Effect of federal government reductions in MoCo

[Anonymous]

I think not enough people are talking about MoCo specifically. I work for a federal contractor in MoCo and numerous contracts have been terminated. Several of the USAID contractors are in MoCo. The top 2 employers in MoCo are NIH and FDA. Other top employers includes NOAA, NIST, and prominent government contractors with these agencies.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, it is going to be bad everywhere. MoCo will feel the economic impacts more quickly, but the loss of government-supported services will be felt all over the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, it is going to be bad everywhere. MoCo will feel the economic impacts more quickly, but the loss of government-supported services will be felt all over the country.

people in many parts of the country don't seem to be disturbed by it, yet. what's going to happen to those high $ condos they decided was a good idea in MoCo?

[Anonymous]

Many are two-income families, highly educated, they can pull through. I wish it weren’t happening however, it’s an atrocity what is being done by eeeeel and trumps.

[Anonymous]

They will not pull through. The economy here will collapse if the admin actually accomplishes these goals. The job losses in the DC metro area (both direct and indirect) from reducing federal employment by around 50% will be around 1 million. The total employment in the DC metro area is only around 3.36 Million. So the entire DC metro area will lose around 30 of the employment base if these nut jobs accomplish their goals. It will be a bloodbath and MD will be more severely impacted than VA. NOVA at least has a substantial number of ugly data centers to offset some of the losses to the local government tax base.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, it is going to be bad everywhere. MoCo will feel the economic impacts more quickly, but the loss of government-supported services will be felt all over the country.

people in many parts of the country don't seem to be disturbed by it, yet. what's going to happen to those high $ condos they decided was a good idea in MoCo?

Feds weren't buying those anyway.

[Anonymous]

Yes, DAI, a major USAID contractor, which is based in Bethesda furloughed 382 workers due to the foreign aid pause/cancellation. Plus they say the govt hasn't paid them for work already completed. Catholic Relief Services is the largest recipient of USAID funds, and is headquartered in Baltimore...

https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2025/02/06/dai-global-furloughs-usaid-trump.html

[Anonymous]

The impact won't be limited to MoCo. MoCo, Arlington, and Fairfax each have about 20% of residents who are federal employees. I believe it's even higher in PG County and DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They will not pull through. The economy here will collapse if the admin actually accomplishes these goals. The job losses in the DC metro area (both direct and indirect) from reducing federal employment by around 50% will be around 1 million. The total employment in the DC metro area is only around 3.36 Million. So the entire DC metro area will lose around 30 of the employment base if these nut jobs accomplish their goals. It will be a bloodbath and MD will be more severely impacted than VA. NOVA at least has a substantial number of ugly data centers to offset some of the losses to the local government tax base.

I absolutely hate the data centers, but this seems like the only viable way to mitigate the damage to the local economy at this point. Approving another 50M sq feet of data centers would generate around 1 billion in local tax revenue, and create approximately 10k full time jobs after they are built. The tax revenue could be used to create another 5k FTE position through local government employment. If you account for indirect employment due to the multiplier effect 50M sq feet of data center should generate at least 20k new jobs. This could likely offset most of the job losses in Loudon and PWC. However, Fairfax, Arlington, and Alexandria are also screwed.

[Anonymous]

We all told you MoCo govt idiots to diversify the economy. Nope, they kept doubling down on increasing taxes, more red tape, and horrible business policies. Now Armageddon has arrived. So many jobs are going to be lost due to to fed cuts, and all of the contractors/think tanks/non-profits are going to be smoked. They're going to all need unemployment benefits at the same time. How many homes will end up foreclosing? The loss of property tax revenues will devastate the region.

This is exactly what they wanted. To burn everything down in the DMV. We are all screwed. It is going to be much more worse than you expect. And yes,.your home values are going to tank.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We all told you MoCo govt idiots to diversify the economy. Nope, they kept doubling down on increasing taxes, more red tape, and horrible business policies. Now Armageddon has arrived. So many jobs are going to be lost due to to fed cuts, and all of the contractors/think tanks/non-profits are going to be smoked. They're going to all need unemployment benefits at the same time. How many homes will end up foreclosing? The loss of property tax revenues will devastate the region.

This is exactly what they wanted. To burn everything down in the DMV. We are all screwed. It is going to be much more worse than you expect. And yes,.your home values are going to tank.

This won't be limited to MoCo. You're about to find out that NoVa isn't as diversified as you'd like to believe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They will not pull through. The economy here will collapse if the admin actually accomplishes these goals. The job losses in the DC metro area (both direct and indirect) from reducing federal employment by around 50% will be around 1 million. The total employment in the DC metro area is only around 3.36 Million. So the entire DC metro area will lose around 30 of the employment base if these nut jobs accomplish their goals. It will be a bloodbath and MD will be more severely impacted than VA. NOVA at least has a substantial number of ugly data centers to offset some of the losses to the local government tax base.

I absolutely hate the data centers, but this seems like the only viable way to mitigate the damage to the local economy at this point. Approving another 50M sq feet of data centers would generate around 1 billion in local tax revenue, and create approximately 10k full time jobs after they are built. The tax revenue could be used to create another 5k FTE position through local government employment. If you account for indirect employment due to the multiplier effect 50M sq feet of data center should generate at least 20k new jobs. This could likely offset most of the job losses in Loudon and PWC. However, Fairfax, Arlington, and Alexandria are also screwed.

Does local government need another 5000 FTEs? Why don't you use that money to hire a few FTEs to drive economic development?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They will not pull through. The economy here will collapse if the admin actually accomplishes these goals. The job losses in the DC metro area (both direct and indirect) from reducing federal employment by around 50% will be around 1 million. The total employment in the DC metro area is only around 3.36 Million. So the entire DC metro area will lose around 30 of the employment base if these nut jobs accomplish their goals. It will be a bloodbath and MD will be more severely impacted than VA. NOVA at least has a substantial number of ugly data centers to offset some of the losses to the local government tax base.

I absolutely hate the data centers, but this seems like the only viable way to mitigate the damage to the local economy at this point. Approving another 50M sq feet of data centers would generate around 1 billion in local tax revenue, and create approximately 10k full time jobs after they are built. The tax revenue could be used to create another 5k FTE position through local government employment. If you account for indirect employment due to the multiplier effect 50M sq feet of data center should generate at least 20k new jobs. This could likely offset most of the job losses in Loudon and PWC. However, Fairfax, Arlington, and Alexandria are also screwed.

Does local government need another 5000 FTEs? Why don't you use that money to hire a few FTEs to drive economic development?

The DC metro area is going to lose 1 million jobs, 30% of the employment base. To the extent they can offset employment losses with additional data center tax revenue, they absolutely should.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They will not pull through. The economy here will collapse if the admin actually accomplishes these goals. The job losses in the DC metro area (both direct and indirect) from reducing federal employment by around 50% will be around 1 million. The total employment in the DC metro area is only around 3.36 Million. So the entire DC metro area will lose around 30 of the employment base if these nut jobs accomplish their goals. It will be a bloodbath and MD will be more severely impacted than VA. NOVA at least has a substantial number of ugly data centers to offset some of the losses to the local government tax base.

I absolutely hate the data centers, but this seems like the only viable way to mitigate the damage to the local economy at this point. Approving another 50M sq feet of data centers would generate around 1 billion in local tax revenue, and create approximately 10k full time jobs after they are built. The tax revenue could be used to create another 5k FTE position through local government employment. If you account for indirect employment due to the multiplier effect 50M sq feet of data center should generate at least 20k new jobs. This could likely offset most of the job losses in Loudon and PWC. However, Fairfax, Arlington, and Alexandria are also screwed.

Does local government need another 5000 FTEs? Why don't you use that money to hire a few FTEs to drive economic development?

The DC metro area is going to lose 1 million jobs, 30% of the employment base. To the extent they can offset employment losses with additional data center tax revenue, they absolutely should.

Someone said I was out of touch that local governments would try to increase in size as their budgets shrank. Government always thinks of itself as a make work jobs program.

If you are losing a million jobs, adding 5000 is pissing into the wind. Use that money to diversify your economy instead.

[Anonymous]

DC is about to go into a recession IMO. The area has been insulted from any economic issues in the past considering the federal government was always the biggest employer and not influenced by the economic downfalls as much. That's ending now.