With the federal government sitting back idly while the Detroit Big Three auto industry runs out of money, will Washington next permit the U.S. aerospace industry to dwindle and decay?

That question was asked by Loren B. Thompson, chief operating office of The Lexington Institute, a think tank near the Pentagon focusing on defense and other issues.

It is a fact, he wrote, that the aerospace industry is fully dependent for its survival on money flowing from Washington to purchase such items as strike fighters, Thompson noted.

If the economy is to avoid worse turmoil, it is vital that federal support for aerospace programs continue, he warned.

His comments came as some Democrats in Congress are poised to slash defense spending, including missile defense programs.

"The aerospace industry has begun a campaign to convince the next administration that support of its programs will help bolster the ailing economy," Thompson wrote. "The industry’s trade association paid for a full-page advertisement in the Dec. 2 Washington Post stating that two million middle-class jobs are generated by the aerospace sector, that it is the nation’s leading exporter of manufactured goods, and that its products are essential to national security. Argued against the backdrop of a rapidly deteriorating economy, the pitch looks pretty persuasive."

Thompson stressed that while the auto industry sells mainly to civilian customers, the aerospace industry is heavily dependent on orders from government.

"Aerospace is not like other industries," Thompson noted. "It gets a lot more money from taxpayers in a typical year than the auto industry is going to get from any federal bailout, and much of the aerospace sector would cease to exist in the absence of government support. There just isn’t much demand in the private sector for stealth bombers and space stations. Even the commercial part of the business depends on federal assistance, for example by maintaining the domestic air-traffic control system."

"So the bottom line on the aerospace industry’s campaign is this: the government can either keep supporting the sector, or watch another great American industry disappear," Thompson cautioned. "Incidentally, the nation’s trade deficit in manufactured goods is currently running above $50 billion per month, or about 5 percent of GDP. Now you know where foreigners got the money to purchase four-fifths of all newly issued Treasury bills over the last four years."

Thompson’s paper titled "Aerospace Plea Raises Broader Economic Questions" can be read at http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org on the Web.