Baltimore has something that DC does not have. Both cities have a lot of crime, a lot of drugs, though DC less so now than in recent years. But Baltimore and the Baltimore region have something that DC does not: impoverished Euro-Americans, white trash, crackers, rednecks, pick your favorite euphemism or dysphemism.

You can go to a redneck bar in Baltimore or in any suburban county thereof and meet hardscrabble white people. You cannot do so in Washington DC or within 7 miles of the Washington Beltway. The closest element of rednecks, aka my family’s demographic, is Randy’s California Inn in North Laurel, about halfway between the White House and Baltimore’s Camden Yards on Route 1. I think they still have the Hank Williams Jr. Confederate Battle Jack on the Wall with those immortal, infamous words, “If the South woulda won the War, we woulda had it made.” But this joint is technically suburban Baltimore, not suburban Washington, proving the case.

Back to Aravosis. I don’t know him or what DC neighborhood he lives in. But he might want to be a little more self-reflective about these things. Perhaps he should get away from DC’s wealth, away from Dupont Circle and the hordes of 6-figure-earning twinks with iPhones bopping around Kramerbooks and get 40 miles up the road to Baltimore to visit that friend of his again, but this time not just his friend. He can pay a visit Baltimore’s equivalent to Dupont Circle, Mt. Vernon, a much more hardscrabble, rougher gay village than its opulent cousin, where male sex workers run a scary, dangerous trade, where you can see needles on the ground sometimes, where you can definitely get hurt, get mugged and sadly get gay-bashed literally.

He can go to East Baltimore, where rust belt economics have turned old Polish, Ukrainian, Czech and German neighborhoods into wastelands.

He can go into West Baltimore and see the real version of The Wire and Homicide: Life on the Streets. Dear God, don’t do it alone unarmed even during the day. It’s not nice like some of Anacostia is. The narrow streets and decrepit rowhouse construction are bad for policing, bad for rats, bad for transit infrastructure but GREAT for dope dealers and drive-bys.

We don’t need to be building infrastructure in Baghdad; Baltimore needs billions of dollars worth of transit, rail, road, bridge upgrades that DC can get so much more easily. They’re talking about extending Metrorail out 30 miles away from DC when the entire eastern half of Baltimore has no rail transit at all, save one station at Hopkins Hospital.

Get out of the village, John. You live in a wealthy ghetto, a paradise and you don’t even know it.

The first comment thread is still on the internet tubes here. The second comment thread is available here.

Not to hear anyone in this comments thread talk … It’s all “So and so makes N dollars a year” or “I and my husband make N dollars a year and blah blah blah.” I haven’t seen much acknowledgment of the complexity of class status, finances, or class identification.

BAC

Think about it – if you got $1200, would you be likely to spend it all? I wouldn’t. But someone with kids would be more likely to buy them presents or something. Or maybe nicer food, or extra diapers, or whatever.
I still think its dumb. We aren’t giving money to the poor, we are giving it to the middle class and poor who are likely to spend it. This is delaying the inevitable recession, IMO, and probably making it worse in the long run.
It is very strange that anyone thinks this is really about helping “the poor”. *hahahha 75k/yr is poor*

You have no clue as to how low-income and working class families actually live if that’s what you believe. Nearly every family in my old urban working class neighborhood who were collecting welfare/food stamps were doing so in order to do their utmost to ensure their children had as much to eat as they were able to provide. If it wasn’t for welfare/food stamps, most of my classmates would have been worse off than they already were.

As for your stereotyped example of a single mother who spent her money on a flat-panel, I am not convinced. From my experience, that behavior tends to be far more reflective of overentitled young adults from upper/upper-middle class homes who feel they “deserve” the latest and greatest electronics, furniture, etc…personal finances be damned. And these overentitled young adult college classmates and co-workers wondered why I was not terribly sympathetic to their pining over the next “gotta have it” item….or their financial problems. Do understand this type of whining is quite unseemly to say the least.

I see you’d already been put in moderation, so I shouldn’t have been approving your comments. I think we’re done here talking to you.