Shutdown isn't affecting TPP talks

The government shutdown is costing 400,000 civilian employees part of their paychecks. Small businesspeople won't be able to apply for federal loans, nor will students or homebuyers. Retirees won't be able to apply for Social Security. All national parks and federally funded museums are closed.

Here's one thing that won't shut down: negotiations for job-killing corporate giveaways trade deals like the TPP and TAFTA.

According to an email from the people who bring you these job-killing corporate giveaways trade deals, the U.S. Trade Representative's office:

Due to a lapse in federal appropriations, as of October 1st, USTR will be unable to carry out normal operations. As of today, in hopes that the lapse will be brief, USTR plans to participate in the upcoming meeting of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Trade Ministers as well as the APEC meetings taking place in Bali, Indonesia from October 3-8, 2013. USTR also plans to participate in the upcoming 2nd round negotiation of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) taking place in Brussels, Belgium from October 7-11, 2013. In the event of a prolonged lapse in funding, plans may change and we will inform you accordingly.

'T-TIP' is their term for TAFTA, which they don't like to use for obvious reasons.

In other words, ordinary people are getting screwed by the shutdown -- twice over.