Updated

Imagine getting $58,000 a year just for living in a certain place. Not bad. But now imagine that every member of your family--your spouse, and every one of your kids--also got an annual check for $58,000. Well, that happens to be how much the federal government spends on the citizens of Washington, D.C.

For every tax dollar that Washingtonians send to the feds, the feds send $6.44 back to the citizens of Washington in services. That's enough to pay every man, woman and child in the district $58,347 a year, according to the Tax Foundation (search).

Now, of course, it's probably just a "coincidence" that politicians send so much money back to the city where "they" live and go to work. But some of the non-politicians who live in Washington have suggested cutting out the middleman and cutting checks in the amount the feds now spend on the district.

Could the citizens of Washington do better cleaning, housing and educating themselves if they were simply given all that money? Odds are, they won't get a chance to find out.

And that's the Asman Observer!