Tom Piatak

September 16, 2009

Both Paul Craig Roberts and John Derbyshire keep reminding us that the government sector is prospering while the rest of America suffers.  Further support for this view came today in a Reuters article, noting that Washington, DC is the preferred home for wealthy young people.  In fact, of the 50 counties in the United States with the highest percentage of people aged 25-34 making over $100,000 per year, sixteen of them were in the Washington area, and only two counties not near Washington or a state capital made the top ten.  In the past, the key to wealth was manufacturing, which often arose in proximity to natural resources or waterways.  Today, the key to wealth is proximity to government. 

This new economy that has arisen to take the place of manufacturing is not a congenial one for conservatives.  As commenter Derek Leaberry noted sardonically at the Chronicles website, “An economy dominated by the therapeutic state, government workers, school teachers, flabby-handed computer geeks, restaurant chefs, sommeliers, Wall Street gangsters and mall securitymen will be one that is antagonistic to conservative values. That is what the future holds if absolute free trade reigns globally. Karl Marx would be overjoyed.”