Washington D.C., Imperial City

The Cato Institute's Walter Olson has a fascinating blog post about how the government-based economy of Washington, D.C., is booming, in contrast to the rest of the country. Landlords are now asking higher commercial rents in Washington than in New York City. D.C. home prices are up 5.29% on the year, versus a 3.2% decline nationwide. And while newspapers nationwide are laying off journalists, in Washington, specialized news services covering the regulators and appropriators are staffing up. Also, "the Washington, D.C. metro area has now attained the highest family median income of any major city," and "seven of the 10 richest counties in America, including the top three, are in the Washington area." Amazing and important stuff.