I just have to shake my head, to the point of whiplash, when I think about the bickering going on over President Obama’s sequester cuts when I hear stories like this. GE’s much touted “Appliance Park” is laying off 500 employees, despite nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in government subsidies.

Sluggish appliance sales have furloughed roughly 500 General Electric factory workers at Appliance Park, shutting down the second shift of the new “french door” refrigerator line for five weeks, and stopping production for a week each on the hybrid water heater line and a washer line.

“This is an unfortunate, temporary bump in the road as we work to transform our business,” GE spokeswoman Kim Freeman said in a statement.

“At the end of 2012, appliance industry sales were down almost one million units from 2011,” she said, adding “2013 is starting off slower than anticipated.”

I’m sure the progressives won’t see the irony when they recall Vice President Joe Biden touting subsidies for this project by saying “This is big government.” He was right, by the way. Massive layoffs are the ultimate result of big government. Unfortunately, by the time the dumbed down masses realize that simple fact it could be too late to do anything about it.