New government spending cuts are set to take effect in a few days. Today, Feb. 25, 2013,
Don Lee has reported for the Los Angeles Times, Most economists see 'sequestration' budget cuts as unavoidable. A survey of economists which was released Monday by the National Association for Business Economics found that nearly 60% of economists now expect the so-called sequestration, which will cut about $85 billion from the federal budget, to begin March 1, 2015 in full or partial form.
Furthermore, this survey of 49 professional economists, who represent industry, government and universities, has indicated that experts don't see a recession scenario as a result of the new spending cuts, as they saw with the "fiscal cliff" of tax increases and fiscal reductions, which were largely avoided at the last minute at the start of this year. Greater than half of these economists have predicted that the effects of sequestration and other budget uncertainties would cut economic growth by less than half a percentage point this year. Another one-third has said the pain from sequestration would be greater, with real gross domestic product, or total economic output, cut by up to a full percentage point.
David Jackson has reported for USA Today on the anticipated sequestration, White House details sequestration cuts by state. The White House has kicked off a week of warnings dealing with the sequestration by issuing reports on how the pending $85 billion in automatic budget cuts will affect each of the 50 states. Some examples are "a slowdown of Superstorm Sandy cleanup in New Jersey, teacher layoffs in Ohio, reduced ship maintenance in Virginia, fewer vaccinations in Georgia, military base cutbacks in Texas and California, and similar reductions in states across the country." It was stated in an introduction to the White House's state-by-state breakdowns, "The sequestration threatens "hundreds of thousands of middle class jobs."
