Man says that he cant make ends meet earning $350,000 a year.

[STEED]

tater

I got no time for dipsticks like this greedy git in the article who have everything and still they want more.

I have no issue with fire fighters or police.

[tater]

Originally Posted by STEED

tater

I got no time for dipsticks like this greedy git in the article who have everything and still they want more.

I have no issue with fire fighters or police.

His income is not insanely high. As I said, corrected for cost of living, it's not outside the bounds for cops with loads of overtime here in ABQ. If a cop was interviewed saying it was hard to make do with reduced overtime due to lower tax revenues in ABQ, why would you not hate him just the same as this guy?

What about teachers. You could find many dozens of stories about teachers in cities all over the US complaining that they are only getting a X% pay RAISE while the people around them in this economy are losing their entire livelihood. Do you hate them, too? If not, why not?

Again, I'm just not understanding why some people are so worked up about him. His lifestyle in NY is actually pretty middle class. The fancy car is a clear luxury in NYC, but who knows if he bought it new for 90 grand, or used for half that (in the latter case it's not excessive at all)?

Why the animus?

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by tater

His lifestyle in NY is actually pretty middle class.

No, it absolutely is not. That statement is a joke. I have good friends in NYC and none of them have two Audis and a Porsche.

He's living a luxury lifestyle he can't afford, and he's whining about having to cut back on luxury items...his perspective is completely FUBAR'd and he's coming off like a spoiled brat. That's the bottom line.

[tater]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

No, it absolutely is not. That statement is a joke. I have good friends in NYC and none of them have two Audis and a Porsche.

He's living a luxury lifestyle he can't afford, and he's whining about having to cut back on luxury items...his perspective is completely FUBAR'd and he's coming off like a spoiled brat. That's the bottom line.

I have loads of friends in NYC. Agreed, none have 3 cars. So what? 350k is middle class in NYC (upper middle class), and it is pretty common for people that have humble apartments to also have a vacation house, or at least rent one. My friends in Chelsea are 2 income (both guys), one a IT guy for a large hospital, the other a lawyer. They live in a studio they own (~800 ft^2, about the size of the hotel suite we get in NYC when we visit them). Their building fees alone are like $1500/mo. The two have a combined income of 200-something. High 200s I bet. They own a small house on long island (fire island?). They have what I would call a middle class life, but if they had 3 kids? They'd be lower middle class at best (they'd not have the cottage, either). Note, my middle class includes THREE KIDS. 2 gay guys on 350k is totally different from 5 people on the same income.

Again, I said I didn't like the guy at the start. Still don't. I don't think he's the biggest jerk on earth though, and I don't understand the abject hatred. I don't think he deserves a whipping, etc. He pays more than his fair share of taxes. Looks like he pays more than twice his share (per capita budget times family members). The cars? Again, he doesn't need 3, but kids in the ghetto don't need expensive sneakers, either. People in 2012 "live large" compared to our parents, regardless of income level. A roof, heat, water, and food are it for necessities, right? His contributions to democrats are also luxuries, right?

Again, why is he a spoiled jerk, and teachers complaining bitterly about a lower RAISE in an environment with huge unemployment NOT jerks?

Given the subject guy is in fact a democrat, maybe he's "taking one for the team" to keep the 1% meme alive? Dunno. I'm not defending him, per se, but the idea that anyone making 350k who has an unexpected loss of income somehow has no problems. I said I don't think they live within their means in my first post. They need to dump 1 car, anyway, possibly 2. Vacation home rental? Furnished probably around 4 grand a month would be my guess. Expensive, but cheaper for a month than a single week on a "real" vacation, and dad can still work and commute (train down to Norwalk, then transfer to GCS). The alternative in NYC is likely summer programs to occupy the kids. The cost for 3 kids per month for that would completely be offset by a rental (it's over a grand per month for good summer kid programs here in ABQ, gotta be more in NYC).

I frankly don't see how he can afford the stated luxuries even with his 60k bonus he usually got. If the cars are new that's 3-4 grand a month right there. There's not 50k slop in his stated budget. The 32k for private school for one kid... again, dunno his public schools. He should move to CT and solve all his problems (he could get a house at least twice the size of their apartment for 5-600k in a town with good schools).

[tater]

Interesting calculator.

http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costo...tofliving.html

350k here in ABQ would require 809k in NYC for the same lifestyle.

350k in NYC is like 149k in Topeka (similar at 151 for Albuquerque (only has rio rathole to compare, which is a suburb)).

150k is without question middle class in ABQ. Housing varies a lot here, so you can have a middle class lifestyle for well below 150k here, but you have to earn well above 150k to be in the really "high end" parts of town. You'll have a nice house on 150k in ABQ, but your neighbors might make half that, or twice that, literally next door.

[CaptainHaplo]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

He's living a luxury lifestyle he can't afford, and he's whining about having to cut back on luxury items...his perspective is completely FUBAR'd and he's coming off like a spoiled brat. That's the bottom line.

Ok - so spoiled brat = take him out and beat him, take his money away from him and burn it, or just "hang him"? I have 2 kids, sometimes they act like spoiled brats, should I drown them because of it? Should I take everything they have and make them suffer? Really? I think not!

Yes - he has lived beyond his reasonable means and now has to pay the price. OK - we all agree there. But what right does him complaining about what, in essence, is his own stupidity, gives others the right to claim he should have more taken away from him?

As Tater pointed out - where do you draw the line? Teacher, cops and firefighters don't get the raise they want, and that is national news - while the factory down the road from the school, police station and firehouse gets shut down and not one word about it. Does that not make the complainers "spoiled brats?"

Government workers on average make significantly more than workers doing the same type of job in the private sector. They get asked to contribute to their own retirement, or made to pay a deductable or premium for their health plan (which private sector workers have to do already), and you have mobs in the various state capital buildings... Dont even mention tying their wages to the private sector! But somehow they are not "spoiled brats"? Or are they - and if they are - shouldn't we take their money and burn it in the streets, or beat them, or just hang them too?

Can't have it both ways.....

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaplo

Ok - so spoiled brat = take him out and beat him, take his money away from him and burn it, or just "hang him"? I have 2 kids, sometimes they act like spoiled brats, should I drown them because of it? Should I take everything they have and make them suffer? Really? I think not!

Yes - he has lived beyond his reasonable means and now has to pay the price. OK - we all agree there. But what right does him complaining about what, in essence, is his own stupidity, gives others the right to claim he should have more taken away from him?

[CaptainHaplo]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

How is it a strawman Mookie?

Lets take his money and burn it:

Originally Posted by STEED

Best thing is to burn his money right in front of him.

Then we can beat him:

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Why don't we have whip round for him.....I'll throw in ten lashes.

And finally we can kill him by hanging!

Originally Posted by soopaman2

And people wonder why the paycheck to paycheck living, working poor want to string up douchebags like this.

All "solutions" proposed by members of this board because this guy is - as you called him - a "spoiled brat".

Sorry - no strawman here. I notice you can't answer the comparison between his being a brat - and governmental type workers who do the same thing... Why is that?

[gimpy117]

really...is that article some kind of a joke? is Rand still alive and a reporter for yahoo? I really, really REALLY hope it's subtle sarcasm...

he makes $350,000 a year, by anybody other than the UBER rich's standards hes LOADED. I mean "couldn't fly to New Orleans for a wet tee shirt contest"? Boo F-ing hoo...some people have to choose between eating or staying warm, and this man sobs cuz he can't go on some luxury horndog south tour? If this was an article about some poor family who bought a cruise or a vacation and couldn't pay for it people would be calling them stupid, or say things like "well everybody has to make cuts". But were supposed to take the oppositte stand when some rich jerk can't spend more than many people's yearly incomes on his dogs? Where was their brain? 21 year old linda in the mail room had to take a pay cut to ohh lets say 20,000 a year instead of 25, or the guy who works in janitorial had to do the same...and they honestly they can just plan on being scott free? NOPE. Stupid rich people who whine when they need to cut back on their play money.

The rich are so disconnected with the plight of the poor or middle class that they almost sound like a badly written joke

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaplo

How is it a strawman Mookie?

Lets take his money and burn it:



Then we can beat him:


And finally we can kill him by hanging!


All "solutions" proposed by members of this board because this guy is - as you called him - a "spoiled brat".

Sorry - no strawman here. I notice you can't answer the comparison between his being a brat - and governmental type workers who do the same thing... Why is that?

Why are you assigning other people's arguments to me?

[gimpy117]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

Why are you assigning other people's arguments to me?

no mookie! don't you know nobody ever strawmans on here...

[tater]

He's not "rich."

350k in Manhattan is not rich, period. It's certainly not POOR, but it isn't rich. It's functionally the same as making about 150k in a mid sized city out in the flyover states where life is cheap. 150k in such a place is upper middle class, and in fact well within the reach of normal folks with 2 incomes. There are numerous kids in the private school my kids attend who have cops and firefighters for parents (and a bunch who have teachers in the public schools for parents (which should tell you something about the public schools here)).

The guys is (as I said) every bit the jerk. So are all the teachers in NJ... remember the sh*tstorm when Christy wanted to delay their raise because the average employee in the private sector in NJ had lost income, not gained it? He was pilloried.

[MH]

Originally Posted by gimpy117

The rich are so disconnected with the plight of the poor or middle class that they almost sound like a badly written joke

That's the whole point.
Rich people have their own problems and its difficult for them to live just like any other average person after being on the top of food chain.
As long as they make their money legally and lose the money legally its their own business...i think.
Ok he shared...
He is a whiner just like some middle class or poor whiners but has different things to whine about.

That's capitalism right?
He makes lots of money and spends a lot...the more the better,making others happy.

[CaptainHaplo]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

Why are you assigning other people's arguments to me?

I didn't - in fact I noted that they were ideas put forth by multiple people and even sourced them. I was pointing out that your statement of he is a spoiled bra and thats the bottom line did nothing to castigate the idea that because of it, he should be "punished". Sure he is spoiled, sure he is assinine. We agree.

Seeing the call for theft, physical violence and murder against someone and not calling it out - but instead continuing to call the target names - even truthful ones - does nothing but promote attacks against others.

There was a holocaust that started that way - and I will stand against the same thing happening. Things like that start innocently - based on pure emotion - but either you stand against it, or you sit idly by while it happens. I will not do the latter.

Tater and I both asked you about how one situation is different than the other. You have demonstrated your views often enough for me to say you "lean" left - so you were challenged to not only seperate yourself from the calls for violence (like some in Occupy called for) but also to see if your convictions on what is "spoiled" or not is consistently applied.

So far - you have refused to answer either challenge.

[gimpy117]

Originally Posted by MH

That's the whole point.
Rich people have their own problems and its difficult for them to live just like any other average person after being on the top of food chain.
As long as they make their money legally and lose the money legally its their own business...i think.
Ok he shared...
He is a whiner just like some middle class or poor whiners but has different things to whine about.

That's capitalism right?
He makes lots of money and spends a lot...the more the better,making others happy.

ehh...i think the difference here is that many people have the choice between heating or eating, and these people complain when they can't spend 20,000 on a dog anymore per year. It's a little far fetched to say he's "just like the middle class whiners" because they are people making it work on 1/3 of what he makes or less (combined) and are having to pay for average things like college loans, Car payments, House payments and some are barely scraping by in some instances. And I am not even talking about the people that make Far, Far less. my mother made a power of 10 less than what he made once, She luckily makes $40,000 now....but for a good long time me and my brother were pretty much paying our way as much as we could from jobs after school, but still we had the choice of either eating or keeping the heat at 60 degrees all day. I can't really see how he has any right to complain when his problems come down to basically him having to cut out all the extra cushy fun he has in his life boo hoo he can't keep his condo or build an addition to his house, or his drop top porche is "the minivan of sports cars" (my thoughts drift back to the crappy Chrysler minivan we had because we could only afford that).

But hey, Let them eat cake right?