Move Over Silicon Valley. America's New Center of Power and Wealth is ...
that's right, Washington, D.C.! From Bloomberg:
Federal employees whose compensation averages more than $126,000 and the nation’s greatest concentration of lawyers helped Washington edge out San Jose as the wealthiest U.S. metropolitan area, government data show.
The U.S. capital has swapped top spots with Silicon Valley, according to recent Census Bureau figures, with the typical household in the Washington metro area earning $84,523 last year. The national median income for 2010 was $50,046.
The figures demonstrate how the nation’s political and financial classes are prospering as the economy struggles with unemployment above 9 percent and thousands of Americans protest in the streets against income disparity, said Kevin Zeese, director of Prosperity Agenda, a Baltimore-based advocacy group trying to narrow the divide between rich and poor.
I live in this area. We don't make a single thing that's worth buying. Or not worth buying. We make nothing! We add no value to anything, anywhere in the country. We take other people's money and regulate it, reallocate it and take a huge cut. That's what we do.
Also, I am happy to live here in the D.C. area but this place is rather horrible in the summer. And winter. Mosquitoes. Humidity. A wealthy county with limited natural beauty is weird, right?
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Re: Move Over Silicon Valley. America's New Center of Power and Wealth is ...
Limited natural beauty? What about Barney Frank?
Re: Move Over Silicon Valley. America's New Center of Power and Wealth is ...
Good point.
Aug '10
Re: Move Over Silicon Valley. America's New Center of Power and Wealth is ...
This is a perfect example of what drives me insane about the Occupy Wall Street lunacy. Why occupy lower Manhattan when the richest parts of the country are the suburbs of Washington D.C.?
#occupyfallschurch
Edited on Oct 19, 2011 at 9:39amJun '10
Re: Move Over Silicon Valley. America's New Center of Power and Wealth is ...
The extortion and loan-sharking business has always been lucrative. Nothing's changed.
Aug '10
Re: Move Over Silicon Valley. America's New Center of Power and Wealth is ...
Back in April, I posted on the Member feed the very unsettling news that five of the richest counties in the US are suburbs of Washington DC. It's pretty clear what this news portends - and it is not good.
http://ricochet.com/member-feed/Follow-the-Money
Apr '11
Re: Move Over Silicon Valley. America's New Center of Power and Wealth is ...
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
Good point. · Oct 19 at 8:27am
Barney Frank's picture is the the illustration (Fig. 1-1) under the entry for "Limited Natural Beauty" in the dictionary.
Dec '10
Re: Move Over Silicon Valley. America's New Center of Power and Wealth is ...
Apparently I'm worth less than half of an average federal employee. I must be doing it wrong.
Dec '10
Re: Move Over Silicon Valley. America's New Center of Power and Wealth is ...
Mollie, didn't know you were a DC power-broker. So, we have this idea for a green start-up. It meets all the criteria for Federal VC money - there's zero chance that it will ever be profitable, everyone can go on TV and tell America how cool the idea is, and, of course, there will be thousands, maybe millions, of new and very green jobs. All we need is a couple of hundred million to get started and then a couple of hundred million each year. We'll hire all of our friends, build a snazzy plush corporate HQ and hold a lot of press conferences about how close we are to the break through that will end our dependence on fossil fuels.
How soon can we expect the first check?
Edited on Oct 19, 2011 at 10:07amJul '10
Re: Move Over Silicon Valley. America's New Center of Power and Wealth is ...
Misthiocracy: This is a perfect example of what drives me insane about the Occupy Wall Street lunacy. Why occupy lower Manhattan when the richest parts of the country are the suburbs of Washington D.C.?
#occupyfallschurch
Nah. Here in Virginia we'd call them mulch. Sic semper tyrannis.
Jul '10
Re: Move Over Silicon Valley. America's New Center of Power and Wealth is ...
This is also where the housing market has avoided a serious decline, and the cost of living is ridiculously high. Also, as someone who works from time to time on federal site, federal standards are to provide no more than 1 parking space per 6 workers at any facility to encourage train, bus, and car pool. In the private sector under local laws that's about 4 short.
And, of course, civilization begins where paid parking ends.
Nov '10
Re: Move Over Silicon Valley. America's New Center of Power and Wealth is ...
Mollie, I beg to differ: We make great kebabs! I've got at least 4 top-shelf kebab houses within 15 miles of my house. I'm not sure why the Afghani chefs have chosen to settle here in such numbers, but I thank them profusely.
Also, while it's true that summer in the DC metro area should be illegal and is like living inside of a dog's mouth, the rest of the year ROCKS!
Feb '11
Re: Move Over Silicon Valley. America's New Center of Power and Wealth is ...
One very affluent suburb of DC is Chevy Chase, MD. During the last campaign, one of the PowerLine bloggers noticed all the Obama signs in Chevy Chase yards and wondered if these people understood what Obama was likely to do to their taxes.
My response was that most of these people get their income directly or indirectly from government, and have so much to gain from Obama-style expanded government that higher taxes in exchange probably represent for them an economically-rational tradeoff. Paying higher taxes can be very profitable.
Feb '11
Re: Move Over Silicon Valley. America's New Center of Power and Wealth is ...
Also: the Eloi who dominate the DC area are so dainty that they cannot even tolerate having electricity produced anywhere in their area. The two powerplants that are actually in DC, Benning Road and Buzzard's Point, are scheduled to close, and political pressure from from environmentalists including Al Gore has apparently now resulted in a decision to close the plant across the river in Alexandria, as well.
A chart showing the flow of goods, services, and funds between the DC area and the rest of the country should be...interesting.
(Notwithstanding the above, the commercial technology sector in the DC are *is* significantly stronger than it was a couple of decades ago...but surely still represents a pretty small slice of the region's overall economy)
Aug '10
Re: Move Over Silicon Valley. America's New Center of Power and Wealth is ...
Mollie,
Just returned home from a couple of days in DC, too late for Ricochet Kilroy and the MLK memorial, too early for the inevitable autumn. I always love visiting the city, this time was staying in Cathedal Hill and the neighborhood impresses with it's beauty and obvious wealth. I mean the place looked like a BMW car lot. Being a motorhead, Isaw 3 Aston Martins, two Bentleys, couple of Rolls, BMW ,Audi A6 and MB everywhere. It looked like Beverly Hills and Bel-Air. What is going on out there ??
Are they all lawyers ? You know, being from Missouri, if the news about that wage scale got around in the free tv channels ABCNBCCBS and the regular newspapers, the Occupy Wall Street gang would pale by comparison to the people who resent that kind of money for people who, as you say, make nothing of any intrinsic value.
All I saw in Friendship were Lord and Taylor, Saks, Bloomingdales. Driving up Wisconsin past Fannie Mae always irks with memories of Raines, Johnson, Gorelick.
It is a love/hate relationship with a place I consider to be America's own city.
Aug '10
Re: Move Over Silicon Valley. America's New Center of Power and Wealth is ...
So - the (liberal) nephew of a (conservative) friend of mine recently sent out the announcement below. As you read, keep in mind, the young man lost his previous job as a staffer for a Dem congressman that was not re-elected. Rather than return home to find a real job, the young man chose to find another government gig. Read his announcement (sent to friends and family), and you'll see why he decided to stay in DC.
"Yesterday, I embarked on a new adventure as the Deputy Director of the Office for Auto Recovery and Communities at the Department of Labor. In so doing, I have joined a small, but strong team dedicated to sectors of the economy and segments of the population that have been particularly hard hit by the economic strife of recent years. I am very excited to join in this effort with such a great group of people."
According to his aunt, the young man's job comes with a salary of $125,000.
I am not making this up. I'm a creative guy. But not that creative.
Aug '10
Re: Move Over Silicon Valley. America's New Center of Power and Wealth is ...
Songwriter: So - the (liberal) nephew of a (conservative) friend of mine recently sent out the announcement below. As you read, keep in mind, the young man lost his previous job as a staffer for a Dem congressman that was not re-elected. Rather than return home to find a real job, the young man chose to find another government gig. Read his announcement (sent to friends and family), and you'll see why he decided to stay in DC.
"Yesterday, I embarked on a new adventure as the Deputy Director of the Office for Auto Recovery and Communities at the Department of Labor. In so doing, I have joined a small, but strong team dedicated to sectors of the economy and segments of the population that have been particularly hard hit by the economic strife of recent years. I am very excited to join in this effort with such a great group of people."
According to his aunt, the young man's job comes with a salary of $125,000.
I am not making this up. I'm a creative guy. But not that creative. · Oct 20 at 10:07am
And only 18 !