Is anyone surprised...

[unixronin]

to see that the District of Columbia received more "stimulus" money, per capita, than any of the fifty states?  In fact, DC got roughly twice the US average per-capita stimulus money, over 40% more than second-place Rhode Island, and 75% more than Michigan, the hardest-hit US state by unemployment rate.

(Michigan's official unemployment is 15.2%; DC's is just over 11% according to the graph, although the article declares it to be 9.9%.)

The chart in that article plots stimulus money per capita against unemployment rate.  As it observes, if stimulus money were parcelled out proportionally to unemployment, most states should cluster along the blue diagonal line on the graph.  In practice, DC is further above that line than any state, by a factor of almost 2:1; and Michigan is more than twice as far below the "equitable" line as DC is above it.

Draw what conclusions you will.

Comments

[lebo-superman.livejournal.com]

Here is a conclusion: the "good folks" in DC want to further their disconnect from the real world, by not having daily reminders of the real problems right in their faces. Who cares about Michigan when it's not seen every day? But, homeless people on the streets of the capitol - THAT they do see every day, and they don't want any of it. A problem hidden is a problem that can be ignored. Until the next election, anyhow.

[plutosonium.livejournal.com]

I grew up next door to DC. I'm not a huge fan of it but I have sympathy. It can never be an ordinary city. It's crippled by congress. It doesn't have and can't have a major industry. It's a wacky situation that isn't going to change while congress is there. It would probably be okay if it were absorbed into MD or VA and run as a regular city, but that is not the case.

Given the constraints put on it by national government and the side effects of that government occupying it, it needs more national support than most places.