Morning Bell: The Obama Economy Is Great…For Washington, D.C.

Conn Carroll / July 20, 2009

Last week, Michigan’s Bureau of Labor Market Information announced that their state’s unemployment rate spiked in June, hitting 15.2%, the highest rate since mid-1983. Five other states, Rhode Island (12.4%), Oregon (12.2%), South Carolina (12.1%), Nevada (12%), and California (11.6%) all have either matched or surpassed their all time unemployment highs. Nationwide, a total of fifteen states are now suffering from 10% unemployment. The Federal Reserve predicts that double digit unemployment will envelope most of the country later this year.

But despite the weakness of the economy nationwide, one region in the country is doing much better. Compared to the national 9.5% unemployment average, at 6.2%, the unemployment rate in the Washington, D.C. metro region is lower than any other major metropolitan area in the country. And there is no secret about the source of D.C.’s economic strength: the rest of the country’s tax dollars are being siphoned through the rapidly-expanding federal government. Fifteen cents of every dollar the federal government doles out throughout the world is spent in the Washington area. Last year alone, the federal government poured $133 billion into the area, making the federal government the source for about one-third of Washington’s $401 billion economy. (more…)