Author: Keith Waters

From The Washington Post: Old Town Alexandria’s acclaimed Torpedo Factory Art Center is the single largest tourist attraction in the city, according to a new […]

From The Washington Post: Millennials have been flocking to Washington for nearly a decade, lured by the promise of plentiful jobs and high wages in […]

From AlexandriaNews: The Stephen S. Fuller Institute for Research on the Washington Region’s Economic Future and the Schar School of Policy and Government George Mason […]

Today, Stephen Fuller, Ph.D., the Director of The Stephen S. Fuller Institute at the Schar School of Public Policy and Government at George Mason University, announced at the 25th Annual Economic Conference hosted by Cardinal Bank, the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, George Mason University, and the Washington Business Journal, that the Washington region’s economy continues to struggle to pivot away from its historic dependence on federal spending.

The Washington area’s longtime dependence on federal money has always been something of a blessing and a curse. It allowed the region to be one of the nation’s few economic bright spots after the financial crisis gutted the national economy in 2009, attracting job seekers to the District in droves and spurring a development boom here. But four years later, hiring ground to a halt as congressional gridlock forced a government shutdown and federal budgets were slashed as part of the sequestration process, even though the recovery was gaining momentum elsewhere.