Here it's worth pausing to note that the $487 billion figure has been multiplied by 10. It's a figure "over a decade." Divided by 10 it would be $48.7 billion "over a year." Or, it could be multiplied by 100 to give us $4,870 billion "over a century." The reasons to talk about the decade are two. First, it sounds bigger that way. Second, by loading the later years heavily, politicians can claim to be making big cuts while actually passing those cuts on to future politicians who may not make them. While all the news articles deal with cuts "over a decade," Congress actually only passes budgets for a year at a time.
"Published earlier this year, the reports indicate the Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads regions would see the most severe losses if the cuts are fully implemented, while the state overall could lose $7.24 billion in earnings and more than 122,000 jobs.
"'There's no question that Virginia will be the most impacted,' Christine Brim, chief operating officer of the Center for Security Policy told The Daily Progress. 'Virginia has the largest amount of defense spending. This is, without a doubt, the state that is the most impacted.'
"Furthermore, Brim said the effects go beyond just the financial to the core of Virginia's identity, history and culture as a state important to America's defense, character traits that still hold true today."
Here's Democratic Virginia Senate candidate Tim Kaine claiming that one in three Virginians depends directly on military spending. These claims are almost certainly exaggerated. They are for Albemarle County. The county's website says: " The economy of Albemarle County is vital and growing. The predominant economic sectors are services, manufacturing, education, retail, tourism, trade, care & social assistance, technical & professional services and agriculture. The County of Albemarle's labor force is roughly 53,000 and its unemployment rate of 2.6% is consistently lower than the state and national averages."
"However, Jeff Caldwell, a spokesman for Gov. Bob McDonnell, said the state does not yet have any estimates for the effect of sequestration in Virginia.
"'With so many variables involved, there is no firm number to delineate that impact on the commonwealth or any particular area,' Caldwell said by email.
"Rep. Robert Hurt, R-5th, called the looming cuts 'devastating' for his district, which encompasses most of the Charlottesville region.
"'The White House and the Senate must join with the House [of Representatives] in addressing this impending crisis so we can keep our military men and women adequately equipped, protect jobs across the 5th District and the Commonwealth, and reduce our national debt in a responsible manner," Hurt said in a statement."
A few points missed in the above: First, refusing to cut military spending does the opposite of reducing the national debt. Second, military spending is the least cost-efficient way to produce jobs. It produces fewer jobs than spending on infrastructure, green energy, education, or even tax cuts for working people. So, if the goal is to save money while producing jobs, military spending is exactly the place to cut. Third, there is absolutely no evidence that "adequate equipment" is what's on the chopping block here. Hurt makes it sound like putting the U.S. navy on Jeju Island, South Korea, against the passionate will of the people there, is being done not to threaten China but as an act of philanthropy for U.S. sailors.
"House Minority Leader Eric Cantor, whose 7th District encompasses portions of the Charlottesville region, issued an even more sharply worded statement on his website, calling the planned cuts a 'dangerous threat' and urging President Obama and Senate Democrats 'to take serious action to prevent these arbitrary, devastating cuts from taking place.'"
Did he offer any evidence for those sharp words?
"While Brim acknowledged the need and desire to cut federal spending, she said gutting the defense budget would derail America's recovery from the recession.
"That's because conflict would interrupt trade and commerce and 'there would be nothing more costly than having our trade routes disrupted,' she said."
Now this is a new one. Unless we continue to borrow money from China with which to build up our military presence all over the globe, including in every location strategically helpful in cutting off China's trade routes, our trade routes will be disrupted. What trade routes?! Can she name one? Conflict, indeed, dirupts peaceful activity. But conflict comes from war spending. War spending and war preparation spending does not reduce conflict.
"Local leaders, however, were more measured in their assessment of the effect of the cuts on the local economy.
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