Richorice

As the rich get richer what happens to the rest of us? The following excerpts are from a front-page news report in Thursday’s Washington Post [April 13, 2006] by Staff Writer Blaine Harden:

JACKSON, Wyo. -- In an era when the rich are the only income group getting richer, ever-larger waves of wealth are spilling in from the coasts and swamping the resort valleys of the Rocky Mountain West.

The rich have collectively inflated real estate to prices that are far beyond the means of those who serve them supper, take their blood pressure or police their gated subdivisions. The service workers -- professionals and blue-collar alike -- tend to live in adjacent valleys and commute.

A household making $500,000 a year would have paid $53,921 in local taxes in 2004 in the District of Columbia but just $6,809 in Wyoming, according to Wealth Manager.

"Your accountant will tell you that if you move to Wyoming, the house will build itself," said Angus MacLean Thuermer Jr., co-editor of the Jackson Hole News & Guide.

"The future is locked in -- it can only get richer," said Brian Grubb, planning director for Jackson.

Federal, state and local governments own 97 percent of Teton County. Large tracts of undeveloped private land have been locked up by land trusts in conservation easements. Much of the money for these trusts came from wealthy homeowners.

There are only about 2,500 lots available for construction in rural Teton County, Grubb said, adding that houses are likely to be built on large tracts and would cost several million dollars for the land and structure.

Grubb, who makes $75,000 a year, lives in a subsidized apartment owned by the town.