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President Obama signed the spending bill, ending the government shutdown. Yay! (Of course, as an admitted conspiracy theorist, I think the shutdown was a big distraction, but from what?) The government has re-opened, furloughed government employees are back to work and the powers that be have managed to stall the debt default, sparing us from an inevitable economic nightmare.

Must Read: 5 Obamacare Benefits Black People Care About [EXCLUSIVE AUDIO]

The shutdown is now the least of our worries, as the country settles back to the status quo. Short of being able to get back into national parks and drop our children off at various Head Start programs, there’s more effects from the shutdown that need to be on our minds.

Here are three things that you should keep on your mind for life after the government shutdown:

1. The Obamacare Website Is Under Pressure

President Obama’s Affordable Health Care Act caught a break when the malfunctions of Healthcare.gov stole everyone’s attention during the shutdown. But now that we’re back up and running, attention will inevitably be given to the troubled site. The launch of the site has been a failure, and that’s not all. The Washington Post is reporting that, “most people still can’t purchase insurance. The magnitude of this failure is stunning. Yes, the federal health-care law is a complicated project, government IT rules are a mess, and the scrutiny has been overwhelming. But the Obama administration knew all that going in. They should’ve been able to build an online portal that works.”

2. It Ain’t Over

 

We might think that things are back to normal, but we’ve only bought ourselves just a bit of time. It’s being reported that the next deadline for a potential followup shutdown is already looming on January 15, 2014 and February 7, 2014, is the date in which the Treasury will once again have to take extraordinary measures to manage U.S. credit. Things are not looking good as it stands. The debt ceiling and potential default are sure to cause a global economic calamity, and this, my friends is what we should now be thinking about.

3. The Government Is Holding On To Your Money

 

Government employees are all supposed to be returning back to work as if this shutdown never happened, but not everyone is back. The New York Times is reporting that Cynthia Ellis, a South Side Chicago resident, needed to get federal tax documents for a state program that helps pay her mortgage. “I heard the news say all government employees are back to work,” she said, clearly frustrated. “This is bad. This is really bad.” If you’re not going to the IRS to make a payment, they’re not trying to see you, no matter the shutdown’s end. Something’s not right about this. It’s almost as if the government wants to hold on to as much of our money as possible, by not paying out anything and only accepting payments. Hmm…don’t mind me, I’m just a conspiracy theorist.

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3 Things You Should Know Now That The Shutdown Is ‘Over’  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com