Drastic cuts will kill off economy
Published 12:01 am Tuesday, July 26, 2011
The current budget impasse looks something like this: A man walks into an emergency room after an accident, drained white and in shock from loss of blood. Met by two physicians, the first orders a transfusion. The second throws up his hands and says: “Are you crazy? This man suffers from high blood pressure; if we put more blood into his system, in another 20 years he will die of hypertension — we must remove another quart of blood!” Arguments over the budget deficit occur in a similar vein.
Like blood circulating in the body, money and jobs circulating in the economy keeps people fed and sheltered. Calls for trillions of dollars in budget cuts at a time when the economy is already weak and on life support is like a demand to drain blood from a hemorrhaging accident victim — it makes no rational sense whatsoever.
Make no mistake: in a weak economy, every laid off government worker competes directly with every worker in the private sector, only making employment prospects worse. Moreover, higher unemployment translates into reduced tax revenue, contributing directly to the budget deficit.
On the contrary, every employed person strengthens the economy and supports business: money re-circulates into the economy though the purchase of goods and services, food and shelter, luxury items, and the like, keeping businesses solvent, and shop doors open. Reduced employment follows exactly the opposite path, leading to more businesses being shuttered.
And just as with wages, Social Security benefits go into the bank, are spent in shops and businesses, and are re-circulated throughout the economy. Cuts would have only a damaging and depressing effect on the economy.
If the “severe” budget cuts demanded by the Tea Party Republicans are enacted, it will act like a shot to the head of the economy: the middle and working class of this country will be devastated, and many of them, together with millions of seniors, will become mired in poverty from which they may never recover. Utter insanity!
Donald McKim
Lynnwood
