AmericaBlog: I'm a spoiled brat WATB!

John Aravosis puts his WATB hat on and bitches about not getting enough money from the Government:

That means that if you make $75,000 or more a year, no check for you. Forget that fact that you live in NYC or DC or San Francisco, where prices from property to food are outrageous. No, forget that. Some guy living in a mansion in Topeka making $74,999 a year will get his little gift from the US Treasury and you, living in NYC making $75,001 out of a 300 sq ft studio apartment will get nothing. How about my friend who bought an entire house in Baltimore for $275,000 when that would get you a very small studio in DC. I know someone who got an entire house in Ohio for $2000 a month when that would get you a one-bedroom apartment in DC. I have a friend who moved to North Carolina and got offered a bit over $75k a year. He said it was a king's ransom in NC. In DC, well, again, keep checking out those studios. And another friend has a 900 sq ft condo, and paid more for it than another friend's parents paid for their 6000 sq ft house.

Wah fucking wah.

If he thinks paying 2000/month for an apartment is outrageous, then why doesn't he move? If you are living in North West because it is a nice neighborhood and choose to pay 2000/month for a shitty one bedroom, that is your choice!

Don't bitch at me because that 2000/month would buy a lot more house somewhere else. Maybe you'd have to walk a few dozen miles more to grab a latte, but at least you'd be living in a nicer, larger house.

As an active duty enlisted guy, I earn considerably less than 75,000/year and live reasonably comfortably in Alexandria, Virginia, not more than 5 miles from where Aravosis lives. I don't pay nearly 2000/month for rent because I live within my means!

If John is finding that he can't afford his lifestyle in Northwest without an $800 rebate from the government, perhaps he should look for a cheaper, more spacious apartment somewhere else: perhaps in Ward 8 (Marion Barry's ward, where rents are MUCH cheaper) or maybe he should, shudder, move a few miles down the Shirley Highway and find a cheaper apartment in shudder THE BURBS!

That's what people do when they bitch about how expensive it is for them. Most people don't get all pissy-whiney-ass-titty-baby.

It's really unbecoming.

This is the world's smallest violin playing just for you.

•  My favorite sentance:

  Some guy living in a mansion in Topeka making $74,999 a year will get his little gift from the US Treasury and you, living in NYC making $75,001 out of a 300 sq ft studio apartment will get nothing.

  My second favorite part:

  That's because far too often the Democrats don't give a damn about anybody who isn't a minority or starving to death (both valid causes to be sure, but are they the ONLY causes out there?).

  Right: because only helping the poor is such a big vote getter for the Democrats.

  Fucking idiot.

  by calipygian on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 01:34:46 PM PDT

  •  I am much more concerned about the failure

    to extend unemployment benefits and the failure to increase food stamps. Those folks need the money a lot more than someone making $75 K, even if s/he's living in NYC.

    by blue jersey mom on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 01:37:08 PM PDT

    •  Exactly.

      by calipygian on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 01:37:41 PM PDT

    •  extending unemployment benefits

      makes too much sense for BushCo to do it.

      by TrueBlueMajority on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 01:47:04 PM PDT

  •  Aravosis is my favourite blogger but

    that was definitely one of his worst posts.  Frankly, I think benefits should be concentrated on helping those making less than $50,000, for that matter. This really isn't about "Gee, I want my handout too" but helping those who a. need it the most and b. will stimulate the economy. There are better ways to do that than handing money to people making $75,000-$100,000 (I wish!) In fact, I'm kind of cheesed about our sate income tax withholding cut this year which nets me a big $55. Meanwhile, I'm reading headlines about a $39 billion shortfall which will mean radical cutbacks in schools, health care, services for the edlerly etc. I would GIVE the state back my $55 frankly (and I make considerably less than $50,000) to help fund those things.

    by anastasia p on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 04:22:35 PM PDT

•  exactly my thoughts

  I was considerably more polite in my diary earlier today then I think I should have been, but if I had said what I really feel people might have jumped all on me.

  Aravosis is ALWAYS like this. A real "I got mine so fuck you" type of person. Makes the rest of us gay people look bad with his attitude.

  by terrypinder on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 01:42:46 PM PDT

  •  How much more

    "what you really think" can you get than this?

    yeah, well fuck you too, John.

    Well put.

    by calipygian on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 01:45:32 PM PDT

  •  And it isn't a gay think

    it's a selfish douchebag thing.

    For a grand less a month, he'd have to socialize in the Cap City in Shirlington instead of at the Reef Bar in Adams Morgan.

    Boo hoo.

    by calipygian on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 01:48:14 PM PDT

    •  LOL!

      gasp, you mean actually leave the Dupont Circle cocktail hour scene? How ever will he survive?

      by terrypinder on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 01:49:08 PM PDT

    •  Heck some of us are stuck in Fairfax ;-)

      The Kimchi is good but there's no Drinking Liberally here yet....

      by akeitz on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:31:32 PM PDT

      •  If I lived there

        I'd organize it and buy you a drink.

        by eugene on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:32:29 PM PDT

        •  Awwwww, that's so sweet! n/t

          by akeitz on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 03:42:16 PM PDT

    •  Ha!

      I would have WISHED to afford to live in Shirlington back when we were in the DC metro area.  We lived in Wheaton, and counted ourselves lucky to be able to afford to live so close.

      Besides, you can't metro in to Dupont for cocktails?  You're covered for the drive home and everything!  Living in Wheaton didn't stop me from meeting my friends after work at Metro Center or Dupont.

      by andlorr on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 03:08:51 PM PDT

•  Heartbreaking

  While I am heartbroken than John won't get his federal contribution to the wine and cheese fund, a few other points of the "stimulus" bill bother me more, like the fact that extended food stamps and unemployment benefits have been cut (these are the most-needed and fastest-acting remedies) and the fact that poor workers will have their stimulous checks down to $300.

  by weasel on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 01:44:24 PM PDT

  •  Besides rather than supporting these folks

    with the rebate, would it not be better to increase minimum wage and to simply provide support to the really poor and unemployed because it is right thing to do.

    by shigeru on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:49:02 PM PDT

  •  Sen. Harkin is pushing to include them

    in the Senate version so all is not lost yet. Boner in the House is the big problem at this point.

    by SmileySam on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 04:28:46 PM PDT

•  Eisenhower has the answer for him -

  There's a well-maintained interstate highway system just waiting to whisk you away to cheaper lands, John.

  by nightsweat on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 01:44:54 PM PDT

•  WATB

  Breastfed infants deserve better than to be likened to John Aravosis.

  by pat of butter in a sea of grits on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 01:51:57 PM PDT

•  He's a former Republican

  who never lost his sense of economic entitlement and his disdain for people in "flyover country."

  by clonecone on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:01:11 PM PDT

•  Americablog didn't last in my blogroll

  because John Aravosis can be such a pathetic self-serving jerk. A perfect example of somebody you don't have to like just because he votes for the same people you do.

  That's because far too often the Democrats don't give a damn about anybody who isn't a minority or starving to death (both valid causes to be sure, but are they the ONLY causes out there?).

  This is the kind of 'yeah, yeah, yeah, poor people, poor people, whatever.... but what the fuck about me?!? I have to lease a Ford instead of a Beemer now!?! WHERE'S THE OUTRAGE!!!" that usually bubbles out of wingnuts.

  Nothing has changed.

  by LeftHandedMan on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:02:32 PM PDT

  •  Or buy a BMW instead of lease it

    For serious, it is so inefficient to lease a car instead of buying it. If you're going to actually have a car in the driveway, it probably makes more sense financially to save up for a down payment on the purchase, rather than make a smaller down payment for the lease now but spend more money later.

    'Course, I'd rather buy a Corolla or a Civic than anything made by Ford or BMW, so I'm a little out of my depth when discussing German cars.

    by Shaviv on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 03:09:52 PM PDT

•  Shut up

  Honestly - are you fucking kidding? You make a diary complaining about one person? You didn't even refute his argument. Which is a sensible one.  Jesus.

  by Little on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:08:41 PM PDT

  •  asdf

    And don't think this is only about a stupid $300. It's about health care. It's about education. It's about every single issue you care about. The powers that be simply aren't in this to help people in the middle. The Republicans want to help the big pharmaceuticals and the big business hospitals, while the Democrats want to help uninsured poor people and kids. And while all of that's nice, what are the rest of us supposed to do when our premiums hit $2000 a month and, God forbid, something catastrophic hits us?

    You can argue with word choices, I'd say, but these are really good and important points.

    by Little on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:13:41 PM PDT

    •  Yes - poorly worded -

      but he makes a point people often think about but don't say.  

      Sometimes people in the middle feel like no one is listening to them.  Maybe he just had a moment of frustration.  On further consideration he might tone down - specially the kids sentence.

      by xanthe on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:31:02 PM PDT

  •  no, actually it isn't.

    the only way John would have a point is if he made an argument about the AMT.

    Instead he whines about poor people getting money and not him.

    For the record,I also wrote a diary about this about this and mentioned people I know (I'm their spawn, actually) who live in the DC area very well on less then 30,000 dollars a year. Gosh, they're certainly not hurting like John and his $75,000+ salary are. They're not starving. In fact they actually OWN THEIR HOME (all 1900 square feet of it.) I wonder where John spends his money? Tina? sorry, low blow.

    and this:

    That's because far too often the Democrats don't give a damn about anybody who isn't a minority or starving to death

    is a sensible argument? No, it's John having a queen WATB fit. Methinks John should stop jetting across the ocean and buying orchids if he's having so much trouble

    by terrypinder on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:15:31 PM PDT

    •  Hey, I said anyone could argue with choice

      of words. His large argument, which should be clear, is that the middle and lower middle class offten need help too and don't get it. You can not argue with that. You also can't argue that, while maybe hard to address, there is something skewed about calling someone who makes $75,000 in Buffalo, Montana the same financially as someone in New York, or Fairbanks for that matter.

      by Little on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:32:50 PM PDT

      •  maybe

        but at the same time, the vast majority of residents in all of those cities (someone pointed this out in his comments) make much less then 75k, survive adequetely well, and will benefit briefly from the stimulus.

        His argument to me said nothing about that, unless he considers himself lower middle class to middle class. I've read his site off and on for years, and someone who jets to Europe reguarly and has a ton of orchids is probably making a lot more money then your average middle class person.

        I'm middle class. John is rich.

        by terrypinder on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:36:55 PM PDT

  •  You forgot this part from JA...

    According to AP, congressional leaders have reached a deal on those economic stimulus checks. And rather than being geared towards helping the economy, they're apparently geared towards redistributing wealth (that would be our wealth) to the poor.

    Yeah, that's why Pelosi caved an stripped out food stamp increases and extending unemployment benefits.  To redistribute money to the poor.

    by mbw on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:33:40 PM PDT

    •  I agree with you on that

      Bizarrely said and not clearly laid out later.

      On his argument that a lot more has to be done I agree with him.

      And I mostly just find it odd  that thee's a hot diary on Aravosis and  not on policy.

      by Little on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:37:38 PM PDT

•  So

  If you decide to do your part to prevent urban sprawl and live in a more densely populated part of the country, even thought it's more expensive, that's being irresponsible...

  by DaveOinSF on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:14:54 PM PDT

  •  There are many, many

    places in the DC area where one can live in a dense neighborhood perfectly comfortably on $75,001 a year. Just not in quite as nice a neighborhood.

    Its called "living within one's means".

    Not whining that poor people are getting a couple of hundred dollar check and I'm not.

    by calipygian on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:19:06 PM PDT

    •  Somebody in WV....

      driving to dig up their landscape, burn the rocks in our neighborhoods with poorly legislated pollution controls) and ship the electricity to Washington DC (at a 50% transmission loss) so he can whine on the internets.  And still they are poorer than him, so what a shame.  We have jobs in the mines, John.  And you could live in a palace here for $2000 a month.

      by murrayewv on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:21:52 PM PDT

      •  he is getting eaten alive in his comments

        i'm also willing to bet they'll all vanish before the night is out.

        by terrypinder on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:22:52 PM PDT

        •  lol no shit

          I just went over and skipped along the comment thread, the overwhelming mood of the response is "STFU you fucking dolt"

          by FireCrow on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:31:05 PM PDT

•  you can drive to work in WV for $300

  a month.  Buy someone 6 tanks of gas at $50 a tank.  Say you get 20 mpg and drive 100 miles to work (and back) at $3 a gallon.  You get to drive Huntington to Charleston 20 times.  Whoopee!  That much would have gottent you 40 trips before we invaded Iraq for oil.  Didn't work out too well, did it.

  What a baby.

  by murrayewv on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:18:58 PM PDT

•  It's one thing to point out

  That folks in expensive cities need help. They do.

  But quite another - and deeply right-wing - to be upset that the poor are ahead of you in line.

  Screw you, John.

  by eugene on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:34:30 PM PDT

•  What the post said to me

  was that if a person thinks $75,000/yr is practically like living in poverty, then what's $600 really worth to them anyway?  It's a pittance.

  I wish he were outraged about the Dems caving and refusing to require foodstamps and unemployment benefit extensions.

  They've given Bush everything he wanted -- per usual.

  by TeresaInSammamishWA on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 02:38:28 PM PDT

•  We're paying $600 / mo

  for a 1 br duplex with yard in an urban multi-ethnic neighborhood.  The nearest non-Starbucks Latte is about a mile and a half away.

  I fully agree with the "if you don't like it, move" sentiment.

  by VelvetElvis on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 03:48:35 PM PDT

•  a little perspective

  Someone should point out to Mr. Aravosis that the median household income in the US is about $46,000/yr. That $45K includes a lot of two-earner families.

  If you're earning over $75K/yr you are well into the top quintile of incomes.  

  by Joe Bob on Thu Jan 24, 2008 at 04:16:37 PM PDT