Photo of the Day: November 27, 2009
Car Pushed Into Anacostia River By Train
Morning Roundup: Black Friday Edition
Devendra Banhart @ 9:30 Club
Saturday Thanks Don't End At Thanksgiving Photo: November 28, 2009
Everyone knows at least one person that works for a defense contractor. And chances are that they work in Northern Virginia.
The Washington Independent has a report on the boon that the war on terror has been to defense contractors, especially those doing IT work, the great majority of which are located in Nothern Virginia counties. Reads the report:
Northern Virginia's economy has been buoyed by government contractors since the Department of Defense was created and headquartered in Arlington at the dawn of the Cold War. But the Cold War economy pales in comparison to the bonanza made from the war on terror. Perhaps the biggest beneficiaries of all are the Northern Virginia IT's. The Bush administration and Congress turned to these companies to make the technology that is supposed to thwart terrorism -- and have paid them billions to do it...The lesson to be learned? When your family tells you not to waste your time on a humanities degree and instead focus on something more tangible -- like engineering or IT -- you listen....Since 2002, Virginia companies alone have created 50,000 IT jobs, according to Virginia Business Magazine. Nearly all those jobs are in Fairfax, Arlington and, to a lesser extent, Loudoun and Prince William Counties...
...The D.C. metropolitan area secured $56 billion in federal contracts during fiscal year 2007, approximately $28 billion of which went to Northern Virginia companies.
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only if you don't mind selling your soul
...or, if you're like me, and have no soul to sell.
"When your family tells you not to waste your time on a humanities degree and instead focus on something more tangible -- like engineering or IT -- you listen."
Been there. Overrated.
And the beauty of it is? They can suck off the hind tit of the Federal government for tons of jobs, many actually in DC or with their roots in DC, yet they can safely take all that tax money back to their home state and not have to contribute a damn bit to the central core employment center. They can dump all the poor and such in DC with exclusionary zoning and a striking failure to shoulder their share of affordable housing, homeless funding, etc, then leave each night, tax dollars intact.
Quite the arrangement they've got there.
only if you don't mind selling your soul
Oh please, it's a job; nothing more, nothing less. I work for a massive defense contractor and it has nothing to do with my soul.
Or is you enjoy directly supporting the police state. Wankers!
maybe it's because you're soulless hillrat. :P
i applied for a job with the CIA straight out of school. couldn't imagine myself doing it now. that's just me.
YMMV.
Based on my work habits. . . I'm probably slowing down the Military-Industrial complex. Perhaps I should spend even more time commenting on blogs. . . it'd be like Oskar Schindler, but not really very effective.
~EEE~
One of the few contractors on the OTHER side of the river in Maryland.