October Jobs Report: US Creates 204,000 jobs, Unemployment Rate rises to 7.3%; Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/08/october-jobs-report-unemployment-rate_n_4235238.html

Due to the government shut down, the unemployment rate rose from 7.2% to 7.3% within one month. While 0.1% may not seem like much, that 0.1% represents 313,900 American people without jobs. However, a this number is skewed due to the shut down, and as portrayed through various other statistics mentioned in the article, the overall economic progression has been moving in a positive direction.

Hundreds of thousands of jobs were created, the number of people seeking unemployment benefits was decreasing, and employers began hiring more people. Economic growth rose to 2.8% from 2.5% in the previous quarter. Although we learned that nations should shoot for 4.0% in terms of economic growth, any step in the right direction should be recognized and a continued behavior. This economic growth could also just be a direct result of the seasonal change.. consumers and businesses spend more over the fall and winter months especially. It will be interesting to see if this growth will continue into the spring and summer months, or if the growth truly was just a reflection of the seasonal habits of consumers and producers.

While the majority of the statistics show that positive effects came about from the economic shut down, including many unemployment related statistics (despite the fact that this was not the reason for the shutdown), what is your opinion on the government shutdown as a whole and what was accomplished, if anything, during the shutdown?