IT is axiomatic that industries most dependent on Government contracts are the first to feel the pinch of a budget cutback. So it is with aerospace, which has become the nation's largest manufacturing employer, with 1,300,000 workers, mostly on the strength of Government purchases stretching back to World War II. Lately the industry has suffered a succession of blows: a slowdown in space exploration, a $6.9 billion cutback in Washington's defense budget, and a fall-off in orders for commercial aircraft. As a result, aerospace-men have come down with a severe case of what...
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