Go Right Ahead, Keep Cutting State Jobs

For those who favor public sector cuts and who also don't like to read newspapers (online or print) perhaps there's a disconnect when the phrase "budget cuts" is aired. But let's get something straight: when a state or federal government talks about cutting costs, nine times out of ten it means a public worker (or private sector contractor) will lose his/her job. Since the beginning of 2010 state and local governments have trimmed 455,000 positions. What does all this have to do with the mortgage industry? It's simple. I would venture that at least half (probably more) of these laid off workers have a mortgage. Not only that, they're consumers – people who buy stuff on Black Friday and stimulate the economy. Cutting public workers can make sense at times, but with private sector hiring anemic and with state revenues in an ugly place, more layoffs at the state and local level will only exacerbate the nation's delinquency crisis – and economic growth.