The people, in my sons (a physicist) department that were laid-off thursday...and the survivers placed on a four day work week....they noticed.
But, I understand the point.
A four day work week would be a 20% cut, which is a lot more than a 9% cut. Rhetorically, I'll ask if you think they're cutting back on the budget for defense researchers and not the budget for Gulfstream Vs for the Generals. I'd suggest that it should be a no-brainer to cut 9% fluff out of the US military budget without even trying very hard. But the fact that they are cutting back on stuff that they shouldn't be cutting and leaving the stuff that they should cut doesn't mean they shouldn't and can't cut.
Yeah. The government can either cut smart, or they can cut dumb. For many years they have been able to cut in dumb ways, which make voters panic and insist on tax hikes to bring back the good stuff that just got cut.
I’m hoping that voters allow the current round of cuts, even if dumb, and then demand more cuts. Eventually, we might see the government cut smart.
From that perspective, if the government cut smart, they could save big bucks and almost nobody would notice. But for now, with dumb cuts, some good people will suffer. Its intentional.