In just one day this week, this newspaper reported that 125 BAE System workers at Schofield Barracks would be furloughed for 30 days.

The economic news darkened as we also reported that 327 Sears Ala Moana workers will lose their jobs outright in June.

Finally if the Tesoro refinery closes, another 250 local workers may be unemployed.

Unfortunately, these job losses are being described not as momentary glitches but instead, as the tip of an iceberg of upcoming bad economic news.

Part of learning about Hawaii was reporting on the collapse of Hawaii’s agriculture industry. From a sugar and pineapple industry that formed a culture and a political power that built towns, railroads, bridges and power plants, agriculture in Hawaii today has become no big thing.

Watching local leaders talk and try to resist the loss of jobs as the plantations closed was a lesson in learning how market forces, not government, will shape us.

So today, what is big in Hawaii is the federal government — the Defense Department alone employs 19,000.

If the federal sequestration happens, it will slam Hawaii.

On a proportionate basis, our state could suffer the biggest defense cuts, according to a new report by Wells Fargo Securities.

The report says 14.6 percent of the state’s gross domestic product in 2010 came from military spending, while total federal spending accounted for 15.8 percent of the state’s GDP.

We would notice such a disruption.

If Congress is able to let the nation slip into a manufactured financial crisis, as President Barack Obama calls it, there is no corresponding indication that Congress will then be able to halt the federal cuts.

If that happens, Hawaii’s problem and reliance on federal spending become one of not how deep it will be, but how long it will last.

The state Legislature and governor have little sway in moving the federal government out of a sequestration mode, but a new report from the University of Hawaii does show a new source of money: gay marriage.

It will not replace changing the tires on C-130s or restocking nuclear subs, but it could be another turn for the marriage business, part of the tourist industry that is doing fine.

A study by University of Hawaii Sumner La Croix and Lauren Gabriel, with the UH law school, says Hawaii could be in line for big increases in tourist spending if Hawaii permits same-sex marriage, because of out-of-state guests coming for celebrations and same-sex couples coming to Hawaii to honeymoon.

"Our estimates of total additional spending, including multiplier rounds of spending, range from $46 million to $258 million over the 2014-2016 period," the report states.

The two researchers report: "We find that marriage equality is likely to lead to substantial increases in visitor arrivals, visitor spending and state and county general excise tax revenues."

The Legislature is mulling over a series of bills to allow same-sex marriage in Hawaii as well as state constitutional amendments that, if passed, would allow voters to decide to either approve or forbid gay marriage.

At the same time, it would not matter what Hawaii did on same-sex marriage if the U.S. Supreme Court action on the federal Defense of Marriage Act leads to federal recognition of marriage.

The pool of folks wanting to honeymoon or celebrate or get married in Hawaii would increase.

Of course, this isn’t on the economic scale of homeporting an aircraft carrier at Pearl Harbor — but if the eggs in your economic basket are cracking, it is a good time to find some new ones.

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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.