Robert Pollin is quoted at length by Nicole Debevec on United Press International: “The Issue: Is the sequester a ‘whoa’ or a ‘yikes’ that’s just days away?”

But just how serious will it be if the sequester takes place? Will it really be as dire as some say?

“Imposing spending cuts tied to the sequester will certainly hurt the U.S. economic recovery, since it means job losses, which in turn means that people will have less money in their pockets to boost an economic recovery,” said Robert Pollin, professor of economics and director of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts.

The U.S. recovery is already stalled, Pollin said, noting the Gross Domestic Product growth was zero last quarter and the jobless rate rose slightly from 7.8 percent to 7.9 percent.

“Imposing the sequester cuts will not help,” he said.

Abroad, he said, the message would be mixed.

“On the one hand, the debate around the sequester suggests that the U.S. is highly concerned about the fiscal deficit,” Pollin said. “However, it also suggests that our political leaders can’t come up with a more nuanced approach to dealing with the deficit.”

Because Washington is saying the United States’ top economic concern is the deficit, not mass unemployment, Pollin said in the next year, “pursuing an austerity agenda will be harmful to a U.S. and global recovery of employment. Over time that will have a negative effect on the reputation of the United States.”

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/02/24/The-Issue-Is-the-sequester-a-whoa-or-a-yikes-thats-just-days-away/UPI-61381361698200/#ixzz2Lvam0V00