Sequestration: Wrong cuts, wrong time

Ordinary Americans are starting to feel the sting of sequestration, and it will get worse if Congress and President Obama don’t come to an agreement in the coming weeks.

It’s not the best time to sound the alarm, given reports last week of strong employment numbers out of the U.S.

But those numbers were for February, and sequestration didn’t kick in until March 1. We also know it’ll take time for the full effect of the cuts to be felt, assuming they’re allowed to happen.

The Congressional Budget Office’s current projections call for 750,000 lost jobs this year from sequestration, wiping out the impressive haul of 236,000 new jobs — three times over.

Some argue sequestration is much like the fiscal cliff: a manufactured crisis politicians let fester long enough to score points on the nightly news, but not long enough to impact their constituents’ bank accounts.

Read:

Sequestration a faux crisis

Fiscal cliff FAQ

This may be partly or even largely true, but the initial cuts stemming from sequestration are already taking a measurable toll.

The Financial Times recently profiled Robert Baillie, former employee of a firm that writes electronic warfare software for a number of U.S. military agencies.

Baillie’s job loss, and those of others like him, will have ripple effects in local economies, as the report—which is critical of the cuts—explains. And, intended or not, the report’s choice of examples adds another wrinkle to the argument the cuts are ill-timed.

While many will focus on the U.S. military’s budget and wonder how anyone could bemoan a cut here or there, it is difficult to understand the logic of the cut that left Baillie without a job.

Anyone who reads the national security sections of credible newspapers will know that China’s enhanced electronic warfare capabilities have been a top concern for years.

The separate, but related issue of cyberwarfare has been front-page news. Attacks originating in China, or rogue states like Iran, have recently led the U.S.’s largest financial institutions to enlist the help of the National Security Agency.

Read:

Banks enlist cyberspy agency to prevent attacks

Cyberbullies target major U.S. banks

The cancelled contract that left Baillie without a job is just one sign of the dysfunction and misplaced priorities the public’s unfortunately come to expect from Washington.

The Associated Press reported last week that ECB President Mario Draghi called the unemployment crisis in the Eurozone a “tragedy,” and encouraged governments to pull back on cuts until some genuine and sustainable growth can be generated. The U.S. should consider a similar course.

Clearly the U.S.’s astronomical debt must be addressed, and cuts will be a part of the solution. But the wounds of 2008’s meltdown are only now beginning to heal.

It’s premature to take out the hatchet.

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