Defense Cuts Impact on the States

  The dire effects of slashing our military budget can already be seen in the states.  New York is a good example. 

   It should be remembered that the “Great Depression” of the 1930s only ended when the United States became the arsenal of democracy and created employment in armaments factories.  As the threat from Germany loomed large in Europe, and Japan moved to conquer the whole of the Pacific region, Americans finally emerged from the nightmare of mass unemployment by finding work building tanks, airplanes and ships.

   Today, the world again rests upon the precipice of disaster. China has a navy that will soon equal ours, and the world’s largest armed forces. They have already used that navy to steal resources from the Philippines, threaten Japan, and intimidate almost every other nation in the region. A resurgent Russia possesses a nuclear arsenal greater than America’s, and the gap continues to grow in Moscow’s favor.  Once again, the newly liberated nations that used to be part of the Soviet Empire live in fear.

   Despite these frightening realities, as well as the need to reverse an unemployment level not seen since the Great Depression, the White House continues to demand that the military bear the brunt of spending cuts.  Additionally, other high-tech, job-producing endeavors such as the space program have been shelved. The results have become clearly evident close to home. 

   Currently, New York State has one of the most severe unemployment levels in the nation, at 9.1%, as opposed to the national level of 8.1%.   The problem is about to get bigger. As a result of military spending cutbacks, Sikorsky has announced that it will close its plant in Big Flats, New York—a loss of 570 jobs. The size of the work force had already dwindled down from 1,300.

   The facility, located near Elmira, is relatively new, (it was constructed in 2007) and is in a region of the state particularly hard hit by unemployment.  The New York State Department of Labor notes that from August 2011 to August 2012, not even one private sector job was produced in the region, and 2,100 jobs were lost.

   The issue has become a political battle between the two candidates for U.S. Senate.  The incumbent, Kristie Gillibrand is a Democrat but apparently couldn’t convince fellow Democrat Obama to take steps to save the plant.  Her rival, Republican challenger Wendy Long, has advocated a jobs and economic growth agenda along with support for enhanced defense capabilities. She has severely criticized the plant closing.

   New York is not alone. The multi-year $487 billion in defense reductions already in existence may soon be almost doubled by “sequestration” cuts scheduled to go into effect in January unless deficit-reducing measures are agreed to in Washington.  The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberly Strassel notes that “Dramatic cuts in military spending are beginning to take a toll on defense jobs in…states such as Ohio, Virginia, and Florida.”

   Concerns about the domestic impact of the White House’s insistence on reducing military spending have been voiced, even within the president’s cabinet.  Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned that this policy would lead to a loss of 1.53 million jobs, dramatically increasing unemployment.  Additionally, the demobilizing of significant numbers of soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines into a near-depression economy would swell the ranks of the unemployed at the worst possible time.