{"id":2873,"date":"2014-02-19T11:50:53","date_gmt":"2014-02-19T17:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/?p=2873"},"modified":"2014-02-19T11:50:53","modified_gmt":"2014-02-19T17:50:53","slug":"business-rundown-our-military-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/business-rundown-our-military-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Rundown: Our Military Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Shula Neuman<\/a>, St. Louis Public Radio
\nclick here for original article<\/a><\/p>\n

We just kicked off a year-long celebration of St. Louis\u2019 250th anniversary.\u00a0 As an editor, I had the pleasure of working with\u00a0Maria Altman on her audio Valentine to the city<\/a>. If you haven\u2019t heard the piece yet, you should definitely take a listen; it\u2019s very fun and uplifting.<\/p>\n

One of the things I learned from Maria\u2019s story is the role St. Louis has played in the country\u2019s aerospace industry.\u00a0 Besides all the airplanes McDonnell Douglas produced, the company also played a key role in designing the shuttles and ships for NASA\u2019s space programs.<\/p>\n

Well, as most any St. Louisan knows, Boeing acquired McDonnell Douglas in the late 1990s, but the company continues to play a big role in our culture and economy.\u00a0 And this past week, we noticed a few interesting developments that could make for a bumpy ride.<\/p>\n

The price of a plane<\/strong><\/p>\n

Boeing has supplied two fighter jets to the U.S. Navy for years: the F\/A-18E\/F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers. But both programs may be on the chopping block by 2016.\u00a0 According to a\u00a0Reuters report,<\/a>\u00a0the Navy\u2019s 2015 budget doesn\u2019t include any funding for any extra Super Hornets or Growlers.\u00a0 And, apparently, the Navy\u2019s plans to add funding for termination of the Super Hornet line in 2016.<\/p>\n

We won\u2019t know for sure what the Navy\u2019s actual plans will be until the White House submits its 2015 budget to Congress on March 4. In the meantime, Boeing is negotiation with the union that represents the workers on the F\/A-18 line, District 837 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.<\/p>\n

The Post-Dispatch reported\u00a0<\/a>that the two sides are trying to find a way to reduce the cost of making the plane, including reducing the number of Super Hornets built each month from three to two. For its part, the union is hoping that Boeing avoids layoffs and instead offers a voluntary buyout program for workers.<\/p>\n

Other military cutbacks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another part of the region\u2019s air economy is also bracing for a hit. The Air Force is cutting its budget, affecting\u00a0Scott Air Force Base.<\/a>\u00a0The base is looking to cut 40 percent of its active duty personnel. It’s hoping to meet that number through a voluntary separations and retirements.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Belleville News Democrat\u00a0<\/a>reports that, even though the Air Force is looking for voluntary reductions at this time, tensions are still fairly high for those who work at Scott. Long-time Air Force personnel and officers worry that even a small misstep could end an otherwise distinguished career.<\/p>\n

Of course, one question has yet to be explored: What impact would a smaller Scott Air Force Base have on the economy? After all, about 5,500 people work there \u2013 and that\u2019s just the military personnel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Shula Neuman, St. Louis Public Radio click here for original article We just kicked off a year-long celebration of St. Louis\u2019 250th anniversary.\u00a0 As an editor, I had the pleasure of working with\u00a0Maria Altman on her audio Valentine to the city. If you haven\u2019t heard the piece yet, you should definitely take a listen; it\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/FA-18_climb.jpg?fit=178%2C224&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2873"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2891,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2873\/revisions\/2891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}