Just after Saturday Night Live began last night, the clowns and “not so funny” comedians Americans pay to live the high-life in Washington voted for an imminent government shutdown.

Now what?

Here’s a clearer look at that.

by Kathy Phillips Erb | contributor, Forbes magazine

“On September 30 – just ten days from now – the government will run out of money for the next fiscal year. That means that, unless a compromise is reached in Washington, there will be a government shutdown.

“Of course, with that kind of doomsday scenario, Congress must be working desperately to resolve the budget. Or not.

“Congress hasn’t actually made any real effort to address the budget woes. In fact, the House and Senate went on summer break knowing that they would return on September 9, just a few weeks before the deadline, without any serious proposals on the table. That’s kind of par for the course for the current Congress: they’ve only passed a handful of public laws. The rate of passage puts them on pace to accomplish only half as much as last year’s Congress – and that Congress pushed through fewer laws than any Congress since World War II.”

Read this article in its entirety at Forbes.