Why There Will Not be a Government Shutdown
John Dickerson on why there won't be another government shutdown this time around:

"The White House wants Senate Democrats to make a deal. It cannot have a government shutdown while the economic recovery is still so fragile. Though the actual impact of a short shutdown would not be dire, it would increase uncertainty in the business community, say administration aides, sending the signal that in the bigger budget fights to come, no one in Washington can be trusted to do the right thing. Such unpredictability may cause businesses to hold on to their profits and hold off on investing or hiring new workers.

"...Republicans, meanwhile, don't want a shutdown because they can't risk having their first big public act be that they shut down the government. Footage of Newt Gingrich will flood the airwaves... GOP leadership aides are also worried that the narrative of the shutdown stories will be that House Speaker John Boehner is too beholden to the 'Tea Party crazies.' That diminishes Boehner's stature and suggests the House is out of control."

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/ ... tdown.html