Washington's Parasitic Economy with The Weekly Standard's Andrew Ferguson
Washington, D.C. "is basically a parasitic economy," says author and Weekly Standard Senior Editor Andrew Ferguson. "It sucks up the money from the rest of the country and puts people to work here."
In a recent Time magazine article titled "Bubble on the Potomac," Ferguson argues that D.C.-area residents are growing ever richer at the expense of the rest of the country, which has created a cultural disconnect that results in bad laws.
Ferguson sat down with ReasonTV Correspondent Kennedy to discuss his article, and the various ways in which D.C.'s riches are hurting the nation.
Ferguson is also the author of Crazy U: One Dad's Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College and Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe's America. For more on those books and the author, visit http://www.andrewfergusonbooks.com/ .
Approximately 4:50 minutes.
Camera by Jim Epstein, Meredith Bragg and Joshua Swain. Produced by Bragg.
Visit Reason.tv for downloadable versions and subscribe to our YouTube channel for automatic notifications when new material goes live.
In 2011 Reason's Nick Gillespie interviewed Ferguson and his son, Gillam, about Crazy U.
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In other shocking news, grass is green and water is wet!
Krugabe and T o n y call shenanigans on you Andrew Ferguson!
Washington, D.C. "is basically a parasitic economy," says author and Weekly Standard Senior Editor Andrew Ferguson. "It sucks up the money from the rest of the country and puts people to work here."
The president informed us that the host economy is doing just fine, so why not let Washington D.C.'s ticks have a little fruit of the vein?
Reminds me of Asimov's description of Trantor in Foundation... there were twenty agricultural planets devoted exclusively to providing food for Trantor, whose sole export was government.
Krugman would love it.
were they allowed to use tractors? or did they do everything by hand to maximize employment?
The only answer needed:
http://www.despair.com/consulting.html
It explains everything.
And government is a parasite. That's its primary function and purpose.
hey, i resemble that
This, of course, explains government's view of the governed.
http://www.despair.com/worth.html
Related, from the same site
for the CIC , same site
I used to buy their calendar religiously. But they eventually focussed on maximizing profit and spent less time creating new posters/calendars (not that there is anything wrong with that).
I have four full-sized posters mounted and framed that I kept up at work, but then I moved in to an office that routinely has executives walking past. So the posters are now at home.
http://www.despair.com/achievement.html
http://www.despair.com/arrogance.html
My all time favorite
http://www.despair.com/indifference.html
http://www.despair.com/limitations.html
How could you guys link-rape despair.com and miss this (best) libertarian one?
http://spin.despair.com/produc.....or-tshirt/
Sheesh.
That's great! I never saw that one before.
That one and the pessimists mug I always thought were just too easy and not up to their demented standards.
Have you ever downloaded and read the end user license agreement that comes with the free copy of their trademarked symbol?
Excellent. I may get one.
BTW, kinnath, I haven't forgotten about the bumper stickers. I need to recruit the she-spawn for some mischief with them.
excellent
I have plenty of patience.
I'm actually looking forward to corrupting her just that much more.
Both my adult children have a healthy disrespect for authority figures (I managed to accomplish this without totally alienating them when they were teenagers).
I had a connecting flight at Dulles last week and as we were sitting on the tarmac and all of the nice people in their cute little open collar suits and loafers were crowding the door and talking all importantly on their cell phones, all I could think was, "Look at these fucking parasites!"
I couldn't wait to walk to the next plane get the hell out of there.
I hope you never have to fly through DCA.
Hey! Bureaucrats and contractors are doing hard work to govern America and kill brown people! They're doing God's work in D.C.-Metro and deserve every penny they get from flyover country!
America Uber Alles!
Living in Northern Virginia, you get to see firsthand the ridiculous amount of taxpayer money sloshing around this area.
I've lived in the area for about 20 years, and the change over that period of time has been amazing. Fairfax County, Va. used to be about as average as suburbia gets, and now it's the third wealthiest county in America, with neighoring Falls Church City and Loudoun County being the top 2 above it.
Around here, a household income of $100,000 makes you lower middle class--you certainly aren't buying a SFH at that income level here, unless you move 50 miles out of town.
As far as I can tell, the big change came with 9/11. After that, the defense and intelligence agencies started hiring every idiot who could use a computer and get a security clearance, and the rush was on. Even though IT folks in other government sectors make good money, the real driver of the economy here is defense and intelligence contracting.
I spent 7 years living in Fairfax county doing mostly private sector work (as in not government or contracting work) and while I liked my job just fine and I was paid decently for living in that area, one day I realized that I hated everything that was going on around me and the entitled attitude of the people in the dc area. They think the country would fall apart without them and that they truly earned the wealth they've plundered from the rest of the country. I'm glad I got the hell out before I got sucked into that mindset.
MMM...Kennedy and Ren ans Stimpy episodes. Good times MTV, good times.
Ferguson sat down with ReasonTV Correspondent Kennedy to discuss his article, and the various ways in which D.C.'s riches are hurting the nation.
Ferguson sat down with ReasonTV http://www.ceinturesfr.com/cei.....-c-29.html Correspondent Kennedy to discuss his article, and the various ways in which D.C.'s riches are hurting the nation.
Ferguson sat down with ReasonTV Correspondent Kennedy to discuss his article, and the various ways in which http://www.riemeninnl.com/riem.....-c-20.html D.C.'s riches are hurting the nation.