Europe’s Defense Buildup Offers an Economic Cushion
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The end of the Cold War had countless benefits. But for California, by far the largest US state by economic output, it was a crippling event. As defense spending slumped, the Golden State lost hundreds of thousands of middle-class jobs, contributing to its worst slump since the 1930s.
Only after enduring a fiscal crisis and real-estate implosion did California finally stage a comeback in the latter 1990s, with the technology boom. If a defense-industry contraction can prove so economically powerful, it makes sense to think a major build-up could prove a big stimulus. And the European Union—whose biggest economy, Germany, has been shrinking for two years—could surely use one.