Defense spending was good news for Hampton Roads ... until Gates announced JFCOM plan

Bad timing for Defense Secretary Robert Gates' announcement that he wants to kill off Joint Forces Command -- and the thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in economic benefit it represents for the Hampton Roads region.

Also out today is a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau that touts Hampton Roads as one of only three large metropolitan areas in the United States were income went up in 2009. (Here's a link to that story.)

The reason that our area -- along with Washington, D.C., and San Antonio, Texas -- is doing better than most others?

Spending by the government in general and the Defense Department in particular.

Well, shoot.

Comments

[J. Tyler Ballance]

Let's take an objective view of any value added initiatives borne from JFCOM and its predecessor.

{crickets}

That just about sums it up.

But lets also be open about downsizing other worthless patronage programs that have refused to die over the years, like the service academies, service operated prep schools, "diversity selection and promotion programs (selection and promotion must be based only on MERIT) senior enlisted ranks above E-7 and eighty percent of the flag level billets.