Buzzflash
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Mixx it!
Reddit
Starve the Pentagon; Feed the Workers
Lansdowne, Pa.
The calls, from Christopher Hayes and Barney Frank, to "Cut the Military Budget" [March 2] point out how weapons contracts are being rebranded as jobs programs to fight military spending cuts. What Hayes and Frank miss, however, is the importance of these jobs to American high-tech workers. Most defense jobs require security clearances, available only to US citizens. Microsoft, IBM and others are free to outsource software development to other countries or to bring engineers here on H-1B visas. But military contractors like Lockheed Martin, L-3 and General Dynamics are among the dwindling number of employers who offer US engineers job stability.
Subscribe Now!
The only way to read this article and the full contents of each week's issue of The Nation online is by subscribing to the magazine. Subscribe now and read this article -- and every article published since for the past five years -- right now.
There's no obligation -- try The Nation for four weeks free.
- Get The Nation at home (and online!) for 68 cents a week!
- If you like this article, consider making a donation to The Nation.
- Reprint this article. Click here for rights and information.
RSS