One of my most widely read – but also most depressing – articles was from about two years ago and it exposed the fact that Washington, DC, is now the nation’s richest region.
I explained that Washington is rich because of unearned wealth. Almost all of the loot that winds up in the pockets of highly paid lobbyists, contractors, bureaucrats, politicians, cronyists, and other insiders ultimately comes from taxpayers in the rest of the country.
That’s why we should be angry that a majority of the nation’s richest counties surrounded DC. A region that produces almost nothing manages to live fat and happy because of the coercive power of government.
That’s the kind of income inequality that should be eliminated, and I do my best to fan the flames of resentment in this interview about fat-cat contractors getting big bucks from taxpayers.
All these well-paid contractors are – for all intents and purposes – members of the government workforce. Sort of a shadow bureaucracy that is several times larger than the official count. They get paid by our tax dollars and their jobs exist because of government.
This doesn’t mean all those jobs should be abolished. But, like their official bureaucrat cousins, many contractors are engaged in wasteful and superfluous activities, and almost all of them are paid too much.
By the way, I disagree with Ms. Brian when she claimed in the interview that you don’t find bureaucrats living in “McMansions.” As my Cato colleague Chris Edwards has documented, federal workers get a far larger amount of compensation than people working in the economy’s productive sector.
Heck, even the Washington Post has published stories about bureaucrats living in“a leafy section of Fairfax County where houses sell in the $700,000 range.”
Let’s close today’s post with some good news. According to the most recent Census Bureau data, Washington is now home to “only” 8 of the nation’s 15-richest counties.
That’s a small step in the right direction and it almost surely happened because government spending has been restrained for the past two fiscal years. And when government doesn’t grow, that means less loot for those that have learned to milk the system.
It’s amazing how many good things happen if you reduce the burden of government spending!
P.S. This interview was filmed right before Christmas, so I engaged in some sartorial excess. If you like the red jacket, other attempts to be on the cutting edge of fashion can be seen here and here.
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[…] I made similar points in this 2014 interview, which focused on how Washington is now the richest region in the country thanks to all the […]
It (DC bureaucrat pay) is just an inconvenient but still relatively small commission we have to pay to enable rising redistribution. They (the bureaucrats) are our French reorganization task force, so that we can go on the path carved out by the Great French Hope. Yes we can!
Hammer it home Dan!!!!
I am hoping for another government shutdown. This time for an extended period. The only problem I see with that is that those kind enough to shut it down take a massive toll from the press, and lose voter support because of it. So, it’s a dual-edge sword. Lending credence to my brother’s favorite saying: No good deed goes unpunished.
Reblogged this on Dead Citizen's Rights Society.
Reblogged this on Gds44's Blog.
It would seem to me that a near 1/2 of the increase in GDP growth since 2008, $700B, could be attributed to the Fed printing money so that DC can increase its budget by an equivalent amount and go on which is essentially an identity theft credit card shopping spree, as it is the rest of America’s future income, savings and inheritances which will further confiscated to pay off DC’s current over-consumption and the doubling of the National Debt. With savings rates so low, money flows into the Robber Class through Treasuries and the speculative stock market, not to mention through higher taxes and government/private health care insurance…not into the productive economy, for the U-6 “actual unemployed” has increased from 13 to 20 million in 6 years, while those on SSDI has increased by almost 3 million (25%).
The Enron and Madoff scandals are but minor petty crimes relative to the grand grifters’ transfer of future wealth to fuel present bankers and Beltway denizens’ consumption.
Unfortunately, it is not just federal bureaucrats who are living large . . . government workers at the state and local levels also have pay scales that are much higher than private sector pay. In particular, government benefits, such as health insurance and pensions, are driving the difference between public and private sector pay. For example, Nevada has the highest state and local government benefits ratio in the country at a whopping 235.4 percent above private sector benefits. To see compensation ratios for all 50 states, please visit: http://keypolicydata.com/government-workforce/