Last week we laid out what the economic consequences of a lengthy government shutdown would likely be, among them a drop in GDP and a spike in the unemployment rate perhaps sufficient to push the US economy into recession, not to mention a halt in most economic data reporting..

... but ahead of the Sept 30 midnight drop dead date, there is still some confusion so let's recap the main points, the first of which is that a government shutdown should not be confused with the debt ceiling and its potential for a sovereign default.