Well that shutdown was fun. More for some than others. These squirrels, for example, had a pretty good time. Washington D.C. residents had it rougher, what with many of them relying on federal funds to live. But their sorrow apparently worked in favor of a select few: Bar owners (and bartenders, waiters, and liquor distributors, we’re guessing). “The one area where we’ve seen an increase is the alcohol tax has increased in the District [of] Columbia. I won’t try to speculate as to why,” D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray said while reporting a three-percent increase in alcohol sales from last month. Maybe it’s thanks to thousands of furloughed workers who had nothing to look forward to day after day but more uncertainty? Eh, maybe. Between that, the myriad casual encounters folks trying to make things happen, and the members of Congress themselves, who knows?
