Public concerns over downsizing the U.S. federal workforce range from high legal and constitutional concerns all the way down to everyday practical considerations, like whether or not it is still safe to fly on an airplane in the United States. And while many of these concerns demand urgent answers, they also prompt complicated long-term questions about the health and direction of the U.S. economy overall.

Watch the above video as Straight Arrow News contributor Adrienne Lawrence shares her top concerns about the economic consequences of Trump’s project to downsize the federal workforce, and warns that “economic earthquakes” are just around the corner.

The following is an excerpt from the above video:

It will be local diners losing customers, daycare centers with empty spots, auto shops with fewer oil changes. This is a domino effect of mass layoffs. Local businesses struggle, consumer spending dips, and the whole community starts to feel the strain. And let’s talk numbers. During the 2018-2019 government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, federal workers missed 5 billion in wages. That wasn’t just hardship for those employees. It sent shock waves through the economy, hitting small businesses and reducing tax revenues in ways that we are still recovering from. Imagine those effects permanently.

Federal workers don’t hoard their paychecks in offshore accounts. They buy groceries, pay rent, and keep the local economy running. When those jobs disappear, so does spending power, and when spending drops? Well, local businesses struggle, unemployment rises, and cities face budget shortfalls that cut funding for schools, infrastructure and emergency services.

And the irony! Many of these layoffs hit states that voted for Trump. The hardest rural counties and small cities where a single industry, whether it’s defense, agriculture or postal services, supports an entire local economy will feel these cuts most acutely. Less federal funding means fewer jobs. Fewer jobs means fewer tax dollars. Fewer tax dollars means weaker schools, crumbling roads, and an economic slowdown that can last for years.

But here’s what’s really at stake: community stability. When families lose their primary source of income, foreclosure rates rise, property values drop, homelessness ticks up, and suddenly what was once a middle-class neighborhood starts to unravel.