The Washington, D.C. area has long had a reputation for being both wealthy and recession-proof, based on money forcibly extracted in the form of taxes from people living productive lives elsewhere in the United States.
That may no longer be the case. Downsizing of the federal workforce concentrated in the DMV area—the District of Columbia and parts of Maryland and Virginia—has hit many residents hard, and some are considering leaving or have already done so. While it's not nice to wish troubles on anybody, there's nothing wrong with introducing government employees to the same risks and uncertainty that participants in the private sector face every day.
