The New Financial Capitol

The DigitalBridge company is trying to bring broadband technology to the small town of Appomattox, Va. But in this economy, financing is not easy to find.

"It's been incredibly hard to raise venture capital and only the best business plans get funded," said Kelley Dunne, the CEO of DigitalBridge.

Private investment into these kinds of deals has collapsed from $30 billion a year in 2007 to only an estimated $18 billion this year, reports CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason.

With the country's banking system rocked by the economic crisis, Wall Street isn't the country's financial center anymore. American businesses looking for capital are turning from Wall Street to K Street.

"Very simply, Washington has become the financial capital of the United States," said Ian Bremmer, an international business consultant with the Eurasia Group. "Washington is going to drive who the winners and losers are going to be out of this crisis - and that really changes the ball game."

So businesses are signing up for matchmaking sessions to link them with government agencies giving out stimulus money.

"Wherever the government is actually is where you need to be," said Alex Fortunati.

Or, heading to K Street headquarters for Washington's high-powered lobbyists.

Thomas Hale Boggs, Jr. is often called the "King of K Street."

"How many lawyers do you have?" Mason asked.

"Six hundred and some," Boggs said.

His firm Patton Boggs is getting clients they've never heard of before: companies, small towns, even banks, who want a piece of the action.

"If the government's the bank, how much money is there in the bank?" Mason asked.

"The total pie is over 2 trillion dollars," Boggs said. "That's a big bank."

Government agencies, like the Transportation Department, can't give it out fast enough.

"Forty-eight billion needs to get out within two years," said Lana Hurdle, a deputy assistant secretary of Transportation.

The money does come with conditions.

"We aren't just standing on the street handing out money to anyone," Hurdle said.

But if Wall Street's vice was greed, Washington's vice is politics.

"It's not just about what Obama wants, it's also about what Congress wants, and that creates inefficiencies and it slows down the process," Bremmer said.

"How long is this going to be the financial capital?" Mason asked Boggs.

"Well, I would say it's going to certainly be the financial capital for the next five, six or seven years," Bogg said.

DigitalBridge is banking on it.

"We have currently 150 applications that we're getting ready to submit and they total about $40 to $50 million in stimulus funding," Dunne said.

America's financial landscape is changing - so is the economy's power structure.

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