The grass is greener and so is the money

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in the third quarter of last year Johnson County had the highest average weekly wage in and around the Kansas City area. What this means is that if you don't live in Johnson County then you are most likely poor, stupid and probably ugly. I live right in the middle of Kansas City so what that means for me is that on one side I can peek over at JoCo and see the promised land of milk and honey and white women with a lot of disposable income and then I can look the other way and see the East side of KC which is mostly a barren, desolate waste land that hosts nearly all of the crime in the area. One place is occupied by Black people and one by white people. I could come up with all kinds of stupid reasons about why there is such a disparity but the important thing to remember is that there is actually a great disparity and it doesn't seem to be getting any better.

As the white people of Johnson County continue to amass their wealth it's important to examine how the rich got rich and why they keep getting richer. Of course, a lot of wealth is inherited but that doesn't explain it all. There are doctors and lawyers in the Golden Ghetto of JoCo and they have made vast fortunes by profiting from the misery and anguish of others while rarely providing a cure or resolution to their suffering. There are many employees of multi-national corporations residing in JoCo who have an intimate knowledge of all the shady practices of their companies undertaken overseas and fraud right here at home but that probably doesn't make good dinner conversation. Also, it's imperative to remember that only a few hundred years ago there was nothing but Native Americans roaming around these parts but now all of those people are dead because the forefathers of the citizens of JoCo killed them. Finally, while I've heard that JoCo does have pretty high taxes it's worth remembering that none of them go to pay for any significant culture attraction in the area; that burden has been passed along to the people of KC proper.

So what people in KC must then realize is that over the past decade the leaders of this city have basically set up this town to capitalize on the "tips" and disposable income of JoCo rather than build and maintain our own city. That's why we have a renovated and beautiful Union Station but sewers that are overflowing with shit and rats. It's not simply a case of envy but rather an acknowledgement that JoCo was built on the back of KC. KC has not only paid for their entertainment but also given tax breaks to their employers while JoCo citizens scurry back to their hinterland hideaways after basically looting money out of KC. Obviously, the "tip jar"/vanity project mentality of elected officials has not panned out since almost every major attraction built with taxpayer money in KC is in the red. Sure, there has been lots of buzz, lots of visitors but nothing close to a sustainable economic model. Only the casinos have proven to be a tax abated success and most of the profits from that endeavor are funneled back to Satan or other gaming industry execs. In short, it's moronic for people like me to deride the successful, well paid people of Johnson County because all I'm doing is disparaging all of the hard work of Kansas Citians that made it possible.