Day 18 of the U.S. government shutdown

The partial U.S. government shutdown, now the second longest in history, is like sand in America’s gears.

Impact: Secret Service agents, who are working without pay, told us that there is growing agitation in their ranks. The president they protect said on Twitter last week that “most of the workers not getting paid are Democrats.” But federal prison workers in the deeply Republican Florida Panhandle, already bedraggled by Hurricane Michael, are among the 800,000 federal workers affected. “We’re tired of being put in the middle,” one said.

A near-standstill at the Securities and Exchange Commission is just one of the government’s many stoppages of major functions, with more looming. Some economists on Wall Street are predicting the shutdown will measurably reduce growth.