Why Mike Pence is wrong

In the clip below, Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) talks about the need for the US government to follow the example of the the average American citizen and/or business:



Yglesias, in turn, responds. I want to fill in any gaps that may appear in that post. Congressman Pence is making a case for a spending freeze. It would be fair to imagine that such a freeze would look a bit like the United States Federal government shutdown of 1995, which is to say that government employees (including law enforcement, scientists, lawyers, diplomats, etc.) did not work. In 1995, these employees were paid. Pence's spending freeze would literally mean that they would not get paid.

It is fair, therefore, to say that many of these employees would have to turn to the private sector to find work. Right now, however, the private sector is laying people off. Hence the following:

Lay off a government worker, and he’ll just be unemployed. And as an unemployed government worker, he’ll spend less at local stores leading to more layoffs in retail and more excess inventory in manufacturing. This kind of thing is how recessions become depressions.