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Mass layoffs of federal workers could hurt families and local economies — but may not dent the overall economy
CNN ^ | 2/25/25 | Matt Egan and Alicia Wallace, CNN

Posted on 02/25/2025 10:07:38 AM PST by DallasBiff

Elon Musk, wielding a chainsaw, is overseeing a rapid shrinking of the nation’s largest employer: the federal government.

There’s no doubt the federal government’s 3.02 million-person civilian workforce is massive. Yet some economists are confident the widespread terminations spearheaded by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will likely not devastate the national economy or even topple the historically strong jobs market.

“It’s not going to tip the economy into recession by itself,” said Stephanie Roth, chief economist at Wolfe Research.

That’s in part because the federal layoffs are expected to affect a small fraction of the much larger US labor force. The federal civilian workforce, which excludes military personnel and employees of the CIA and other military agencies, represents less than 2% of the total civilian labor force of 170.7 million.

Still, the mass layoffs in the public sector threaten to upend the livelihoods of federal workers and their families, as well as destabilize a traditionally stable economic engine within many communities.

“These are real people. It’s a real hit. This is not something we should be celebrating,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Government; Political Humor/Cartoons
KEYWORDS: aliciawallace; cnnfakenews; doge; fakenews; layoffs; mattegan; mds; musk; rippleeffect; tds; trump
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Still, the mass layoffs in the public sector threaten to upend the livelihoods of federal workers and their families, as well as destabilize a traditionally stable economic engine within many communities.

Huh, what do these government employee communities produce that is beneficial? Nothing.

1 posted on 02/25/2025 10:07:38 AM PST by DallasBiff
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To: DallasBiff

Starbucks will have a waiting line for baristas


2 posted on 02/25/2025 10:09:22 AM PST by albie (U)
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To: DallasBiff

“Elon Musk, wielding a chainsaw“

This is CNN.


3 posted on 02/25/2025 10:09:51 AM PST by iamgalt
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To: DallasBiff

I don’t recall the media shedding any tears when large sectors of the economy - mainly small businesses - were completely shut down during Covid, nor do I recall them shedding any tears for the thousands who lost their jobs for refusing the risky Covid shots.


4 posted on 02/25/2025 10:11:04 AM PST by Steve_Seattle
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To: Steve_Seattle

No bias at all in half of the reporter duo here.

Biden’s economic legacy: Historic wage gains, investment and job growth but marred by inflation

By Alicia Wallace,

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/19/economy/us-biden-economic-legacy/index.html


President Joe Biden will leave the White House with a strong economy, historic gains in the job market, a foundation for future manufacturing growth, and having brought down decades-high inflation without triggering a recession.

Those feats, economists say, are even more impressive considering the nation was deep in the throes of a deadly, economy-scarring pandemic when Biden took office.

His legacy will also include higher national debt, a wider trade deficit and steeper costs for housing, health care, higher education and child care.


5 posted on 02/25/2025 10:12:24 AM PST by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s² )
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To: DallasBiff

Learn to do oil rig work. The pay is phenomenal. It’s a product that has value. I hear the agricultural workforce has plenty of new employment opportunities. A bad day picking produce does more for our country than a good day behind the desk of a bureaucrat.


6 posted on 02/25/2025 10:13:43 AM PST by blackdog ((Z28.310) Be careful what you say. Your refrigerator may be listening & reporting you.)
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To: Steve_Seattle

If you read the article, or at least the excerpt posted, it’s positive. Despite the doomsayers the experts say this won’t effect the economy negativity


7 posted on 02/25/2025 10:13:51 AM PST by God luvs America (6young 3.5 million pay no income tax and vote for DemoKrats...)
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To: DallasBiff

Affected? Northern Virginia in particular, one would assume. My DILLIGAF? gauge hasn’t budged.


8 posted on 02/25/2025 10:13:57 AM PST by katana
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To: DallasBiff

did CNN care about the XL pipeline workers?


9 posted on 02/25/2025 10:14:18 AM PST by WeaslesRippedMyFlesh (C)
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To: albie

The Keystone Pipeline needs ditch diggers too.

EC


10 posted on 02/25/2025 10:14:19 AM PST by Ex-Con777
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To: DallasBiff
One of the more impressive features of Trump's reforms is how surgically targeted they are.

They gut the Democrat graft and corruption money machine that they use to buy power and get rid of the parasites and bad actors without cutting programs that are impacting the daily lives of mainstream Americans.

It really is a brilliant plan perfectly executed.

11 posted on 02/25/2025 10:14:26 AM PST by rdcbn1 (TV )
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To: DallasBiff

Of course it wont make a dent in the economy Trump and Musk are cleaning house, Im for firing ALL of them and starting from scratch, they can get jobs in the private sector..during Covid, NO govt worker worked and guess what, inflation was 1.3 percent when Trump left office even with all that


12 posted on 02/25/2025 10:14:38 AM PST by Sarah Barracuda
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To: DallasBiff

The overall result of less govt workers is a plus, not a minus. They will find work in the private sector where they will actually help produce things we need rather than “reports” that produce nothing.


13 posted on 02/25/2025 10:15:13 AM PST by SaxxonWoods (Black guy upon receiving a MAGA hat: "MURICA!")
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To: DallasBiff

Scale back the oversized bureaucracy - damned if you do, damned if you don’t.


14 posted on 02/25/2025 10:16:34 AM PST by enumerated (81 million votes my ass)
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To: DallasBiff

If the end result is lower taxes, it will not hurt the national economy.


15 posted on 02/25/2025 10:17:54 AM PST by Jonty30 (Groundhogs don't falsify their predictions for grant money, whereas climate scientists do. )
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To: Steve_Seattle
On the contrary. The drive-by media reviled those who lost their livelyhood for refusing the vaxx, labeling them criminals
16 posted on 02/25/2025 10:18:01 AM PST by RonaldusMagnus-DonaldusMagnus
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To: blackdog

Talked to a couple of guys the other night who work in the oil fields. Using their extra pay they’ve bought 22,000 acres of cheap land on the Texas/New Mexico border where they run cattle. They talk like hicks but they know what they are doing. They need a lot of land per cow out there but the land is cheap.


17 posted on 02/25/2025 10:18:28 AM PST by SaxxonWoods (Black guy upon receiving a MAGA hat: "MURICA!")
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To: DallasBiff

cnn? Nobody saw the news.


18 posted on 02/25/2025 10:19:22 AM PST by rktman (Destroy America from within ? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this💩? 🚫💉! 🇮🇱👍!)
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To: DallasBiff

Less gov’t is a leading indicator of more prosperity.

The losses would be swallowed up by the huge economic gains. The unemployed gov’t workers would have an abundance of new career/job opportunities from which to choose.

Economic boon often involves change and a certain amount of upheaval, but the result is betterment for the vast majority.


19 posted on 02/25/2025 10:20:38 AM PST by Jim W N (MAGA by restoring the Gospel of the Grace of Christ (Jude 3) and our Free Constitutional Republic!)
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To: DallasBiff

So, CNN, mass layoffs of federal workers are of your concern, but not all those oil workers, pipeline workers, coal workers...you know, the folks that we actually respect who do real work and provide value to us? Now, let’s talk about media sewer-dwellers who we don’t give a shi...er...Obama about?


20 posted on 02/25/2025 10:20:43 AM PST by Da Coyote
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