Debt deal expected to hit Washington area economy, defense firms

The hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to military spending proposed in the federal debt-reduction deal would hit the Washington region's defense industry hard, forcing layoffs and undermining the local economy for several years, analysts said.

Defense firms around Washington have already been shrinking, but the proposed cuts would slice even further into an industry that is a pillar of the region's economy, according to economists.

The proposed budget deal would cut $350 billion from defense budgets over 10 years, in the first defense reductions since the 1990s, according to the White House. But the contraction could go much further because the deal calls for the possibility of more deficit-reduction measures by the end of the year.

Read full article >>

Lori Montgomery 02 Aug, 2011

--
Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=6658ddacb3a5ee191d4ec2a99931d4a2
~
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com