I don't mind both, and that's what I voted for. In Capital Wastelands I got the sense that things were still in chaos mostly because of the ongoing "war" there. If you talk to the NPC you can make a case that it's not always been so chaotic, and that it's the super mutant war that keeps things from improving. I don't think it's stated directly, but that is the sense I got. Couple that with the raider infestation, and you get a chaotic place where progress is really, really hard to achieve - and you'll get a place where you're struggling to survive. In the light of the war, it would be suicide to start farming and stuff. So, you don't have that in the Capital Wastelands. Though, you wonder how they get stuff to eat.

The Mojave (and California) have power structures that can enforce more order. You have the NCR and Mr. House and the Legion. So, things are improving more rapidly on the west coast than on the east coast. At least that is the sense I got. Whether that's just my skewed wishful thinking, well that's beside the point. It's my view, and my view rules my games.