GOP Spending Plan Could Cost 700,000 Jobs

A report by Mark Zandi at Moody’s Analytics indicates that the Republican plan to cut spending by $61 billion over seven months would cost 700,000 jobs by 2012.

Zandi, an architect of the 2009 stimulus package who has advised both political parties, predicts that the GOP package would reduce economic growth by 0.5 percentage points this year, and by 0.2 percentage points in 2012, resulting in 700,000 fewer jobs by the end of next year…

“Significant government spending restraint is vital, but given the still halting economic recovery, it would be counterproductive for that restraint to begin until the economy is creating enough jobs to bring down the still very high unemployment rate,” Zandi writes. “Shutting the government down for any length of time would also be taking a big chance with the recovery, not only because of the disruption to government services, but also due to the potential hit to the fragile collective psyche.”

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.