Moody’s has cut the rating on $12.2 billion worth of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)’s debt, in part because money from the new $1.5 billion downstate payroll tax continues to fall far short of what the state expected. That tax gap was once $200 million; now it’s $350 million.

Meanwhile, a motley collection of transit “advocates,” including local TWU chief John Samuelson, the Straphangers Campaign’s Gene Russianoff, new Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio, and State Sen. Bill Perkins, will protest the MTA’s scheduled service cuts today — but don’t expect them to say a word about reforming union labor costs in light of the authority’s deteriorating credit.

Maybe they should protest against themselves.