Senate Republicans are pleased with the sequester budget cuts that went into effect on Friday. But the estimated 700,000 Americans that are about to take pay cuts or lose their jobs to pay for it might not be quite as happy.
“If the latest cuts stick, the two parties will have achieved nearly the full amount of deficit reduction over the next decade that economists and market analysts have promoted. Yet the mix comes with substantial downsides,” according to the New York Times.
The austerity budget goal Republicans have now achieved, represents the worst part of their campaign promises. The part where they claimed they would create jobs is running in the wrong direction.
“The unemployment rate will climb above 9 percent, pushing the economy toward recession and reducing projected growth in 2013 by two-thirds. An already weak economy will be undercut as the paychecks of thousands of workers across the economy will be affected from teachers, nurses, construction workers to key federal employees such as border patrol and FBI agents, food inspectors and others,” according to George Mason University Professor, Dr. Stephen S. Fuller.
Fuller’s analysis also predicts the sequester budget cuts will have a domino effect through local economies that will result in the loss of up to 2.14 million jobs.
The massive increase in unemployment shrinks the tax base and robs the Treasury of payroll taxes, which makes deficit reduction an even greater challenge.
Austerity has been a huge failure in the UK, Spain, Greece, and now the Republican –controlled congress has brought it to the United States.
Voters who sent Tea Party Republicans to Washington need to remind themselves of an old cliché that remains true. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
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