Shared Items – 17 January 2009

17 January 2009 @ 10:00 pm | 3 comments

» WHILE AMERICA GETS POORER, Washington is getting richer. “After the 2000 Census, the richest county…

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  1. Rob’s avatar

    Rob on 19 January 2009 at 3:11 pm

    If you knew anything about the Washington, D.C. area, you might actually be able to explain its economic impact. For example, a huge component of the DC economy is related to the military-industrial complex: Lockheed-Martin, Northrop-Grumman, plus hundreds of defense-related contractors. Don’t tell me these guys don’t make or produce anything. Another factor that requires some explaining is that while the counties you cite do register high up on the wealth lists, that doesn’t mean you’re necessarily talking about real wealth. What you have is a high number of people who work at good jobs — middle management, etc. — and not a lot of low-end hourly wage work. There are other factors, too, but unless you’re interested in doing more than misusing facts to make some political point, I doubt you would want to know.

  2. David H. Sundwall’s avatar

    David H. Sundwall on 19 January 2009 at 9:41 pm

    Rob –

    Sorry to hit such a raw nerve but you might be better suited to take issue with where I linked.

    But, as someone who lived in the DC area for almost 25 years, worked in the U.S. Senate and the National Institutes of Health, I hope I qualify as knowing something about the area.

    I’m sure defense contractors do a lot of good but like so much of the government-industrial complex that is entrenched in the area, there is a degree of invulnerability from the realities of the private sector and a bad economy. DC doesn’t seem to need to follow the rules that everyone else does. In fact, in times of financial crisis there is a cry for more government.

  3. David B’s avatar

    David B on 20 January 2009 at 8:28 am

    I’m always amused by people saying X or Y industry doesn’t make or produce anything. Such statements ignore indirect economic impacts, which can be pretty huge–not to mention the darlings of people who espouse trickle-down economic theories. Really, for economic conservatives to decry -any- increase in wealth, well…

    (Not to mention that the analysis is incomplete–was the shift the result of increased wealth in the DC area combined with decrease or stasis elsewhere, or decreased wealth elsewhere accompanied by stasis or decrease in the DC area, or increase–unlikely, this year–everywhere but with a higher rate near DC, or some other combination? It makes a difference in the conclusions that can be drawn.)