New Jersey has shut down. Did you notice? Do you suppose many people there did?
The dice stopped rolling, dealers quit shuffling and slot machines fell silent Wednesday as New Jersey's casinos closed for the first time, the latest victims of a five-day state government shutdown that showed no signs of ending soon.
In the first mass closure in the 28-year history of Atlantic City's legalized gambling trade, all 12 casinos went dark. With no state budget, New Jersey cannot pay its state employees, including casino inspectors who keep tabs on the money.
Of all the things the story could have led with -- people not being able to renew their drivers' licenses, for example, or unemployment checks not going out -- how fascinating that the effect on gambling was deemed most important.
For all the complaining we do about state government in Indiana, it should be noted that we don't have crises quite like this. It might be interesting, though, to shut down our state government for a week, just to see what the effects might be, who would notice and who wouldn't even care. We at least would probably learn what are truly "essential" services and what are not, which would be a good place to start a discussion on reform.
