According to Gallup, D.C. has the highest amount of economic confidence in the country…and it’s not even close.
It would be easy to say that Gallup over-sampled White House staffers wearing Keynesian blinders, but the truth is far more depressing. It would be nice if we could chalk up these results to a simple bubble mentality, as just another indication that folks inside-the-beltway are out of touch, but unfortunately the results are an accurate reflection of economic conditions.
Washington D.C. and the surrounding areas have weathered the recession like no other region. Whether it be politicians, federal bureaucrats, or lobbyists, the denizens of our nation’s Capital have lived off a federal government sucking up all the wealth they could from the productive sectors of the economy. Simply put, while the rest of America has suffered, beltway insiders have continued to stuff themselves with the fruits of everyone else’s labor.
So of course they are more optimistic than the rest of the country. It’s easy to be confident in the economy, and take the long view, when you’re standing on the backs of hard working Americans.
