Jackson Hole, estate tax, and the national media...

I waited a whole week for CNN's "The State of the Union with John King" to broadcast of a segment about anchor John King's visit to Wyoming, the last of the 50 states that he has visited since his program began. At the beginning of the segment, King said he wanted to visit all 50 states, so he could talk to "regular" people in America. Wow, that was comical, based upon the choice of Jackson Hole as the site of his visit.

The segment aired on Sunday. And it was quite horrible. It was pretty much a farce. But, no doubt, it gave King a nice assignment junket trip to see some beautiful Wyoming landscape. Whenever some national newsperson wants to involve Wyoming, it usually means a quick plane ride into Jackson, followed by a quick plane ride out. That's what they see of Wyoming. The beautiful mountains in a resort and ski town where only the rich can own houses. The average price of houses in Jackson is $1 million, according to one of the Jackson guests in the report. I would guess that the estimate is correct. Rich politicians, like Cheney, and Hollywood stars own cabins or estates in the Jackson area. Jackson is to Wyoming about as much as Hollywood is to California. John King missed the regular people in Wyoming.

The King interview also featured three Jacksonites who dodged the truth about how many people view the "residency" of former Vice President Dick Cheney. When Cheney first ran with George W. Bush, he had to declare Wyoming as his home state in order to constitutionally come from a state other than Texas which was Bush's home state. Cheney really was a Texan, residing in Texas at the time, working in the state. He had left Wyoming. Yet another fraud of the Bush years. Even when he ran as a Wyoming Congressman, the election allowed him to leave the state. When my brothers were drafted out of Wyoming during the Vietnam War period, Cheney used five deferments to avoid the draft. He ran from military service and, ironically, now acts like he's America's greatest warrior. Another fraud.

I had to dodge the TV networks this Sunday as Cheney's daughter Liz ended up on two. She was on John King's show on CNN, so I switched the channel for that segment. Then she was on ABC's "This Week," so I switched the channel there. We, who are really from Wyoming, know how she ended up with a big-shot job as deputy secretary of state during the Bush years. It is the same way that Michael Powell, son of General Colin Powell, became FCC chairman during the Bush years. And it wasn't because of qualifications. Can anyone, including the media, say "nepotism"?

It is only natural for national news personalities to gravitate toward rich resort towns and rich people, because often they are part of that class; their networks play to that class. Congress and both political parties eagerly serve that class. That's probably why Congress and the national media allowed the estate tax to lapse on January 1. The estate tax brought in $14 billion to the U.S. Treasury, a sizable amount when everyone, especially Republicans, are screaming about the deficit and governmental spending. (The expense of endless wars can be costly, too, by the way.) The estate tax involved only about 5,500 very wealthy families, which is less than one percent of American families. But it wasn't something Congress apparently wanted to keep.

Politicians and the national news media sure are good to rich people. They all may want to fly into Jackson and celebrate.