimism to steer a course that once depended on precision.
The Cost
The cost of the shutdown is mounting. Each passing week drains an estimated $15 billion from national output and leaves hundreds of thousands of families without pay. Contracts stall, research halts, and private firms postpone decisions for lack of official guidance. As Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent put it, “The only thing slowing us down here is this government shutdown.”
Even as some delayed figures begin to surface, the damage is done. For weeks, policy, business, and markets drifted without direction, proving how dependent the modern economy is on a steady flow of information. Yet the greater damage cannot be tallied in dollars.
When the flow of data stops, confidence begins to erode. Investors lose sight of the real picture. Businesses defer hiring. Policymakers grope for direction.
America’s advantage has never been its wealth alone, but the reliability of its information. It rests on a shared trust that facts, not politics, guide public life.
That trust is now fraying. The world’s largest economy has dimmed its own instruments, trading transparency for theater. Until Washington restores the flow of facts, the nation will keep moving through the dark, not steering its course, but sleepwalking through it.
May God bless America.
Related:
The $1 Trillion Schumer Shakedown—Editorial Board, TIPP Insights
Shutdown Will Disrupt Air Travel, Transportation Chief Warns—George Caldwell, The Daily Signal
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📊 Market Mood — Friday, October 24, 2025
🟢 Futures Edge Higher Ahead of Delayed CPI Report
U.S. stock futures ticked up Friday as investors awaited September inflation data delayed by the prolonged government shutdown. The report, once released, will offer key insight into price pressures the Fed must weigh at its October 28–29 meeting.
🟡 Ford Tops Earnings Estimates Despite Supply Shock
Ford posted stronger-than-expected quarterly results, driven by robust SUV and truck demand. Net income surged to $2.4 billion from $900 million a year earlier, though a supplier fire and lingering tariff costs forced the automaker to trim its full-year outlook.
🔵 Trump Ends Trade Talks With Canada
President Trump abruptly terminated negotiations with Canada, accusing the Ontario government of circulating a “fraudulent” ad involving Ronald Reagan. The move rekindled tensions and underscored a more confrontational trade stance heading into the Xi meeting.
🟠 Gold Slips After Record Run
Gold was on pace for its first weekly loss in ten weeks, down about 3%, as traders took profits and awaited the CPI release. A softer inflation reading could revive Fed-cut bets and renew support for bullion.
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📅 Key Economic Data — Friday, October 24, 2025
🟦 Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Measures inflation at the consumer level, capturing changes in prices for goods and services. The core reading excludes food and energy and is closely watched by the Fed.
🟩 S&P Global Manufacturing PMI
A monthly gauge of factory activity that signals expansion when above 50 and contraction when below.
🟪 S&P Global Services PMI
Tracks business activity in the service sector, offering an early look at overall economic momentum.
🟫 New Home Sales
Reports the number of newly constructed homes sold during the month — a key indicator of housing demand and consumer confidence.
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