Washington, DC: Home of the true one percent

Anyone who doubts that the polices of welfare, warfare, regulations, and crony capitalism have created an elite governing and political class that prospers from the current system at the expense of the rest of the country  should consider that Washington, DC has the leading per capita income in the nation (Hat Tip: Tony Lee from Breitbart):

The Washington, D.C. region is the nation’s Boomtown, and it is not even close.

According to new Census figures released on Thursday, the Washington, D.C. area has the highest median household income at around $90,000. The San Francisco region is next at around $80,000. The Boston area is third at around $72,000. As Breitbart News has extensively documented, eight of the 13 wealthiest counties in the nation are in the D.C. area, and the region’s economic boom has “directly coincided with the massive expansion of the federal government and national security state” in the last decade. As the Washington Post noted, Washington, D.C. “also has a staggering average per capita income of $74,733 for each of its 632,323 residents, which is 79% higher than the national average of $43,725.”

D.C.’s riches would not be a problem if the residents of D.C. got their money the old-fashioned way: by earning it by creating goods and services for consumers. But what D.C. produces is new laws and regulations that limit our liberty and our prosperity while enriching the special interests. So D.C.’s prosperity comes at the expense of the rest of us.

The current situation, where the governing and political class live in splendor in the while the rest of the country suffers with economic stagnation is unsustainable. Either the size and scope of government will be rationally reduced or the continued growth of government– and the system of fiat money that underlies it– will cause a major economic crisis.

Campaign for Liberty is working to reduce the size of government before America is faced with major economic crises through our campaign for Real Cuts, Right Now.