Quote from: Aeyra on July 18, 2007, 11:14:05 AM
What is it that you exactly do in DC, anyways? I know just as much about the economy as anyone else, and the numbers don't lie. We have $46 trillion USD in debt in this country and I don't see how we'll pay that back, especially given that our national assets are maybe $44 trillion USD. Basically we're upside down on the whole deal. Washington DC, granted, won't be the hardest hit, but I don't think it will be a good place in the future. The only reason DC does well right now is simply because the rest of the country is paying for it. It should be obvious to most people that we're going to have a SHTF moment really soon. When that happens, duck.
I will agree that BOston will make it through, but they'll run into some bumpy turbulence too. I didn't base my report on just who's paying whose bills, I considered a whole bunch of factors and the local economy is just one aspect of what makes a place good to live in or not.
Washington DC will be one of the few good places in future. The rest of the country may be paying for it, but it being the nations capitol and political center will not change whether there is a debt or surplus. There will always be money and a stable economy here because every national union group, nonprofit, trade organization, etc has to be based here and will continue to operate no matter what the economic conditions. No matter what the debt, the fact that this is an expert economy based on politics not business cycles or even the federal budget deficit. Everyone from corporations, to unions, to citizens, to the media pour billions of dollars every year into this economy because of the political importance of DC and the high level access that really only exists here because its the nations capital. Every union and trade group is based here. Most professional organizations run large offices out of DC. Nearly every national nonprofit is based here. It guarantees a perpetually stable economy even in economic downturns. The closest thing to private industry here are patent law firms, appeallete law firms, PR firms and lobbying firms, and they are recession proof. Everybody else works for nonprofits or DC fed jobs.
In fact this area would probably be the LEAST hurt by any economic downturn compared to ANYWHERE else in the country, this has been true for well over a century and its not going to change. Boston will actually see more pain than DC ever would. Why? Because it is far more dependent on private enterprise, so it is more of a slave to the business cycle. The only thing that keeps Boston more stable is the university and hospital system there, which is another thing DC area has on top of all the other recession proof aspects of the DC economy.
Yes, I am an elitist. I am a research analyst for a major corporate watchdog organization in DC. Like anybody with "research" or "policy" and "analyst" in their title in DC I am by every right an expert. So when I see misguided and misinformed information about a location I will tell them, especially areas I am extremely familiar with by living in them, such as rural New England, DC, Chicago, etc. Economic systems of large cities are complex, and you have proven to me you have very little if any understanding of the economy of DC and how it works. You feel that the federal debt will effect it...it won't.
Probably the reason there are very few trans people here is because its an expert economy. You need a college education, and quite frequently a masters degree or higher, and have skills outside of making money or selling things. Its an idea economy coupled with a political economy. DC is a knowledge base in this country of policy and research, and the economy here is based on that. Idea economies...usually are the most recession proof, and DC is the center of the idea of the idea economy in the US, at least with regards to policy. Its why even when the rest of the US economy often falters...DCs economy frequently grows.
Also with regards to terrorist attacks. You know where my train stop is, well one of them, the pentagon. I do not live in fear of terrorism. I live within a mile of the pentagon in fact. I don't buy into fear campaigns regarding terrorism, I am more afraid of real life violence...like being shot, and even that is extremely unlikely. I lived in urban areas during various points in my life, and I don't give into the concept of fear that many in rural areas and suburban areas have with regards to big cities. I have seen worse things happen in areas other than big cities, and more bigotry and explicit trans phobia and homophobia in those areas as well.
You want to know what I really fear: car accidents and hit and run drivers.
