Pentagon pitches austerity plan to nervous Wall Street

[unhappycamper]

Pentagon pitches austerity plan to nervous Wall Street
By Andrea Shalal-Esa

WASHINGTON | Tue Oct 5, 2010 5:54pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn met with over a dozen Wall Street analysts last week to map out Pentagon cost-cutting plans aimed at averting a collapse in defense spending the likes of which was seen at the end of the Cold War.

Lynn tried to assure the analysts that the Defense Department could continue to fund its biggest weapons purchases and still meet personnel costs by trimming $100 billion over five years from overhead and low priority programs, according to accounts of the meeting obtained by Reuters.

The Pentagon confirmed the meeting took place, but gave no details.

Investors remain worried and industry executives are already scrambling to find other revenues to offset the expected contraction in military demand.

"Nobody on Wall Street believes that defense spending will remain stable. The country is running a budget deficit of $1 billion every six hours, and defense will have to be part of the solution," said analyst Loren Thompson of the Virginia-based Lexington Institute.



unhappycamper comment: The Lexington Institute is one of my favorite RW warmongering 'think' tanks.

[msongs]

1. need to add another zero to that amount - there's a budget crisis ya know nt

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. It "collapsed" to $296B in 1996.

:eyes: