DC Sliced into Quarters

For John, BLUF:  If we are going to lick poverty, we ought to start in our Nation's Capitol.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Late last night the Instapundit posted about a Twitter feed that highlighted a problem in our Nation's Capitol.  “If you want to see jaw-dropping inequality and racial segregation, just compare NW to SE D.C.”

He suggested it for a Sunday Feature in The Washington Post.

But, in a way it buries the lede.  Compare NE with SE and while you don't get the same wealth gap, you do find a quality of life difference.  The fact is that NW is the ritzy part of town.  Southeast, especially south of the Anacostia River, is not so good, unless you are living on Bolling AFB.  Few live in SW, but some of it looks like SE and some of it isn't so bad.  But, it is mostly Federal Government buildings.  As for NE, it is not necessarily a great place to live, but it isn't SE.  People dress up and go to Church on Sundays.  They have jobs.  They spruce up their property.  They are Middle Class.

The contrast amongst the four quarters of DC is not something to be proud of.♠ 

As for unemployment, the May 2015 Preliminary rate is 7.3%.  Not great, but not bad (in contrast, Massachusetts was 4.6%).♥  The problem is, unemployment is concentrated in SE.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  I wonder if this all traces back to when President Woodrow Wilson segregated the City.
♥  The problem with these statistics is you have to pick you set of numbers.  The President says national unemployment is 5.3% (June 2015), but Presidential Candidate Senator Bernie Sanders says it is 10.5%.  I am with Senator Sanders.