Panetta: Defense budget cuts will damage economy
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is laying out a grim list of spending cuts the Pentagon will have to make in the coming weeks that he says will seriously damage the country's economy and degrade the military's ability to respond to a crisis.
He is slamming members of Congress as irresponsible and willing to push the country off a fiscal cliff to damage their opposing political parties.
He says if Congress doesn't pass a budget the Pentagon must absorb $46 billion in spending reductions in this fiscal year and will face a $35 billion shortfall in operating expenses.
The military services are warning of widespread civilian furloughs, layoffs and hiring freezes. The Navy says it will cease deployments to South America and the Caribbean and limit those to Europe.
He is slamming members of Congress as irresponsible and willing to push the country off a fiscal cliff to damage their opposing political parties.
He says if Congress doesn't pass a budget the Pentagon must absorb $46 billion in spending reductions in this fiscal year and will face a $35 billion shortfall in operating expenses.
The military services are warning of widespread civilian furloughs, layoffs and hiring freezes. The Navy says it will cease deployments to South America and the Caribbean and limit those to Europe.
$46 billion is a drop in the bucket of the total US economy which is in the trillions. That $46 billion will just be a blip.
Look what defense spending did to the Soviet Union, Rome, etc. etc.
The contractors can lay off all these people and the government could hire them at the same pay grade but it would cost the government 1/2 the amount we are paying to the contracting companies. Time to get out of the contracting out of government jobs to private enterprise and have the people employed directly.
Seriously damage the economy. Does he mean all his fat cat buddies wouldn't be able to stuff their pockets with our deficit spending money? How can you damage the economy by drying up the deficit spending that is driving this country deeper and deeper into a financial hole? Maybe I failed that part of the junk math course in school.
The spending cuts will damage the country's economy? Â I think Panetta needs to get outside of the Beltway so he can see that the economy is already damaged. Â What he meant to say it would damage the economy in DC and Northern Virginia and his defense contractor cronies. Â I am a federal employee currently stationed in DC and I say bring on the sequestration. Â DC and Northern Virginia are where the recession or depression is not affecting the economy because of all of the government money going to these contractors. Â Crony capitalism at its finest! Â They will furlough government employees, but continue to pay on these outrageous contracts in order to save the cronyism.