Letter to the Editor: Other Washington filled with the wealthy

Some interesting fact that you will never hear on the mainstream media.

According to the Washington Post, the Washington D.C. area has become a great place for those that enjoy “living the dream”....

Washingtonians now enjoy the highest median household income of any metropolitan area in the country, and five of the top 10 jurisdictions in America — Loudoun, Howard and Fairfax counties, and Falls Church and Fairfax City — are here, census data shows.

The signs of that wealth are on display all over, from the string of luxury boutiques such as Gucci and Tory Burch opening at Tysons Galleria to the $15 cocktails served over artisanal ice at the W Hotel in the District to the ever-larger houses rising off River Road in Potomac.

All of this wealth did not get created because the D.C. area is a great center for industry or finance.

Rather, all of these people are becoming very wealthy because of our big, fat bloated federal government.

The following are 10 mind blowing facts which show how members of Congress and federal employees are living the high life at our expense....

#1 When you total up all compensation (including health care and benefits), the average income for a federal worker in the Washington D.C. area last year was $126,369.

#2 In 2005, 7,420 federal workers were making $150,000 or more per year. In 2010, a whopping 82,034 federal workers were making $150,000 or more per year. That is more than a tenfold increase in just five years.

#3 In 2005, the U.S. Department of Defense had just nine civilians earning $170,000 or more. When Barack Obama took office, the U.S. Department of Defense had 214 civilians earning $170,000 or more. In June 2010, the U.S. Department of Defense had 994 civilians earning $170,000 or more.

#4 Last year, federal employees “earned” approximately 447 billion dollars in total compensation.

#5 According to a study by the Heritage Foundation, federal workers earn 30 to 40 percent more money on average than their counterparts in the private sector.

#6 Today, one out of every 12 people living in Washington D.C. is a lawyer. In New York City, only one out of every 123 residents is a lawyer.

#7 More than 50 percent of the members of the U.S. Congress are millionaires.

#8 The median wealth of a U.S. Senator in 2009 was 2.38 million dollars.

#9 Insider trading is perfectly legal for members of the U.S. Congress – and they refuse to pass a law that would change that.

#10 The percentage of millionaires in Congress is more than 50 times higher than the percentage of millionaires in the general population.

Meanwhile, most of the rest of America has been going through economic hell....

- The standard of living in the United States has fallen farther over the past three years than at any other time that has ever been recorded in U.S. history.

- According to the Federal Reserve, the combined net worth of American families has fallen by $5.5 trillion since 2007.

-Half of all American workers now earn $505 or less per week.

- According to Paul Osterman, a professor of economics at MIT, approximately 20 percent of all employed Americans are making $10.65 an hour or less.

I wonder how those people feel making $10.65 an hour and have to pay the wages, fringe benefits, health care and retirement for all those people in this country making 10 to 100 times the money they are.

Joe Wollman

Odessa