How private is the region’s private sector?

According to Knight Kiplinger, it “isn’t so private.” Kiplinger addressed this topic in his keynote address at last week’s annual meeting. We were planning on reporting on it this week, but the Washington Post saved us the work by printing an adapted version of his speech in today’s business section.

Noting that only 10% of the region works for the federal government, Kiplinger says:

The growth of the federal government today is reflected not so much in direct employment by government agencies as it is in the money Uncle Sam shovels out the door to local companies.

Keeping with the forward-looking theme of this year’s Regional Report, Kiplinger also added this intriguing prediction.

Washington will keep growing for one simple reason: Complex national and international challenges always lead to an expansion of federal power.

The next major expansions of federal power will be in environmental and energy regulation, as global warming becomes the hot new crisis of this century. And it will occur in national health-care regulation. Washington will benefit from the growing complexity of international trade, with more trade disputes, and from litigation over technology patent law. These will keep Washington’s lawyers and trade associations in clover for years to come.
Read the whole commentary >>

What do you think? How private is the region’s private sector? And will Kiplinger’s predictions hold true?

Filed under: Events, Economy, GWI In the News