Spending cuts in the real world
Budget cuts at the sub-national level led to hundreds of thousands of lost jobs in the state
By Jared BernsteinTopics: Jared Bernstein, U.S. Economy, spending, Republicans, Taxes, Washington, Government, Business News, Politics News
The factoid I think I’ve been touting the most in cable TV arguments lately is that when it comes to spending cuts, we’ve already cut government spending by $1.5 trillion over ten years ($1.7 with interest savings) by lowering discretionary spending caps.
Yet, Republicans—and too many moderators—deny that these cuts occurred. Just yesterday, Ezra quotesPaul Ryan as saying the cuts don’t count because they came out of “the last session” of Congress, though as Ez points out, so did the tax increases. So if they really want to start at zero…
Obviously, this is all more posturing and understandable, I guess, in a negotiating framework where you signal intransigence to your opponent. But the cuts are real and they’re showing up in the economy, as per this AM’s WaPo re the defense contractor General Dynamics:
One of the nation’s largest federal contractors reported a $2 billion loss Wednesday and blamed it on defense cuts, a sign that the government spending that provided the rocket fuel for the metro area’s decade-long economic expansion is now dissipating.
The figure below shows that the loss was came out of their IT production.
Information technology appears to be one of the first segments of the private sector to sustain tangible damage from federal budget cuts — because it’s easier for the government to stop rewiring offices than it is to stop building a ship or a tank.
Let me be clear: I’m not criticizing the cuts, though I would have backloaded them, in terms of the timing, so as not to hurt the recovery. Nor am I saying that this one example is indicative of a broader pattern, though I suspect it is. In fact, we already know that budget cuts at the sub-national level led to hundreds of thousands of lost jobs in the state and local governments.
My point here is that members of Congress who claim that no spending cuts have occurred need to talk to the people and firms who are dealing with them, be they defense contractors or families whose kids can’t find a Head Start slot.
Jared Bernstein joined the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in May 2011 as a Senior Fellow. From 2009 to 2011, Bernstein was the Chief Economist and Economic Adviser to Vice President Joe Biden. Follow his work via Twitter at @econjared and @centeronbudget. More Jared Bernstein.
Related Stories
More Related Stories
-
Apple uses foreign companies to avoid billions in taxes
-
IRS meltdown was long overdue
-
Pentagon adviser pushed Anthrax drug, which his firm produced
-
Corporate greed is poisoning America -- literally
-
How to screw up Tumblr
-
Big Soda SNAP-ing up billions off government programs
-
Yahoo shells out $1.1 billion for Tumblr
-
Xenophobia only benefits the 1 percent
-
Paul Krugman's right: Austerity kills
-
How Guantanamo affects China: Our human rights hypocrisies
-
Growing, lurking threat: "Paper terrorism"
-
How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government
-
The conservative case for raising the minimum wage
-
We're living in an Ayn Rand economy
-
Revenge, ego and the corruption of Wikipedia
-
Power tool industry too powerful to regulate?
-
Deficit reduction can't save us
-
Federal government is letting us eat metal shards, pink slime
-
Google Glass chief: "You'll know" when someone is spying on you
-
Don't blame GOP for Obama's disastrous second term
-
California powers $550 lottery jackpot
Featured Slide Shows
The week in 10 pics
close X- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
-
Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
Credit: AP/LM Otero -
Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
Credit: AP/Matt Rourke -
A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher -
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
Credit: AP/Molly Riley -
Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite -
Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster -
O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid -
Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield -
When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin -
A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin -
Recent Slide Shows
- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
Related Videos
Most Read
-
Revenge, ego and the corruption of Wikipedia
Andrew Leonard
-
Horrifying new trend: Posting rapes to Facebook
Mary Elizabeth Williams
-
"Jodorowsky's Dune": The sci-fi classic that never was
Andrew O'Hehir
-
We're living in an Ayn Rand economy
Paul Buchheit, AlterNet
-
Obstruction will ruin GOP
Jonathan Bernstein
-
My open relationship went awry
David Farley
-
Will you marry me -- once you're done peeing?
Tracy Clark-Flory
-
Jaron Lanier: The Internet destroyed the middle class
Scott Timberg
-
Penn Jillette's secrets of "Celebrity Apprentice": Donald Trump is a whackjob!
Penn Jillette
-
GOP attorney general candidate tried to force women to report miscarriages to police
Katie Mcdonough
Popular on Reddit
links from salon.com

661 points662 points663 points | 156 comments
From Around the Web
Presented by Scribol
-
Lisa Belkin: The Tornado In Oklahoma Is This Parent's Living Nightmare -
Chris Weigant: Obama's Teflon Presidency? -
House Passes Bill Protecting Against Military Medal Lies -
Oklahoma Senators Repeatedly Opposed Disaster Relief Funds -
Majority Of Americans Still Believe In JFK Conspiracy, But Not As Much As Before
- How To Help Oklahoma Tornado Victims
- Photos And Footage Of Oklahoma Twister's Devastation
- The Case Of The Frequent Flier Who Complained Too Much
- Will 'Saturday Night Live' Suffer A Cast Crisis Now That Bill Hader Has Left 'SNL' For Good?
- Spanish Hotel Bans Children With Down Syndrome; Hotel CaboGata Says Group Of Kids ‘Might Annoy Other Guests’



Fox News Involvement May Spark Republican Outrage Over DOJ Media Spying
Liberal Super PAC Had Secret Bain Ties
Obama Went Off Script To Address Gay Grads Directly At Morehouse College
President Obama Addresses Gay College Grads During Morehouse Commencement Ceremony
Comments
4 Comments