The GOP has thrown an ideological monkey wrench into the fiasco called the government shutdown, and some 800,000 federal employees have taken the hit ("Obama urges House to vote on ending shutdown," Oct. 8). The shutdown is costing the country a lot of lost revenue and things could get worse.

The blame game is not the solution. The problem is that one side of the aisle in Congress is out of touch with reality and, with few exceptions, believes the shutdown is correct. It is not. But though one party is at fault, at this point both parties will take the blame.

Norman Solow