I want you….to work for me.
I pay well.

When I was still in the military, I went to some place in Pennsylvania to help these DEA guys develop their training curriculum. Their whole stick was “follow the money.” Much of their training revolved around how to track the money. In other words, if you can trace down the money and find out where it comes from, you can probably figure out who the bad guys are.

The income disparity between the richest and the poorest Americans is at an all time high, at least since the 1920’s, according to reports. Even after six years of the Chosen One, the “friend of the middle class,” the gap continues to widen.

So I wondered where are the people at the top, and where are the people at the bottom? I researched the poorest counties in America, and the richest counties in America. Revealing indeed. Then, I looked up zip codes for those counties, so I could find out who their representatives were (just out of curiosity).  I didn’t care about the names, just the party.  Some zip codes were represented by more than one individual so, I made a judgment. I’m not a research service, I just write a blog. If you don’t trust what you read here, look it up for yourself.  Here’s what I found.

Here are the fifteen poorest counties in America, the zip codes I used to look up their representatives, and the representative party.

• Wilcox County, Ala 36435              dem
• Maverick County, Texas 78852     dem
• Owsley County Ky 41314               rep
• East Carroll Parish, La 71254        rep
• Lake County, Tenn 38077              rep
• Allendale County, S.C. 29810        dem
• Corson County, S.D. 57621           rep
• Holmes County, Miss. 38924         dem
• Sioux County, N.D 58570                rep
• Washington Count, Miss. 38701   dem
• Humphreys County, Miss 38754   dem
• Issaquena County, Miss 38744      dem
• Shannon County, S.D. 57716          rep
• Todd County, S.D. 57555                 rep
• Ziebach County S.D. 57622             rep

Here are America’s Ten Higher Income Counties, the zip codes I used to look up their representatives, and the representative party.

• Loudon County VA 03307          dem
• Falls Church VA 22408                rep
• Los Alamos N.M. 87544             dem
• Fairfax County VA 22032           dem
• Hunterdon County, NJ 08867     repub
• Howard County MD 21029         dem
• Arlington County VA 22201        dem
• Douglas County CO 80135           repub
• Somerset County NJ 008873      dem
• Prince William County, VA 20110 rep

So, of the 15 poorest counties in America, 7 are represented by democrats, 8 by republicans. Of the 10 higher income counties in America, 6 are represented by democrats, 4 by republicans.

Conclusion? Poor people vote for both democrats and republicans, and (gasp) upper income people vote for both democrats and republicans. Voting is based more on geography than income.  If you’re from Mississippi, you’re probably going to vote for a democrat, if you’re from South Dakota, you’re probably going to vote for a republican, if you’re from Virginia, you’re probably a snob who thinks you’re always right and votes either way.

I think the biggest thing I noticed is that six of the higher income counties in the country are suburbs of D.C. Counting New Mexico, (because of Los Alamos) that’s seven of the top 10 counties nestled in Uncle Sam’s pockets.

Doesn’t that ring some kind of bell in your head? It’s fascinating when you think of it.  I’d like to know if these are some of the same people that got an exemption from Obamacare because they said they couldn’t afford it.

So, none of the congressman in Washington are hurting for a buck. Apparently, many of the staff and bureaucracy that support them aren’t hurting either. It seems to me that the people that make the decisions, and the people that support the decision makers, may not be concerned with the same issues you and I are. They are, by and large, insulated from it. Maybe some of them should disperse to South Dakota and Mississippi.

Or maybe someone should start “Occupy the D.C. suburbs.”

References

http://money.msn.com/family-money/the-poorest-counties-in-america

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomvanriper/2013/04/25/americas-richest-counties/

http://money.msn.com/family-money/the-poorest-counties-in-america

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/25/income-inequality_n_3814333.html