Utah and Colorado to Pay Federal Government to Reopen Parks During Shutdown

With 90% of Pentagon employees furloughed having returned back to work this week, the focus of the government shutdown has largely been on the country’s national parks, landmarks and monuments. Now it is being reported that the states of Utah and Colorado will actually pay large sums to the federal government to be allowed to open their national parks during the shutdown:

Utah has agreed to pay the federal government $1.7 million to open up eight national parks during the government shutdown, and Colorado will pony up $362,700 to open Rocky Mountain National Park.

But Arizona officials said the Obama administration is still “dragging their feet” in reaching an agreement over the Grand Canyon.

After being battered for its decision-making during the shutdown, the park service is trying to regain its footing, including opening up monuments in Washington and Philadelphia to First Amendment activities, which in essence makes them open to anyone who knows the policy. (source)

All of this quibbling over parks and the idiocy of keeping people from visiting monuments that aren’t normally even staffed anyway has nothing to do with any of the real problems our government faces, like coming to terms with the total financial and privacy rights nightmare that is Obamacare or the overall out-of-control spending habits of a totally debt-saddled government.

The U.S. National Parks Services has a budget of $2.86 billion which seems rather trivial in comparison to the fact that the U.S. government spent $3.54 trillion in 2012 alone and has raked up a total national debt of nearly $17 trillion overall. Even if every single last park in the country was closed tomorrow forever, it would do little to solve any actual problems this nation faces.

In fact, just the first week of the government being shutdown actually cost taxpayers an average of $12.5 million an hour.