Federal Government Shutdown Looms Alongside 2011 NFL Lockout

Every sports fan in America is sweating about losing the NFL and NBA in the coming season to lockouts, but there’s an even bigger shutdown looming that stands to affect the entire country and not just those that yell at their televisions when someone drops a pass. The US Federal Government could go in to their own lockout on the exact same day the NFL would announce theirs on March 4th, 2011. So what exactly is the deal?

I don’t portend to be a savant of all things political, but the premise of any major lockout is the same: there are two or more sides that have a major disagreement about money and don’t want to budge on their stance. The NFL’s ongoing labor dispute has thrown the upcoming 2011 NFL betting season in to serious jeopardy, but at the very least fans know about the general circumstances influencing the lockout.

Those would be the health and benefits of Peyton Manning to the guy who punches tickets at the gate will be affected by the 2011 NFL lockout, but for the most part life would go on and you’d have to imagine that things would eventually get ironed out within the year.

The idea of a Federal Government lockout tends to be more scary, and to correct myself partially the term is actually “federal government shutdown”. Again, I am far from being a political analyst but the general idea is that the government reaches the end of its fixed budget on March 4th, 2011 which happens to be this Friday.

So what’s more likely? The fact is that Obama can’t stand to have his government lose more ground in the public standings than it already has. People are squabbling with creditors and banks over finances. This country needs its political leaders fighting over money like it needs another credit crisis.

It’s also worth pointing out that the two sides with the power to cause a 2011 federal government shutdown can agree on a short term deal for a period of around three months. The same thing happened a few months ago, and if the two sides can’t come to terms on a long term solution, something can be hashed out so the entire country doesn’t collapse.

Much to the dismay of the online gambling community, an NFL lockout is much more probable than a temporary or moderately long term federal government shutdown is. I’m just glad I live in a world where billionaire owners, millionaire athletes and very well paid government have the ability to invoke a federal government lockdown and a 2011 NFL lockout on the very same day.

Friday, March 4th, 2011 sounds like a great day to go drinking, as if you or I needed any more excuses.