The Sky Is Falling, Again
The Sequester and the Booms and Busts of Aerospace
Have the budget cuts in Washington, known as the sequester, brought on another great decline of California aerospace, the business that built L.A.? The history of Southern California’s aerospace industry is usually described in broad strokes—as an unbroken 20th century rise, followed by a post-Cold War decline. But the real history of aerospace is much more complicated and volatile—and, if past is prologue, the future may surprise us.
Since its very start, aerospace has been an industry of booms and busts. The first boom came in the 1920s, when the feats …
