The government shutdown may be over, but the data about its economic impact are just starting to come in.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/17/news/economy/unemployment-benefits-shutdown/ The government shutdown lasted 16 days; starting on the 1st of October. This put most of the people working for the government out of a job. 16 days doesn't sound like a long time; however, it is much more difficult than it sounds to go without a paycheck. To help these unemployed people, the government set up unemployment benefits that temporarily payed these people while they were laid off. Those people that were unemployed are now getting reimbursed the money they should have been payed. So now the government is asking for the money, that was given to them when the shutdown start, back. There were "16,000 claims in Washington D.C., 7,600 claims in Pennsylvania and around 6,000 in Virginia during the 16-day shutdown." First of all I find it extremely obnoxious to have to "shutdown" our government over Obama-care. I completely acknowledge the fact that this was a last resort decision; but what did it do? Was shutting down the government the greater side of the opportunity cost? In my opinion, no. To be honest, i still don't see the generalized reason as to what a government shutdown is supposed to accomplish, so if someone could explain, that would be great. Anyways, i see it very contradictory to offer money to these laid off people, then ask for it back hence them getting reimbursed for their "lost" pay. It seems as if this shutdown only produced a negative overall outcome, in my opinion.