Why DC is Recession Proof And Has a Good Housing Market (Washington: home, tech jobs)

[DC Bossman]

Obama is trying to push a plan for $400 billion in defense cuts

April 13 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama, as part of his plan to reduce the nation’s long-term debt, will propose cutting $400 billion from the Pentagon’s budget through the 2023 fiscal year, extending cuts beyond those sought by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a person familiar with the plan said.

Obama Said to Seek $400 Billion Defense Cut Through Fiscal 2023 - Businessweek

[JEB77]

Originally Posted by Stephen 81

I'm somewhat skeptical of an article that gets a lot of basic facts wrong.

Alexandria is not a county, and is not one of the top 10 "counties" in the U.S. in terms of income (nor would it be if it were a county). Howard County is, though, and possibly Montgomery County as well.

It calls AOL a major media company (ha!) and thinks that the presence of NIH and NPR are somehow distinct from DC being the center of the federal government.

Somehow the Baltimore metropolitan area has four million people. If the DC metro has 5.5 million and the combined DC-Baltimore metro has 9.5, that means Baltimore has to have four million people. Maybe that's true if the Baltimore metro includes Wilmington, Lancaster and York, but that would be an absurd definition of "Baltimore".

I'm sure a lot of the author's points are valid and well thought out, but I'm not really impressed by a writer who plays fast and loose with facts that are easily double-checked by someone with access to the internet.

I had the same reaction - AOL (besides being a small fish) is headquartered in Lower Manhattan now, not in NoVa. He refers to the affluence of Arlington and Fairfax, while overlooking that average incomes in Loudoun are actually higher. Etc, etc.

Florida has an interesting thesis which those who love to characterize DC as a "world-class" city that attracts the "best and the brightest" are more than happy to embrace. But I think he's a bit of a publicity hound who is ready to lend his name and theory to any publication, without really doing any hard work or research.

It's not that this area doesn't have a lot of strengths and attractions (heck, just look at today's Washington Post to see all the good musical acts coming here this summer). It's just that reality (the continued centrality of the Federal Government to this area's fortunes) is a bit more prosaic than Florida or many others are willing to recognize.

[knowledgeiskey]

Originally Posted by JEB77

I had the same reaction - AOL (besides being a small fish) is headquartered in Lower Manhattan now, not in NoVa. He refers to the affluence of Arlington and Fairfax, while overlooking that average incomes in Loudoun are actually higher. Etc, etc.

Florida has an interesting thesis which those who love to characterize DC as a "world-class" city that attracts the "best and the brightest" are more than happy to embrace. But I think he's a bit of a publicity hound who is ready to lend his name and theory to any publication, without really doing any hard work or research.

It's not that this area doesn't have a lot of strengths and attractions (heck, just look at today's Washington Post to see all the good musical acts coming here this summer). It's just that reality (the continued centrality of the Federal Government to this area's fortunes) is a bit more prosaic than Florida or many others are willing to recognize.

What about the Dulles corridor? I think a lot of private companies(non-contractors)align the corridor with high paying tech jobs.

[Eugene80]

Am I really supposed to feel sorry for the economic plight of the rest of the nation where only 28% of the population even completed college? That statistic alone disturbs me more than any unemployment figures.

[Steelers10]

A few notes:

-In national analyses, often times Alexandria is quantified as a county (as are many other independent cities in Virginia) because they are not part of any county. However, it might be inappropriate in and of itself to discount well over 100,000 people because they are not part of a county.


-I don't know about economic devastation but what took place in Prince William County is not unusual for any "high growth" outer suburb for an American major city. No one twisted the arms of developers to build a supply of homes that outpaced demand. If you think Prince William is bad you need to check out Vegas or Fort Myers, FL.

-Yes Washington D.C. is the seat of the national government and attracts defense contractors. However, did the U.S. government ever purchase steel from Pittsburgh? Did it ever borrow money from New York banks or locate the federal reserve bank in NYC? Did the U.S. government ever purchase automobiles from Detroit? Manufacture airplanes and ships in an aerospace industry in every major city on the Pacific coast? Yes Washington D.C. benefits from being the capital city of a country that spends too much but to insinuate D.C. "unfairly" benefits from spending or that many other large cities would not be as hurt by reduced spending is absurd.

[Bluefly]

Originally Posted by JEB77

I had the same reaction - AOL (besides being a small fish) is headquartered in Lower Manhattan now, not in NoVa. He refers to the affluence of Arlington and Fairfax, while overlooking that average incomes in Loudoun are actually higher. Etc, etc.

Florida has an interesting thesis which those who love to characterize DC as a "world-class" city that attracts the "best and the brightest" are more than happy to embrace. But I think he's a bit of a publicity hound who is ready to lend his name and theory to any publication, without really doing any hard work or research.

It's not that this area doesn't have a lot of strengths and attractions (heck, just look at today's Washington Post to see all the good musical acts coming here this summer). It's just that reality (the continued centrality of the Federal Government to this area's fortunes) is a bit more prosaic than Florida or many others are willing to recognize.

Perhaps it's because of your curiously anti-urban agenda, but you seem to be distorting Florida's position. He states the strong role government plays here (duh) but focuses on what's beyond that. Our collection of universities alone are HUGE generators of wealth. So is our medical system and our tech industry that isn't inherently tied to the feds.

I don't know anyone who claims DC as "world class", but if you've ever lived in a truly government city it becomes apparent that there's a great deal more going on here than just government and contracting.

[KStreetQB]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

I don't think that's on the table though, is it?

Spending on Defense is extraordinarily high. But I always got the impression that Republicans and Tea Partiers aren't bothered by that kind of spending.

They are more against spending in healthcare, medicare, education, etc.

Is there anyone either Republican or Democratic even remotely considering cutting spending on defense?

Yep. In the FY12 House Appropriations Committee 302(b) suballocation (basically target discretionary spending limits), every House approps subcommittee has been given a smaller budget compared to actual FY11 spending levels (an underwhelming $47b savings) with the exception of defense, which gets $17 billion more (whoops, only saving $30b now).

You're right again on where they are cutting. Labor, HHS, Education & Related Agencies subcommittee took the biggest hit - $18 billion.

No idea what the Senate wants to do, but they'll protect Labor-HHS-ED a little more, but the DoD will almost certainly get more than last year.

[Stephen 81]

Originally Posted by Bluefly

Perhaps it's because of your curiously anti-urban agenda, but you seem to be distorting Florida's position. He states the strong role government plays here (duh) but focuses on what's beyond that. Our collection of universities alone are HUGE generators of wealth. So is our medical system and our tech industry that isn't inherently tied to the feds.

I don't know anyone who claims DC as "world class", but if you've ever lived in a truly government city it becomes apparent that there's a great deal more going on here than just government and contracting.

Maybe I'm misinterpreting what you mean by our medical system, but there wouldn't be any biotech or medical research companies here if it weren't for the NIH. Every city has hospitals, so I'm not sure that DC stands apart there. Isn't the closest top research hospital in Baltimore (Hopkins), anyhow?

Same with universities. Higher education just isn't as big of an industry here as it is in Philadelphia, Boston or the Research Triangle (for a few examples). UMD, and to a lesser extent George Mason, have gotten where they are because their proximity to the federal government has made it easier for them to collaborate with the government and get grant money.

DC and its suburbs have certainly diversified over the last few decades in terms of the major employers. To use Florida's language, though, DC simply wouldn't have the "creative class" that it does if it weren't for the Feds. If the government were to shrink in size and importance over the next few decades (maybe not a good thing, and certainly rather unlikely), do we really think that Discovery would stay in Silver Spring, and that all our local universities would stay where they are in the rankings?

DC isn't alone in its reliance on one industry or sector. It's not a knock on this area to say that DC is reliant on the government any more than people are criticizing Los Angeles for being the center of the entertainment industry, or Dallas and Houston for being energy meccas.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by Bluefly

So is our medical system and our tech industry that isn't inherently tied to the feds.

Also, the amount of biological research here. It's one of those things that unless you're involved with it you don't realize how much is going on in the DC metro area, especially at HHMI and Janelia. I suppose you could argue that we wouldn't have them without first having the NIH. OTOH they're here now. If the NIH were to have huge cuts tomorrow, work would continue at Janelia IMO. I feel my job is secure, at any rate.

[14thandYou]

DC wouldn't exist were it not for the federal government, so I'm not really getting the hand wringing about the region's dependence on the Feds. It's the city's raison d'etre, I don't see why DC or its residents need to shy away from that or apologize for it. Living in a city that is the home of the federal government of the most powerful nation on Earth provides a lot of advantages--it's one of the things that attracted me to the region.