Biggest Defense Spending Dive Shows Risk of U.S. Cuts
This article is for subscribers only.
The year-end plunge in U.S. defense spending may provide the industry with more ammunition to fight automatic budget cuts it says will harm the economy.
Defense purchases in the fourth quarter plummeted 22 percent, the Commerce Department said yesterday. It was the biggest decline since 1972, when military spending slumped as the Vietnam War ebbed, and it contributed to the economy shrinking at a 0.1 percent annual rate in the quarter.