[LookmaNohands]

I know someone who may lose her job because of this. She works for a govt. contractor. Sounds like it could really affect northern Virginia. Cuts in the defense budget and military. I don't know much about this but I wonder if it could have a negative affect on the horse industry here. Apparently thousands of jobs will be lost starting in January.

Anyone know about this?

[Frank B]

Some of the financial information sources feel that at the last minute the politicians will do what they usually do, pass an interim bill and kick the can down the road.

Looks like the next two years are going to be a replay of the last two.

[Belg]

I beieve it will to some degree.

To put it bluntly, if you don't know if you'll have a paycheck next week, the last thing you'll be doing is buying a horse, buying a new saddle, truck, trailer, or anything else but hay, feed, and meds as needed.

The ongoing and repeated threat of sequestration is a huge psychological trauma to those people who work in the defense industry. You've got vast swaths of people out there who are trying to do a job that defends America, that saves american lives, the lives of our allies, and even that of our enemies in some cases... yet they feel hung out on the line to dry by the people they've elected to create -solutions- to these problems.

But Frank B's correct.... the can will get kicked down the road because noone wants another million or two people out of work.

[Bluey]

Add to that that the fear is real, see the example of NASA in FL.

[gottagrey]

Lockheed apparently issued pink slips the day after the election but defense cuts due to sequestration will have far reaching effects too -gov't contractors who lay off employees - those employees will no longer head to the building deli or local watering holes, no longer will run errands at lunch or after work - so those businesses will also feel the crunch... and of course that will affect the horse owner - they will cut down on showing and purchases... and so it goes...

[cswoodlandfairy]

I have been told that the government will severely cut the number of contractors they use. A friend of mine was a contractor and knowing what was about to happen started searching for a job a year ago and just landed a civilian job. But I was told that the major impact will be fiscal year 2014. So those working for contracting companies will be laid off.

I was told lets say there are 2,000 contractors today...expect that to be 200 by 2014.

[Frank B]

FWIW, in the early '70s when NASA's lunar program wound down, the contractors went. The government employees stayed. But that was when the government was only ridiculously in debt, not outrageously.

Today, who knows?

[Mike Matson]

The people have spoken. Four more years of hope and change ahead of us! You can take that to the bank and cash it.

[SLW]

Sure it would hurt the horse industry along with other businesses. It's odd though- Virginia went blue mostly thanks to the D.C. suburbs that are filled with govt workers/contractors knowing obama will cut the military. Shrug. It was their choice.

A girlfriend lives down in Williamsburg and works for a govt contractor over in Portsmouth, (I think). That company has been scaling back for two years and she has seen 20 somethings starting out with families let go along with upper management. The stress has been very hard to live with.

[Frank B]

If you're willing to wade through and decipher the bureaucratese, this might give a heads-up as to what would happen:
http://www.armedservices.house.gov/i...esources#item3

Then again, it might not.

[Belg]

That's an awful lot of zeros.

[Daydream Believer]

Just wanted to add that it's not just No. Va. but also Tidewater. We have a huge Defense oriented economy down here from contractors like my husband to shipyards building Navy ships and subs. I'm sure there are plenty of other places in the US also affected but yes, VA is probably top of list.

Of course anything that affects the economy affects the horse industry. I pretty much lost my horse business since 2008. I started to rebuild it as a farm local food business, was just about out of the hole, and God only knows what will happen now if my husband loses his job or our area, which supports my business, is hit hard. Can we say, BAD situation.

I have little faith that they will work anything out but I suppose a miracle is possible.

[LexInVA]

I don't think it will be all that bad since most of the local Equestrians are not employed in the Defense industry. From what I've seen in my social misadventures, the majority of the ones with high paying jobs all work in politics/law/lobbying/banking. It definitely will affect the other areas South of here where that is not the case and they are reliant on those jobs.

[poltroon]

I don't think anyone in government wants those cuts to happen that way. I suspect they'll make a deal.

When you say, "Let's cut the deficit by cutting all programs blindly across the board" ... that's what it looks like.