US to face shut down crisis again

The US government began a partial shutdown after the two houses of Congress failed to agree on a new budget because the Republican-led House of Representatives insisted on delaying President Barack Obama's healthcare reform - called Obamacare - as a condition for passing a bill. A similar shut down happened during the Bill Clinton’s era in 1995 and lasted for 21 days. Experts do not expect this shutdown crisis to last that much long and the US seems to overcome the crisis currently but it is possible to witness another shut down crisis in one or two years. Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Prof. Murat Yulek, at Istanbul Trade University, said on Thursday, due to the failure in catching the debt return arithmetic it is possible for US to experience the same crisis in coming years. “In the debt return arithmetic of the US, the only way to prevent the US run up is to keep the interest rates as low as possible. But the US is pushing the debt ceiling up which will not solve the problem and give way for a similar crisis to show up. Besides, the debt dynamics are working against the US,” said Yulek. Underlining that US shut down will not have an impact on Turkey Yulek said: “Since the crisis is based on a political dispute and both Republicans and Democrats will in the end come to the same point, this crisis will not have a deep global impact. However, the important point to attract attention to is the growing public debt of the US which has touched 20 trillion dollars.”

On the other hand, Toronto Dominion Securities US strategist Gennadiy Goldberg, concering the issue said on Thursday that a long lasting shut down would slow down economic recovery because it will affect consumers and business confidence.

Goldberg also stated that he does not expect the crisis to last long.

Obama calls on House Republicans to act

US President Barack Obama scolded Republcains over budget crisi and questioned their role in the ongoing government shutdown.

"I don't think any one party has a monopoly on wisdom, but you don't negotiate by putting a gun to the other person's head, or worse yet, by putting a gun to the American peoples' head by threatening a shutdown," Obama said while speaking at a Maryland construction company.

He added: "The American people are not pawns in some political game. You don't get to demand some ransom in exchange for keeping the government running. You don't get to demand ransom in exchange for keeping the economy running. You don't get to demand ransom for doing your most basic job.”

Still, Obama went on to lay the onus for the shutdown squarely on the speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner.

"There are Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives today, that if the speaker of the House, John Boehner, simply let the bill get on the floor for an up-or-down vote, every congressman could vote their conscience, the shutdown would end today.

"The only thing that is keeping the government shut down, the only thing preventing people from going back to work and basic research starting back up and farmers and small business owners getting their loans, the only thing that's preventing all that from happening, right now, today, in the next five minutes is that Speaker John Boehner won't even let the bill get a yes-or-no vote because he doesn't want to anger the extremists in his party. That's all."

Obama further accused House Republicans of "careening from one crisis to another". And indeed, with a debt ceiling agreement needed by October 15, his accusation may be more apt than ever.

US loses Turkish tourists to Latin America amid shutdown

National US monuments and parks are closed as part of a shutdown during which over 700,000 government workers face unpaid leave

Turkish interest in US tours decreased after the US government shutdown amid worries that processing times for long term visas for Turks would increase at the US consulates. 

Board chairman of the Turkish Ani Tour company, Veli Cilsal, said tourists were disappointed when the sites such as the Statue of Liberty, parks and museums closed after Democrats and Republicans disagreed on the US budget at the beginning of the week.

Expressing that recent tours to the US had experienced no problems, Cilsal noted Latin American countries such as Brazil and Argentina, as well as Asian ones such as Japan and Thailand, were becoming more popular. 

Cilsal stressed they had decided as foresight not to organize US tours until April 23, 2014 and increase the Latin American tours. 

Ali Onaran, board chairman of Turkish Pronto Tour, said their tours to the US would not be cancelled.

Noting that the closure of the Statue of Liberty and Grand Canyon was a problem, Onaran said they are organizing tours to the Red Canyon as an alternative.     

"There are no security or health problems. We did not receive any news on any slowdown in passport control while entering the country, but we were informed that some visitors changed their tours to South America in the last minute," Onaran added.

The US government began a partial shutdown on Tuesday as the House and the Senate couldn't agree on an emergency spending bill to fund the government.

The House and Senate have blamed each other for more than a week over Obamacare, the president's signature health care law. 

Lawmakers failed to compromise on the bill before a midnight deadline as Republicans insisted on delaying Obama's health care reforms as a condition for passing the budget.

More than 700,000 US government workers face unpaid leave with no guarantee of back pay once the deadlock is over.