US President Barack Obama spoke on Thursday, the morning after he signed legislation to end the US government shutdown and to continue paying America’s bills.  The President made clear that the crisis had left “no winners” in Washington.

“Nothing has done more to undermine our economy the last three years than the kind of tactics that create these kinds of manufactured crises,” Mr. Obama told an audience of returning Federal workers.

Manufactured, because a minority of congressional ultra-conservatives for two weeks refused to vote for clean legislation to keep government going or to pay America’s creditors unless the White House agreed to policy concessions that the conservatives weren’t able to enact through democratic elections.  In the end, they got no policy concessions, and the US economy was damaged.

The 16-day government shutdown cost from US$12 billion to $24 billion for the United States economy, or as much as $1.5 billion per day.  As many as 250,000 jobs were lost, and many employers told survey firms that they’ve cut their immediate hiring goals because of uncertainty over the US economy.