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So essentially, this is why the suburbs of Washington DC are among the highest income regions in the world. You don’t have to invent new technologies if you si
by pembrook 8mo ago
So essentially, this is why the suburbs of Washington DC are among the highest income regions in the world.
You don’t have to invent new technologies if you simply position yourself next to halls of power and the money printer.
- whattheheckheck 8mo agoWell also think about every fortune 1000 company and the mini fiefdoms that exist in each of them
- pembrook 8mo agoThose are largely fiefdoms of competence and positive-sum value creation. The fortune 1000 are generally both accountable to shareholders, customers and vulnerable to attack by competition if they get too incompetent. The left-populists of HN will of course argue that all private business is a scam (using edge case anecdotes), but that's juvenile so I won't even waste time confronting that. The US federal government on the other hand, is largely unaccountable to anyone, even its voters, and has zero competitive pressures. They are undeniably the largest, and least accountable fiefdom of all. Hence why Fairfax, Loudoun, Montgomery, etc counties (suburbs of DC) together have nearly 70,000 housholds with an income over $500K+ per year. Edging out the entire Bay Area while having less people.
- whattheheckheck 8mo agoI was pointing out that without the business fiefdoms to keep the wanna be princes at bay there would be a lot more political problems
- whattheheckheck 8mo agoAnd how every person who figures out enough stuff to buy a house with a 30 year mortgage... they get to climb a predestined little mountain to keep them busy