There’s been a lot of varying numbers cascading around the chattering classes aimed at making the potential impact of the sequester more tangible. One of the hazier areas has been the effect on defense contractors, and in turn, their importance in the economies of different places (other than the obvious example of Northern Virginia, where you cannot stir defense contractors with a stick).
Today Stateline‘s Jake Grovum offers an analysis of the likely defense cuts, and in passing mentions the six states where defense contracts account for more than 5% of GDP. Aside from Virginia, these include Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Mississippi and Missouri. Don’t believe I could have guessed all of those even for big bucks on Jeopardy.
