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That graph is strange. D.C. produces nothing but burdens; are they measuring GDP on the basis of how much money those parasites piss away?

That graph is strange. D.C. produces nothing but burdens; are they measuring GDP on the basis of how much money those parasites piss away?

I noticed that too. What could DC possible add to the GDP

That graph is strange. D.C. produces nothing but burdens; are they measuring GDP on the basis of how much money those parasites piss away?

I believe that the answer to that question is "yes". Also, lawyers tend to be very compensated, and DC has a great number of them.

I think it might be more accurate if we subtracted "legal activity" from our GDP calculations rather than adding it, since I think that a large part of what these lawyers do does indeed subtract from our productive capacity.

Even more consternating is to consider that we are producing more lawyers than ever before. We are up to 512,070 lawyers (BLS) right now; looking at the total number of people involved in legal services (judges, paralegals, etc.) for the last ten years:

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
Series Id: CEU6054110001 Not Seasonally Adjusted Super Sector: Professional and business services Industry: Legal services NAICS Code: 5411 Data Type: ALL EMPLOYEES, THOUSANDS
1994	963.4	963.6	963.6	963.9	962.3	980.1	980.5	971.5	957.5	958.9	961.3	960.6	965.6
1995	955.7	955.0	956.0	954.4	952.3	974.0	971.7	965.9	954.0	955.2	957.5	958.9	959.2
1996	955.2	957.9	960.9	959.1	961.4	982.7	984.8	978.4	963.2	968.6	973.9	974.7	968.4
1997	972.6	973.0	976.4	978.8	979.6	1000.3	1004.1	995.2	985.1	988.9	995.3	1000.5	987.5
1998	997.4	999.8	1004.1	1006.1	1010.4	1034.4	1040.4	1032.9	1023.0	1030.9	1034.7	1038.8	1021.1
1999	1034.5	1037.0	1040.1	1043.0	1044.4	1067.5	1068.4	1060.5	1049.7	1053.1	1058.3	1059.9	1051.4
2000	1056.6	1053.8	1054.4	1052.0	1054.3	1084.4	1084.1	1075.4	1064.8	1067.3	1069.6	1072.1	1065.7
2001	1068.9	1071.2	1074.4	1074.9	1083.4	1109.5	1110.8	1104.2	1093.0	1097.0	1102.4	1105.3	1091.3
2002	1099.6	1099.8	1100.8	1098.8	1106.7	1125.9	1127.6	1122.4	1116.3	1126.9	1129.1	1129.6	1115.3
2003	1122.8	1127.7	1130.9	1130.5	1133.4	1152.6	1148.6	1137.8	1129.5	1139.8	1145.5	1142.4	1136.8
2004	1131.0	1132.3	1131.8	1134.4	1136.9	1162.3	1163.8	1150.2	1145.9(p)	1149.0(p)
p : preliminary

shows that this is a popular and growing field of endeavor.