Only 700,000 jobs will be lost if President Barack Obama and the Congress fail to head off the impending sequester, according to one noted economist. In his estimation, this is small potatoes when compared to last year’s fiscal cliff.
Well, as it’s widely known, all tragedies are relative, and it’s not so relative if you are among those facing unemployment or having to deal with a job furlough.
On March 1, if there is no agreement, across-the-board budget cuts will begin. That means some $85 billion in spending will be sliced from the overall $3.5 trillion budget. How the cuts will go depends on where you are on the food chain and what state you’re in. Here in New York, the picture is dire, and New Jersey and Connecticut won’t be faring much better.
Perhaps the most vulnerable sector in New York is it’s children. According to the state-by-state report released by the president’s budget office, some of the largest deductions will be in funds allocated for primary and secondary education. The state will lose about $42 million in a system that’s already financially strapped.
Nearly a thousand teaching and teacher’s aide positions will be trimmed, creating an even gloomier prospect in the classrooms.
Also curtailed to the tune of $1 million will be several immunization programs, including vaccinations for measles, mumps, whooping cough, rubella, the flu and hepatitis B. This means that some 12,600 children would be without protection, the White House report estimates.
Our senior citizens who are dependent on food programs will also face additional hardships, resulting from the estimated loss of $2.1 million to these programs.
The jobless rate is already deplorable and services set aside to help those seeking work will be drastically reduced, which will make things exceedingly challenging for some 15,000 people out of work.
Steep cuts are expected in environmental programs in the state and will particularly impact our water and air quality. The cuts here could amount to nearly $13 million.
The state’s military installations will also feel a considerable pinch. About 12,000 civilian Department of Defense jobs could be furloughed in New York, along with an equal number in New Jersey and Connecticut (for those with intentions to relocate to the metropolitan area). A few of the state’s smaller airports will probably have to cease operations, because there will only be a sparse number of air traffic controllers available.
If Gov. Andrew Cuomo has addressed this issue, it hasn’t made the airwaves or the media yet, though the recent gubernatorial fest may have distracted him.
Meanwhile, Obama has been weighing every option, pulling every arrow in his quiver to reach a deal with the stubborn members of the GOP.
“At this point, we continue to reach out to the Republicans and say this is not going to be good for the economy, and it’s not going to be good for ordinary people,” he said last week in one of three radio interviews he gave from the Oval Office. “But I don’t know if they’re going to move, and that’s what we’re going to have to try to keep pushing over the next seven, eight days.”