Raytheon lays off 89 employees in El Segundo

Raytheon Co. handed out more than 100 layoff notices Thursday to employees in Southern California after the company conducted a re-evaluation of work force needs.

[Holy Cow]

My heart goes out to those that got notices. Keep your spirits up. Good luck.

[Shally]

Just the nature of the business, especially nowadays. Such is the life of an aerospace worker. I used to work there, wonder if anyone I know got a pink slip. Sign up for your "unenjoyment" benefits. They should try Northrop because they seem to be the only aerospace company getting lots of big contracts!

[Never Cease to be Amazed]

What? No strikes ... commercials for more taxes ...... threats of the Apocalypse?

[Gvanderburg]

i got laid off from AMR over 2 years ago. good luck! and hang in there! be safe all!

[Close it down]

Please, No more war toys!

[Gary]

Close it down wrote:

Please, No more war toys!

And we'll be protected by what? Your foolish belief that we can all love one another? Please move to Pakistan or Iran and preach that garbage.

[Native]

Close it down wrote:

Please, No more war toys!

Sure. Let's just let the rest of the world take over. We don't need a military? Let's just all play nice OK? That does seem to be the position of many liberals. What do you do with the folks who don't play nice?(eg. Putin, Kim Jong Il, Ahmadinejad, Hu Jintao, etc.) Should we just give up and let them rule the world instead? Yeah, that would be a big improvement right?

[Burkas]

Hey - Close It Down - ya ready w/ a burka to cover yourself when the Taliban comes to power, once we have no more "war toys?" Think it can't happen here? Read some history and educate yourself.

[watcher]

I can remember when there were so many aerospace
jobs in El Segundo they needed traffic officers
on Avaition Bl and surronding streets to handle
the traffic. So many good jobs gone.

[Gary]

watcher wrote:

I can remember when there were so many aerospace
jobs in El Segundo they needed traffic officers
on Avaition Bl and surronding streets to handle
the traffic. So many good jobs gone.

When I worked at Hughes,there were 50K+ employees, most of us in El Segundo. We supplied the nation with the military equipment that kept us safe for the duration of the cold war and it paid well, and taxes were collected. We didn't make "toys". We left that up to Mattel.

[Steve]

Close it down is wrong, of course, but the military industrial complex has grown too big. It's not like we're under attack! We don't need 188 bases around the world to defend the U.S. How can we afford to play policeman for the rest of the world? We're a poor country -- deep in debt! If we'd just drop a nuke on some of these Middle-East countries, they'd come around to our way of thinking faster than a speeding bullet. It's be a lot cheaper, too, without wasting good infantry.

[Native]

Steve wrote:

Close it down is wrong, of course, but the military industrial complex has grown too big. It's not like we're under attack! We don't need 188 bases around the world to defend the U.S. How can we afford to play policeman for the rest of the world? We're a poor country -- deep in debt! If we'd just drop a nuke on some of these Middle-East countries, they'd come around to our way of thinking faster than a speeding bullet. It's be a lot cheaper, too, without wasting good infantry.

Grown too big?!?!? I don't know where you are getting your 'facts' but the military industrial complex has been SHRINKING. It's smaller today than it has been for many decades.

"Playing policeman" with the rest of the world? Do you honestly believe that if we did not assert our power that nobody else would?

We are not a poor country. Our debt load is high thanks to our new socialist leaders.

You cannot fight every war with a nuke. Should we have nuked Afghanistan? Everyone (including the left) agree that we needed to stop the Taliban. If you are a bleeding heart liberal and want to minimize the loss of life, compare the few thousands of deaths during conventional war to the many tens of thousands due to nuclear war.

[Gary]

Steve wrote:

Close it down is wrong, of course, but the military industrial complex has grown too big. It's not like we're under attack! We don't need 188 bases around the world to defend the U.S. How can we afford to play policeman for the rest of the world? We're a poor country -- deep in debt! If we'd just drop a nuke on some of these Middle-East countries, they'd come around to our way of thinking faster than a speeding bullet. It's be a lot cheaper, too, without wasting good infantry.

You're wrong about the size of the Military Industrial Complex. Without it we would be neutralized in many International matters by the likes of Russia and China. Taiwan would be annexed back to mainland China, South Korea would be at war, Iran would be much more involved with making the middle east a bastion of Islamic Fundamentalism etc., etc. It seems this country has lost it's will to win. War involves casualties, there were many battles in WWI, WWII that produced more deaths and wounded than the entire war in Iraq, but the nation was united in the cause of winning. Today every thing is based on which political party can make the most "hay" from the other party's problems. And winning a war just gets in the way of that political mindset.