By Connecticut Mirror Staff
Scientist resumed their study of Long Island Sound, an agriculture official emailed farmers that his16-member staff was back in business, and it became a little easier to get Social Security benefits in Hartford as 7,000 federal employees returned to work today in Connecticut.
But economists and others hedged on the extent of the damage done to the state’s fragile recovery just as shoppers and retailers make plans for the holiday shopping season, and investors are placing bets likely to influence the price of gasoline and heating oil this winter.
Consumer confidence was hardly robust before the federal shutdown, and Congress and President Obama hardly offered solid assurances that the nation won’t kick off the New Year with another round of fiscal brinksmanship.
“I think the concern is the window before they reopen this whole problem is so narrow,” said Edward Deak, an economist who manages forecasts of the state’s economy for the New England Economic Partnership. “And you have the holidays in the middle there.”
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