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WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 (UPI) — Federal employee union leaders and members say being furloughed or still working, but without pay, has created personal hardships as the government sits largely idle during the second week of a shutdown.

And for many, the shutdown over funding has deepened concerns about the long-term erosion of the federal workforce. Agencies already operating with limited staffing could face additional strain as employees decide public service is not worth the stress and leave.

“It’s my opinion that we have functionally been in a shutdown, or at least a partial shutdown, for eight months now,” said James Kirwan, legislative affairs director of the National Labor Relations Board Union.

“Since January, one-eighth of the federal workforce is gone. That’s over 300,000 federal workers who were either fired or pressured to take the deferred resignation program. As a result, a lot of programs are dealing with much smaller capacities.”

Kirwan, who is furloughed, spends his days meeting with congressional representatives to advocate for federal worker protections in future budgets. The National Labor Relations Board, where he works overseeing private-sector union disputes, is almost entirely shuttered.

“I think 99.8% of the National Labor Relations Board is furloughed,” he said. “If you are an employee claiming you’ve been fired because of anti-union discrimination, there’s nothing you can do right now. There’s no legal mechanism at your disposal to get your job back.”

Kirwan said he remains committed to his role at the NLRB, but fears for the future of federal service, noting that while government jobs have never been the highest paying, they historically offered stability, union protections and flexibility. But now these benefits are eroding as collective bargaining agreements lapse and layoffs continue.

“Twenty percent of the federal workforce is GS-7 or below, which basically means that they make less than $30,000 or $35,000 a year. We’re talking upward of 200,000 federal employees,” he said.

“For them, not receiving a paycheck is potentially devastating because it means that they have to take out more credit card debt, loans — things that can put them in financial jeopardy.”

While Kirwan is grounded in Washington, others feel the effects of the shutdown across the country.

James Jones, based in Boone, N.C., a representative of Local 446 with the American Federation of Government Employees, works for the National Park Service. He said the shutdown hit at one of the worst possible times — the fall season in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

“It’s the fall color season. Our park gets very busy during this time of year, probably the busiest time of the year for us. We don’t have enough maintenance folks to really keep up with the amount of traffic that is coming into the park each day,” he said.

Jones told UPI that one or two Park Service workers visit the parks each day to clean the bathrooms and take out trash, but it’s not enough. With parks remaining open without proper staffing, he said a bigger mess will await them when they eventually return — if they do.

“We work for Americans, we serve the American public, and the longer we’re out of work, the larger the toll it’s going to take on these public services,” Jones said.

An Army veteran, Jones has been through several shutdowns and shared frustrations regarding the constant political gridlock and its wear on morale.

“It kind of makes me angry because I’d rather be at work. Not just collecting a paycheck, but I’m pretty committed to the National Park Service and its ideas and mission, and I’d like to be there doing my job,” he said.

He added that the frustrations lie deeper than just financial uncertainty, but it affects other means of living, as well.

“It’s not just the back pay, it’s all your benefits. It’s the longer the shutdown lasts, we’re losing annual leave, we’re losing sick leave, we’re losing retirement benefits, our health care premiums aren’t being paid,” Jones said.

While in Chicago at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Colin Smalley, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 777, described a similar sense of exhaustion. Even before the shutdown, he said, agencies were grappling with what he called a “brain drain.”

“We have people who are in their field, people in the design of a project from 20 to 25 years ago, and they still are around to inspect these federal projects. We do levees, flood control, reservoirs and other things that protect our communities,” he said.

Smalley added: “We have people who have that long-reaching expertise and institutional knowledge who are walking out the door, and that really puts a stress on our ability to deliver the project.”

Despite assurances that workers wouldn’t be expected to handle more work to compensate for staffing losses, Smalley said they are still under pressure to meet the same deadlines with fewer people.

Although he expressed frustration with political leadership, he said this crisis has only deepened his commitment to the work.

“This whole episode is reinforcing my commitment to public service,” he said. “It reinforces the way I feel about serving my own communities. … My biggest fear is a slow descent into loss — of expertise, resources and the sense of common good that holds us together.”

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It’s not only European tourists traveling in the United States and finding themselves in front of closed museum doors or national park gates.

Because the US is so central to the global economy, European businesses could feel negative effects of a US government shutdown too.

In fact, they should get ready for a rough ride that will only become more painful the longer the gridlock in Washington lasts.

So, why should corporate Europe be worried about public employees on the other side of the Atlantic not being able to work?

Well, the shutdown halts or scales back many federal operations like providing loans or permits and disrupts the work of government agencies that provide oversight, slowing down economic activity.

What makes this more significant is its timing. This year, the US economy is already navigating slower growth, persistent inflation pressures and increasing financial insecurity.

The shutdown is adding to this insecurity and has the potential to trigger a chain reaction of economic consequences.

Take European trade businesses. Already rattled by the tariff chaos, they rely on consistent and predictable market conditions to plan their production, allocate resources and meet their customers’ needs.

Even a slight slowdown in economic activity would lead to lower US imports, which would reduce demand for European companies, whose growth, revenue and profitability would in turn be affected.

European imports arriving in America will meet less government staff in ports and customs who handle administrative and regulatory tasks associated with importing and exporting goods.

As a result, there will be delays which can extend the time it takes for goods to reach their destinations, disrupting delivery schedules.

The delays can have cascading effects on supply chains that rely on precise timing to function efficiently. This may lead to unexpected costs for expedited shipping and penalties for missed delivery deadlines.

In addition, there is the danger from a potential halt in export license approvals.

European companies need these approvals – or their renewals – to conduct their business operations in the US altogether.

“Companies will be frozen, they can’t get anything approved, no permits or licenses, can’t sell corporate debt in the US,” a lawyer in the business of negotiating transatlantic deals for multinational corporate clients told Euronews.

“A government shutdown sends home the people who execute regulations, but the regulations themselves remain – and remain to be complied with.”

This regulatory uncertainty can leave European exporters in a state of limbo, unsure of their ability to continue their activities with the US market in the short-term.

Look especially for sectors that rely on US demand such as machinery, automotive components or chemicals.

Those companies might see downward stock market swings as investors react to uncertainty in the US.

Speaking of financial markets. Prolonged uncertainty in the US could lead to rising interest rates on US government bonds, as investors would consider them to be higher risk.

That would lead to higher rates elsewhere in the world.

In Europe, for example, this could depress stock markets, increase the cost of financing public deficits, and reduce overall demand due to the higher cost of credit.

The rise in rates would increase the risk of default by over-indebted borrowers, and therefore of a financial crisis.

As the lack of a budget agreement in Washington would compromise the financing of US support for certain countries, the risks of geopolitical instability would increase, which would depress business investment and intensify the decline in demand already affected by inflation.

Economists estimate that a two-week US government shutdown would have a negative impact on EU GDP of €4 billion. If the shutdown lasted for 8 weeks, the impact would increase to €16 billion.

Whether it will really come to this is in the hands of politicians in Washington.

What is at stake is nothing less than America’s reputation as a global economic anchor of stability.

EUROPE were forced to make a late change to the line-up for Saturday’s foursomes after an injury concern.

Tyrrell Hatton was drafted in as a replacement by captain European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald.

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The 33-year-old took part in the final game of Saturday afternoon alongside Matt Fitzpatrick.

He replaced Viktor Hovland, who suffered a neck injury.

Hovland played in the morning foursomes on Saturday as Europe extended their lead.

But his withdrawal was announced just minutes before the fourth and final Saturday afternoon tee off.

More to follow… For the latest news on this story, keep checking back at The U.S. Sun, your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, sports news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures, and must-see videos.

Like us on Facebook at TheSunUS and follow us on X at @TheUSSun

In traditional terms, a political crisis in a neighboring country is often seen as a direct challenge to that country’s national security and regional strategic interests. For most countries around the world, the situation in Nepal following the bloody mass protests, sectarian strife, and successive government crises in recent years seems to have reinforced that perception.

Moreover, Nepal is the southern gateway to Tibet, a pivot country between China and India, and a link in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in South Asia. Instability here would naturally make Beijing worry about the risk of losing influence, broken investment commitments, or even challenges to border security.

However, this is not necessarily a threat to China, and it can even take advantage of this crisis. This is reflected in the saying “When the world is in chaos, the situation is wonderful”; the power of the ruling party is further consolidated. Former Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong used this argument to explain why he launched the Great Cultural Revolution in the 60s and 70s. If we apply this logic to Nepal today, political instability is not necessarily a risk for China but can become an opportunity to expand its influence, reorder the region, and test its diplomatic capabilities.

Chaos is not always a risk; it can be an opportunity.

Mao looked at the turbulent periods in Chinese history, such as the Five Barbarians and the warlord wars of the early 20th century, and concluded that the collapse of order does not mean the end of opportunities for development. Instability can open up a power vacuum for new forces. Nepal today reflects exactly that.

Faced with a divided political landscape, Nepal’s various parties and factions have sought international support to maintain their positions. This has enabled China to engage more strongly through aid, credit, infrastructure investment, or party-to-party diplomacy, which is Beijing’s strong point. An unstable government is more likely to make concessions in its dealings with international partners, as long as it receives timely recognition and support.

Furthermore, as Nepal’s factions compete for power, they tend to maintain good relations with China so as not to be pushed off the board. This strengthens Beijing’s position in the long term: rather than fearing a loss of influence, China can exploit the divisions to ensure that whoever comes to power will have difficulty “breaking away” from Beijing. In Maoist logic, “great chaos” means an increase in the ability to “divide and rule,” a powerful tool for maintaining lasting influence.

The old order being shaken up will create opportunities to build new influence.

Another key point of Mao’s thesis is that when the old order weakens, the force of stability and abundant resources becomes more prominent and can easily shape the new order. Nepal is in such a situation today. Political parties have taken turns in power but have failed to maintain stability, causing the state apparatus to lose credibility. In this context, China—with its economic potential, ability to deploy aid quickly, and stable position internally—has emerged as an “alternative pillar.”

More importantly, the collapse or restructuring of the Nepalese government does not mean the end of all engagement with China. In fact, the BRI, the trans-Himalayan railway, or energy cooperation can be renegotiated in Beijing’s favor if China offers an attractive package. In a situation where Nepal needs capital and technology to recover, Beijing can completely reshape the rules of the game.

In addition, instability has reduced Nepal’s dependence on India, which is often criticized by the Nepalese people for interfering deeply in domestic politics. As trust in New Delhi declines, strategic space opens up for Beijing. In other words, “great turmoil” in Nepal could be a factor in accelerating the shift in the balance of power in South Asia, tilting further towards China.

Instability is a test of the sustainability of regional strategy.

Mao once asserted, “The more chaos, the easier it is to recognize who is friend and who is foe.” Instability is not only a risk but also an opportunity to classify forces, measure loyalty, and adjust strategy accordingly. With Nepal, China can observe how parties behave in crisis: which factions seek help from Beijing and which side leans towards New Delhi or the West. These signals are real data that help China adjust policies, choose suitable partners, and strengthen the “security net” in the border region.

At the same time, the crisis in Nepal can be seen as a “practice” for China’s crisis diplomacy. Handling Nepal will provide valuable experience for Beijing in the event of instability in Myanmar, Pakistan, or even Central Asia. If handled successfully, China will demonstrate its ability to engage flexibly in the region, both protecting its core interests and avoiding falling into a US-style “quagmire” in the Middle East.

Nepal is in chaos, but China is fine.

The key point in Mao’s thinking is that the issue is not whether the world is in chaos, but whether China is stable internally. Because if it maintains domestic stability, has a strong economic foundation, and has a flexible foreign policy system, then external instability can hardly shake core strategic interests.

Nepal is just one link in China’s overall South Asia and Himalayan subregional strategy. Its spiral of instability does not directly threaten Beijing’s border security or overall power. In fact, the contrast between a stable China and an unstable Nepal reinforces Beijing’s image as a “guarantor of stability” in the region. This has a dual benefit: it both enhances China’s prestige in the eyes of its neighbors and counterbalances the role of India and Western powers.

In fact, China has skillfully used humanitarian diplomacy, such as COVID-19 vaccine support, disaster aid, and infrastructure investment, to demonstrate its role as a “pillar of stability.” In the chaotic Nepalese context, this image is even more prominent. Beijing does not need to worry too much about short-term losses; instead, it can exploit the instability to assert its long-term position.

Viewed through a conventional realist lens, the political crisis in Nepal inevitably poses many risks for China, from lost investment to instability on the border. But if we apply Mao Zedong’s thinking about “great chaos,” where chaos is a prerequisite for a new order, then Nepal now represents an opportunity for Beijing to increase its engagement, consolidate its influence, and test its regional strategy. The key is not whether Nepal is in chaos, but whether China can maintain internal stability and exploit the gaps of the times. In this logic, Nepal’s instability does not cause China to lose sleep; on the contrary, it could become a catalyst for Beijing to consolidate its power and influence in the Himalayan subregion.

No reset necessary. No reason to make more of some rare misfires.

After 16-plus seasons, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford knows how to put less-than-efficient performances behind.

So the passes he missed in last Sunday’s defeat by the Philadelphia Eagles are not cause for concern as he prepares for Sunday’s game against the unbeaten Indianapolis Colts at SoFi Stadium.

“It happens,” Stafford said Wednesday before practice. “I’m not too worried about it.”

Stafford completed 19 of 33 passes (57.6%) for 198 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. Despite missing on some passes he usually completes, he finished the game by directing a two-minute drive that positioned the Rams to win the game. The Eagles blocked a last-second field-goal attempt and returned it for a touchdown.

Stafford compared a rare off day to those sometimes experienced by NBA players.

“You go to an NBA game, you watch guys shoot the ball, the best shooters in the world, the guys that can make it every time,” Stafford said, “and sometimes they have nights where it doesn’t go down.”

On Sunday, Stafford will go against a surprising Colts team led by quarterback Daniel Jones.

Stafford, 37, has completed 63 of 95 passes (66.3%) for 739 yards and five touchdowns with two interceptions. He has been sacked five times. Stafford’s longest touchdown pass play covered 44 yards.

Jones, 28, has completed 63 of 88 passes (71.6%) for 816 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. He has been sacked twice. Jones’ longest touchdown pass play covered 44 yards.

It has been a renaissance of sorts for Jones, the sixth pick in the 2019 NFL draft, after six-plus seasons with the New York Giants and a short late-season stint with the Minnesota Vikings in 2024.

In two losses to the Rams when he played for the Giants, Jones passed for zero touchdowns with four interceptions.

But he has not committed a turnover this season.

“He’s seeing the field well,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “He’s playing in rhythm. He’s playing on time. … He’s obviously got the mobility to make you pay as a runner, but I think he’s reading well. … He throws the ball with great accuracy and anticipation.”

Colts quarterback Daniel Jones (17) scrambles for yardage during a victory over the Titans last week.

(George Walker IV / Associated Press)

That has been Stafford’s trademark during his four-plus seasons with the Rams.

Despite being sidelined all of training camp and most preseason practices because of a back issue, Stafford opened the season strong. He completed 21 of 29 passes for 245 yards and a touchdown in a 14-9 victory over the Houston Texans at SoFi Stadium. He also eclipsed 60,000 career yards passing in the win.

The next week, he completed 23 of 33 passes for 298 yards and two touchdowns with an interception in a 33-19 victory over the Tennessee Titans in Nashville.

But Stafford’s ball placement and efficiency fell off against the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field as the Rams converted only three of 10 third downs.

“Those kind of days are going to happen,” Stafford said. “Frustrating when it happens, but was able to kind of get it going. … That two-minute drive, was putting the ball right where I wanted to every time for the most part.

“So just continue to throw, trust the process.”

Jones has thrived with the Colts since beating out Anthony Richardson for the starting role.

In the season opener against the Miami Dolphins, Jones led scoring drives on all seven of his team’s possessions. He passed for 272 yards and a touchdown and also rushed for two touchdowns in a 33-8 victory.

The next week, he passed for 316 yards and a touchdown and rushed for a touchdown in a 29-28 victory over the Denver Broncos.

And last week, he passed for 228 yards and a touchdown in a 41-20 victory over the Titans.

The Colts, with star running back Jonathan Taylor and receiver Michael Pittman Jr. among others, rank second in the NFL in total offense.

“It’s been impressive to watch their overall operation,”’McVay said, “with Daniel leading the way.”

Financial services giant American Express (AXP 1.47%) is dipping its toes into digital waters. I mean next-generation digital stuff, adding blockchain tokens and Web3 features to its new app for high-end travel experiences.

But the company isn’t leaning into that detail. The marketing around the just-released AmEx Travel App is all about convenience and simplicity. The specific feature that relies on the Ethereum (ETH) is called AmEx Passport, designed to preserve memories for easy access after the trip. Most travelers miss getting stamps in their physical passport books these days, according to the press materials — so here are some digital stamps from AmEx instead.

And you’ll barely notice if you skim through the press release. The presence of blockchain tokens is easy to miss entirely when you use the app.

Is American Express approaching the newfangled blockchain and Web3 stuff in exactly the right way? I think so, and here’s why.

Inside the digital stamp

To find out exactly what’s happening in those digital Amex Passport stamps, I had to look at other sources. Crypto news site CoinDesk got some more detail directly from American Express.

Amex Digital Labs VP Colin Marlowe explained that the stamps are technically non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum blockchain. They don’t hold any value and can’t be traded or transferred. They add some keepsake details every time you use your Amex card while traveling, creating an everlasting memory collection on the public blockchain. That’s all. But again, American Express isn’t pushing the crypto connection in your face.

“We wanted to speak to it in a way that was natural for the travel experience itself, and so we talk about these things as stamps, and they’re represented as tokens,” Marlowe told CoinDesk. “We weren’t trying to sell these or sort of generate any like short term revenue. The angle is to make a travel experience with Amex feel really rich, really different, and kind of set it apart.”

How Amex keeps travelers happy (and still pays the bills)

That tracks. I’ve been an American Express cardholder since 2000 (yeah, I’m old) and the company always bends over backward to keep traveling cardholders happy. The company makes plenty of money. It charges above-average transaction fees from retailers, which is why some shops refuse to support these cards in favor of lower-cost Visa (V -1.22%) or Mastercard (MA -1.28%) options. High-end cards like The Platinum Card and Blue Cash Preferred come with beefy annual fees, too. But the customer can still come out ahead by taking advantage of generous American Express features like the rewards program, airport lounges, and included rental car insurance.

I’m not trying to sell American Express cards here. This is just how the company tends to work. Using American Express isn’t supposed to feel cheap or complicated. It’s meant to be a rewarding premium experience. The blockchain-based memory-making tools fit snugly in that broader approach to the credit card business.

Base, ERC‑721, and the nerdy bits you can skip

And it’s also a perfect fit for early Web3 apps.

The AmEx Travel App hides its crypto-ness under a warm blanket, easy to miss or ignore. As long as the memory-keeping features work, nobody really cares where the digital passport stamps and personal notes are stored. It’s a valueless ERC-721 NFT, but you shouldn’t really care about that geekery.

The trick is that the tokens really work for this purpose. Diving one more layer into the nerdy depths, Ethereum tokens can hold all sorts of data, making that stuff available worldwide, for as long as Ethereum exists.

Access and ownership are managed by Ethereum itself, by way of the Base network. Sorry for bringing in another technical quirk that won’t matter to most app users or Amex investors, but there’s a point to this connection. Working with Base makes an Amex partner out of its creator, crypto giant Coinbase Global (COIN 8.85%), while speeding up the Amex app’s Ethereum access.

All in all, that’s a professional crypto package — not too shabby for an early swing by an old-school financial giant.

Image source: Getty Images.

The quiet way to test Web3 at scale

I don’t know about you, but I think American Express is checking all the right boxes on the Web3 checklist.

The new app meshes nicely with the card issuer’s brand, offers simple data storage functions to its users, and lets you forget how the whole thing works. I can talk until I’m blue in the face about Web3 ideals like personalization, decentralized networks, and direct money flows from consumers to creators — but Amex can get your attention without saying a word.

It’s showing how Web3 should work, in a very simple format. The Passport could evolve into a customer loyalty program later on, but it’s a bare-bones memory helper for now.

Great job, American Express. Years from now, I just might remember this app as the start of mass-market Web3 launches.