So the message of the article is, if you want to be rich, become a corporate lobbyist, right?

If you read the full article, it has a lot more information, particularly about the things which seem to not influence the wage increase in this area.(Not government spending, for example) However, I'm curious how the wage increase would track with the increase in positions which require a security clearance. Those have been rising rapidly since 2001, they are heavily concentrated in this area, and there is usually a higher wage associated with those as well. That could easily be a contributing factor to the disparity in the wage increase in this area compared to other metro areas.

But surely there are better reasons to support a strong federal government than pure economic self-interest?

I'm pretty liberal, but I don't think your graph makes a strong case. It frankly plays right into the hands of opponents of the federal government, and I can see their case. I am strongly opposed to how we manage the budget - i.e. use it or lose it. I think this encourages waste and that budgets need to be more carefully evaluated year over year to make sure every agency is funded to the level it NEEDS, not what they want. These inflated wage numbers also reflect the large number of wasteful and ridiculous federal contracts won by private companies each year, which again is not a strong case for strong federal government.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/09/25/is-the-government-making-d-c-rich-in-charts-of-course/


I am sure glad that I don't live in District 12 like those people in that Hunger Games movie.