Cities Brace for Fallout From New Defense Budget

With President Obama and Robert Gates hoping to reconfigure defense spending, cities and towns around the country are bracing for the economic fallout, ABC News reports. Some of the places most likely to be pinched if Gates’ budget stands:

• Marietta, Ga.: Where Boeing and Lockheed Martin assemble F-22s. About 2,000 jobs could be lost here.

• Seattle: The F-22’s wings and fuselage are built here, accounting for 1,200 positions.
• Middletown, Conn.: United Technologies builds the F-22’s engine here; 2,000 to 3,000 jobs could be lost.
• St. Louis: Could suffer seriously if the Boeing C-17 transport is discontinued. About 1,800 work on that plane, and 4,000 work on F/A-18s.
• Long Beach, Calif.: C-17 cuts would really hurt here; 5,000 work on the plane.

(More military spending stories.)