More Europe!

On October 1st the US government told all non-essential employees, including the United States Trade Representative to quit their day jobs. Temporarily that is. With deranged people ramming into the White House with their cars and setting themselves ablaze, the sky seems to be falling in Washington.

Major news sources covering the government shutdown have heavily focused on the plight of out-of-work US civil servants, upset war veterans, and lawn mowers. Starbucks , has even chimed in on the debate. But the real losers here are the Eurocrats with empty conference rooms and unfulfilled lunch appointments due to the indefinite postponement of second round trade negotations in late September.  A visibly irked Karl de Gucht commented, "I don't want to say that this is merely a stall tactic from the US government, but it's a stall tactics. We played hardball during the first round and this is how they respond. It's like a child holding their breath until they pass out when they don't get what they want."

While others in Brussels agree that this newest negotiating technique on the part of the Americans is carefully calculated, American officials are quick to dismiss such claims. Responding from his home in New York US Trade Representative Michael Froman responded, "That's just ludicrous. I had my umbrella packed and everything for this trip to Brussels then DC tells me to take a hike. It's frustrating, I can't even work from home. On a positive note I've been able to catch up on Homeland. Good to see the government shut down hasn't affected intelligence operations." Negotiations are expected to pick up again between the US and and the EU as soon as the US government makes the decision to "govern" again.