Virginia to Lose 90,000 Jobs As U.S. Funds Ends

 

Closer to home, Virginia is going to take a major hit from sequestration.  A fact that the idiots - including many locally in Hampton Roads who grab on to slogans without knowledge of the issues, or pro-gun nuts, or religious extremists who allow themselves to be manipulated - seem to have forgotten when they submitted their ballots in November and returned individuals like Scott Rigell, Randy Forbes and Rob Wittman to the House of Representatives.  As is the case with the folks in Kansas in the prior post, many are about to rue their foolishness and gullibility.  A piece in the New York Times looks at what faces Virginia.  Here are excerpts:

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.

Virginia employment rose in December by only 0.8 percent, half the growth in the nation as a whole, said Christine Chmura, an economist in Richmond.   “If the sequester occurs as it’s currently stated, I would expect the state of Virginia to go into a recession,” she said. 

“the real worry are the young ones,” she added, lower on the government pay scale and living paycheck to paycheck.  Matthew Bourke, a public affairs specialist with the Army, fits that description. He is looking for a part-time job to make up the loss to his salary. “I’m talking the restaurant business, a server, a food runner, anything,” he said. “If you know something, let me know,” he said before jumping on his bus. 

Come November I hope these folks remember that the GOP has brought this on them and that they get out and vote against the GOP in Virginia's 2013 elections.  They can send a strong message to the GOP by voting out Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly and giving control of both houses back to Democrats.  Now that's a message the GOP in Washington would understand.