Paper Which Just Laid Off A Bunch Of Employees Hysterical Over “Austerity”

It’s nice to wake up on a Sunday morning and give a hearty chuckle followed by a good facepalm. The NY Times’ Jackie Calmes needs KCCO

The latest budget impasse ushered in a new round of austerity on Saturday, with the nation facing reduced federal services, canceled contracts, job furloughs and layoffs.

For those who live in Liberal World, let’s provide an explanation as to the Sequester: it reduces the rate of federal spending growth by a tiny percent. If a federal agency is currently budgeted for 1 billion this year, they aren’t going to get 998 million next fiscal year. They will receive slightly less than the budget increase, so, instead of 1.1 billion, they’ll get 1.0998 billion.

The progress on deficit reduction over the past two years will also probably hamper job creation and the economic recovery. Private and government forecasters project that sequestration alone will cost about 700,000 jobs this year and will shave at least a half percentage point from economic growth. The Congressional Budget Office now forecasts a falling deficit but stubbornly high unemployment in coming years.

First of all, if the people who run the federal agencies cannot deal with tiny reductions in future increases of budget allocation and maximize the money they have, perhaps they should be replaced with people who understand How To Make A Budget. Start with refusing to pay for cost overruns (this could save hundreds of billions each year). Stop funding masters degrees for people in Indonesia (16-20 million). $500 million on a study to get 5 year olds to sit still (Gorilla glue is much cheaper). Reduce overlapping programs. Oh, and here’s $25 billion a year to maintain unused federal buildings.

Second of all, unemployment has been high throughout Obama’s terms, thanks to horrible Democrat policies which have turned a recession into a stagnation. Expect, though, Obama and the MSM to blame every job loss on Republicans not caving to Obama’s incessant demands for more taxes so he has more to spend (anyone who thinks extra tax revenue, including from the increase on those making $400K or more, will be used for debt/deficit reduction is a fool.)

Third, the NY Times has been practicing actual austerity as of late

(Reuters) On the cost-cutting side, the Times, which has repeatedly waved wads of buyout cash at its staff to reduce headcount, most recently persuading an additional 30 of its 1,100-plus journalists to leave the building permanently.

The Fish Wrap has been on a job cutting bender for years, with the latest coming at the beginning of 2013. They’ve been divesting themselves of assets (such as the Boston Globe) in order to streamline their operations. There was concern they would default on their debt, which included the silly stock buyback and building a new home office. They’ve dumped several departments, such as shutting down the Green Blog. They’re doing all they can to avoid insolvency. But, they still have a hissy fit when the federal government has a potential for layoffs.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

Share this!

Enjoy reading? Share it with your friends!