General Discussion

2013-03-28T2:53:15+00:00

All that marble in D.C. shouldn't make you feel patriotic. John Stossel | March 27, 2013 When the housing bubble burst, home prices dropped in most of America, but not in Washington. Our capital feeds off federal spending, and politicians won't allow that bubble to burst. One result is that, today, for the first time, most of America's richest counties are in the Washington area. About 43 percent of "the 1 percent"the top earners leftists say they hatenow live in 14 counties that surround the District of Columbia. Nick Sorrentino, creator of AgainstCronyCapitalism.org, notes that average total compensation for a federal employee is now about $120,000, and the gap between government pay and private pay has been growing. Government buildings are grand, too, even new ones like the Reagan office building. "It's very much like Versailles before the French Revolution," says historian John Steele Gordon. Washingtonians have become like the French nobility, who spent their lives in the palace at Versailles "and didn't know much about what went on outside that world." "But the real royalty is not in Washington, D.C.," Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., tells me. "It's on Wall Street." http://reason.com/archives/2013/03/27/imperial-washington Tuileries Palace, Paris, c. 1564-1570s: the royal Parisian palace that housed Louis XVI and family after their exile from Versailles; destroyed in 1871. Love, Peace and Shelter. lmsp

Post removed Wed Mar 27, 2013, 10:53 PM Mar 2013

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Post removed (Original Post) Post removed Mar 2013 OP

Let's NOT dump this on Federal employees, please. elleng Mar 2013 #1

+1 thank you! LiberalLoner Mar 2013 #2

A resident of one of those 14 counties checking in. Most of us are very blue voters madinmaryland Mar 2013 #3

Looneytarian nonsense Major Nikon Mar 2013 #4

May I ask why you are posting from a rabid rightwing site? I clicked on the link.... LiberalLoner Mar 2013 #5

This popped out at me... littlemissmartypants Mar 2013 #8

John fucking stossell? Are you fucking kidding me? Warren Stupidity Mar 2013 #6

Exactly my point. LiberalLoner Mar 2013 #7

Yep. n/t littlemissmartypants Mar 2013 #9

elleng

(130,732 posts)

1. Let's NOT dump this on Federal employees, please.

Reply to Post removed (Original post)

Wed Mar 27, 2013, 10:58 PM

Mar 2013

Our/their TOTAL federal compensation may be comparatively high, but its the feeders at the trough who cause this very high income in the area, lobbyists and attorneys, imo.

And none of our offices look like the Tuileries.