Posted on 03/03/2013 10:37:17 AM PST by lbryce
To listen to the human side of sequestration, wait in line here for the 595 bus to Reston, Va., a journey across a suburbia grown fat and happy on a federal spending boom in the past decade, primarily military.
While the rest of the country experienced a corrosive recession, unemployment in Arlington County, home of the Pentagon, never rose above 5 percent. Nearby Fairfax County, with a cyberintelligence industry that took off after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, gorged on government contracts to private companies.
“It was easy, and people got comfortable,” said Stephen S. Fuller of George Mason University, an expert on the regional economy. “They haven’t come to terms with the fact it isn’t going to be as easy.”
The Washington metropolitan area, especially Northern Virginia, is in line to experience the largest economic hit of any region from the $85 billion in spending cuts that President Obama made official late Friday.
Because the automatic cuts, known as sequestration, fall unevenly across the country, many Americans are greeting them with a shrug. Their nonchalance is heightened because the 2.4 percent lopped from a federal budget of $3.55 trillion is relatively small and will not happen all at once. Moreover, Congressional Republicans have accused the White House of exaggerating the impact for political gain.
But in Northern Virginia the cuts will be deeply felt, economists said, assuming there is no political deal to undo them, a dimming prospect. The White House said the Defense Department would furlough 90,000 civilian employees based in Virginia, the most of any state, reducing their salaries by 20 percent this year.
The ripple effect, as those employees pare expenses, put off car purchases and delay buying a home, is expected to be large. Some economists predict that Virginia will slip into recession.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I'm surprised the New York Times would use the word "feast" to describe the monies Washington dumps,dumps as in without the slightest most infinitesimal sense of consciousness or accountability in Virginia. It appears as if The Times doesn't approve of the free-wheeling seemingly 'meteorological' spending going on in Virginia that gives Washington its raison d'etre as aka the Federal government. But "feasting" on US funds is not necessarily relegated to Virginia only. You've got to acknowledge "feasting" on US funds has been going on on a national level or some time or otherwise wonder how we reached this point of (near) no return. (we owe +103% of our GNP the last time it was determined, today it's probably higher).
FTA
“They’re looking at budgets that are not unlimited,” said Mr. Jafari, whose contracting includes work for the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in Charleston, S.C. “We see the government for the first time having discussions with us in ways we never thought. They’re looking at saving money. They’re starting to act like businesses.”
Budgets that are not unlimited? Wow. What a concept.
I heard Goolsbee tell Hannity that Goldman-Sachs estimated GDP would be shaved by .5% by the sequester. How did they tease out that component from the hit the economy will take from the tax hikes on the 1% and the expiration of the 2% payroll tax cut? I wonder what Goldman Sachs estimated the impact of those, or whether they just fold them into the sequester because they’re playing on that side?
Yeah — noticed it BIG TIME last evening as the waiting time for local restaurants here in No. Virginia was reduced to only 30 minutes instead of the usual hour + 15 mins that we usually see ...
Whatever happens, you won’t get near ANY decent restaurant in N. Virginia on a Friday night .... and this goes for as far south as Fredericksburg.
Sorry, but my Give-A-Damn is broken. It’s long past time for those feasting on the money extracted from productive citizens to start feeling some pain
I’ll never forget McDonnell passing out COLAs and raises to VA state employees in ‘10 or ‘11, stating they “deserved” them and had waited long enough; while national unemployment was >10%! Mark Levin ranted and raved this past week about McDonnell’s big tax hike plans including substituting a 3.5% wholesale tax on gasoline while claiming he’s cutting taxes by eliminating a $0.17 per gallon tax at the pump that hasn’t changed for 25 years.
The Maryland vampire counties can suck it too.....
Steve Fuller is NOT an economist. He is called “The Weather Man” because he looks around and sees a growing economy. And then says growth is good.
He has made millions off of pimping businesses and gov’t to keep spending. Now he dogs it?
What a complete POS!
“No more movies, no more out-to-dinners, no more fun,” Robin Roberts, a civilian budget employee in the Defense Department, said as she waited for the 595 outside the Pentagon for the ride home. She and her husband, who is retired, have canceled their summer vacation. They switched to a cheaper phone plan. “It’s just pay the mortgage, pay the utilities, no more frills.”
If the average homeowner in Arlington county can afford to pay the mortgage on an average house, they can afford to go to a movie occasionally.
I hate OBama. Obama’s plan to ensure a Democratic Governor in Virginia is working perfectly. Cause Virginia to go into a recession during a Republican Governor’s term......done. Democratic Governor 2014...assured. What a complete jerk!!
I’m a Va state employee and I didn’t get a raise in 2010 or 2011. They charged us for our retirement and then raised our salaries to make up for it. I lost about 10 cents a check.
I visited NoVa and DC in April. Had been 20 yrs since I was there last.
It looks like much of America USED to look. You didn’t see “available and “for lease” on 50% of the commercial buildings.
The Capitol area is filled with men in thousand dollar suits and women with 400 dollar shoes and handbags.
The roads are packed with Audis, BMWs and Lexus.
The Fedgov has become the monster that devoured the USA.
Can’t feel sorry for those that thought it was a good idea to hitch their wagon to the government train.
I don’t work for any government entity and I didn’t get a raise or COLA in ‘12, ‘11, ‘10’, ‘09, ‘08, ‘07 , maybe ‘06. I did invest in my retirement plan— I bought a shovel.
I grew up in a civil service household. Nearly 4 decades, from the 50s to the 90s. Dad worked until he was nearly 70. The taxpayer got a good deal on him. He was in FERS for nearly 4 decades and they paid retirement for only about 7 years.
RIF, reductions in force, fed speak for layoffs, were common. There were permanent and casual labor. The status was well known and accepted. 10 point vets got preference for permanent employment. Others farmed and ranched and used the fed job to supplement income and for benefits. Amidst the EEO stuff Dad struggled to get good people on board full time. It was almost a constant thing.
Dad agonized each year over the layoffs that came with winter. People managed. They heated their homes with wood and they managed. It was life and some of it was not good.
When baseline budgeting came in the mid-70s it was a bigger kind of foolishness. Spend it or lose it and the automatic increases came regardless of what was going on. It was painful to be forced to spend money not needed to be spent just so you could meet the mission plan in the years when things broke down or were scheduled for maintenance. On the projects, maintenance came in cycles and mostly all at once since all the facilities were built about the same time. Madness. They got pretty creative about finding ways to spend money without wasting it and the absurdity of having to figure out ways to spend less on things that needed to be done so as to not raise the baseline above what was reasonable and having to find more creative ways to spend money. Madness, huh? It continues to this day.
The Clintoon years came and the early federal employees unions became fully seated. Personnel problems then struck with a vengeance. Political correctness became the norm. EEO had already had an impact on performance. Then came outsourcing and taking work out to contractors without being able to let the fed employees who had been doing the work go as well.
Government is run so poorly. It should finally fail.
The RATs and the RINOs have made certain that the biggest hog at the trough will feel no pain but a mandated increase, that is the EBT crowd.
I was born in and went to public schools in Northern Virginia from the late 40s to the early 60s, and the DOD feeding frenzy there started with WWII.
While the rest of the country goes into the poor house, the DC area booms - big time.
I have friends there who are totally confused about claims that the economy is weak. It’s never been better, they tell me!
Anything that encourages these imports to move back to Maryland is OK with me.
I “lived” in the WDC area for thirty+ years. If people knew just how much affluence there is there from their tax money, they would show up with feathers, tar and pitchforks. Let them squirm... Who cares? What does it matter?
The liberals at the N.Y. Times and the President are gleeful that DOD workers and contractors will bear the brunt of the furloughs. They are happy because the Republican Congress agreed to let one of their most solid constituencies get hit while practically none of Obama’s welfare class is affected. It is a win-win for the left. Hurt the opposition and undermine its electoral base.
One can argue the DOD needs to cut back, but out of all the government functions, the mission of the DOD is one of the few that is required under the Constitution. I say before you cut Defense, you should start with all the other services that are not explicitly defined under the Constitution. The number one role of the Federal government is to provide for the common defense and it should not be the first cut before other non-essential functions.
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