Lockheed, Boeing Weapons Are at Risk as Gates Shifts Priorities

[ensho]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ax3FuUvS0Y6g&refer=home


Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-22 fighter jet and Boeing Co.’s Future Combat Systems are among programs at risk as the Obama administration begins to close the “spigot of defense spending” that opened with the 2001 terror attacks.

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Turning Off ‘Spigot’

Gates, who was hired by President George W. Bush and kept on the job by Obama, in January said the “spigot of defense spending that opened on 9/11 is closing.” The former director of the Central Intelligence Agency has conducted his weapons review in secrecy in an effort to reduce leaks and lobbying. He’s scheduled to announce his decisions at a Pentagon news conference at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow.

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‘Fundamental Shift’

Obama on Feb. 24 called upon the Pentagon to “reform our defense budget so that we are not paying for Cold War-era” weapons. The changes Gates is contemplating “are not changes around the margins,” Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters. “This is a fundamental shift” in how the Pentagon buys major systems and supports combat troops, he said.
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I'd like to 'fundamentally shift' the war industry right out of business

[rrneck]

1. We could cut our military

budget at least 40% (I'm guessing) and not jeopardize our national security. But to do so would jeopardize the profits of a lot of corporations.

And we can't do it all at once because a helluva lot of jobs depend on the MIC. We have to find a place to put those people to work. It'll take time. Generations.

It certainly needs to happen.

[Sherman A1]

2. I think we could cut much deeper, but you are right about jobs

we need to shift those jobs into something that is productive, such as renewable energy.