BCT Editorial – 8/20/06

This page was last updated on August 21, 2006.

Wealth factor; Editorial; Beaver County Times; August 20, 2006.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“The rich and famous are having a problem - finding hired help.

“Not house servants, mind you, but police officers, firemen, nurses, school teachers, etc.

“Bloomberg News recently reported that Naples, Fla., is having that problem, and the main reason is the cost of housing, the average price of which is near $500,000.

“But Naples isn’t alone. Exclusive resort/retirement areas like Aspen, Colo., have become too expensive for middle-class workers to live and work in.

“Closer to home, Garrett County, Md., which encompasses Deep Creek Lake, is building subsidized housing so teachers, nurses, resort workers, etc. can afford to live there and employers can have a stable work force.

“It’s as good an example of the growing wealth gap in America as you can find.”

[RWC] I hate to break it to the editorial author, but he’s reporting on a scenario that’s existed for thousands of years. More recently, when I worked in Westchester County, NY (immediately north of New York City), I commuted nearly 60 miles each way to avoid high housing costs and that was 25 to 30 years ago. Some commuters rode the train for nearly 90 miles! The same was true when I worked in Houston, though my each-way commute was only about 35 miles.