Washington, D.C. Area Richest, Best Educated:

The world is irony: Washington, D.C. has the worst schools in the nation; no one doubts this; and yet the census shows that the "area," which implies the burbs, is home to the wealthiest and best educated group of Americans in the nation, and why not? That's where the power is.

Probably many of you thought New York City would be home to the richest and brightest, but all those wealthy money managers just aren't that well educated. Maybe that helps explain why the banks got into such difficulties recently.

Who am I kidding? The banks were never in real trouble. They knew we'd bail 'em out no matter what kind of mess they made. Just imagine going to Las Vegas to play the slots and being guaranteed that no matter how much money you lost you'd still make a profit off of your gambling.

(See The Washington Post story.)