Mitt Romney and his ‘not very much’ problem
As an aside in acknowledging that he pays roughly 15 percent of his income in taxes, a lower share than many middle-class Americans, Mitt Romney also mentioned that he “gets speaker fees from time to time, but not very much.”
Campaign disclosure forms express that “not very much” in stark numerical terms: $374,000 in speaking fees from February 2010 to February 2011, when Romney ceased accepting paying gigs in order to run for president full time.
From Romney’s point of view, his description of that income is correct and understandable. If you have an estimated net worth of $270 million, $374,000 truly is “not very much,” a mere 0.14 percent of your wealth. On the other hand, from the point of view of most Americans, that same sum is really quite a lot. In fact, Romney’s income from speeches alone would put him in the fabled top 1 percent in terms of household income.
The issue is relevant not because it feeds some sort of voter envy over Romney’s wealth. It’s relevant in terms of perspective. Romney’s dismissal of $374,000 as “not very much,” when in fact it’s more than 99 percent of American households make each year, tells you a lot about how the world looks through his eyeballs. As the son of one of Detroit’s most powerful auto executives, and as a highly successful venture capitalist himself, he has experienced the world from a very different vantage point than most of his fellow Americans.
Does that matter? Well, the GOP critique of Barack Obama has focused on a claim that, raised partially overseas, he was not exposed to the full “American experience” and is thus less than fully American. He doesn’t understand us; he’s not one of us. That’s the crux of the whole “birther” phenomenon, as well as claims from the likes of Newt Gingrich that Obama is an “anti-colonialist” who somehow absorbed the political viewpoint of the foreign-born father that he almost never saw. It has even led black Americans as diverse in viewpoint as Cornel West and Herman Cain to question Obama’s authenticity as an American black man.
In a sense, Romney also grew up and continues to reside in a foreign land, a place with very different rules, customs and culture than most Americans experienced. It formed his world view in a way that he can never fully escape, in part because there is little evidence that he had tried. And on the campaign trail, that managerial instinct to focus on the numbers rather than the human impact reveals itself repeatedly.
It comes across, for example, when Romney tried to claim recently that he too has lived in fear of getting the pink slip, although his campaign later ducked questions about when that fabled time might have occurred. It was akin to John Kerry asking “who among us does not like NASCAR”? And when asked in Nevada — ground zero of the foreclosure boom — what should be done to address the housing crisis that continues to put hundreds of thousands of American families out of their homes, Romney’s blunt answer was “don’t try to stop the foreclosure process, let it run its course and bottom out.”
That is the viewpoint of a CEO or outside consultant who is trained to see workers as units of production, and desperate homeowners clinging to their property as an obstacle to efficient markets. Don’t get me wrong: There is a place, even a need, for such bottom-line attitudes in a capitalist system.
The question that voters have to answer in 2012 is whether that place is the White House.
– Jay Bookman
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564 comments Add your comment
Adam
January 18th, 2012
1:13 pm
15% on $5 million = $750k. Amount leftover? $4.25 mil in ONE YEAR. Ability to take care of oneself and one’s family for that year and many after it? GUARANTEED.
25% on $50,000 = $12,500. Amount leftover? $37,500. Ability to pay mortgage, costs of an entire family, etc? NOT guaranteed, and might not even last one single year.
THAT is the only time the dollar amount matters. The dollar amount given to the government in this scenario is irrelevant. Also, kindly note the millionaire paid 15% and the person making 50k paid 25%.
Mary Elizabeth
January 18th, 2012
1:13 pm
Welcome to the Occupation @12:20
Our overall goal for our nation is the same, I believe. However, as with most individuals, we will have differing views within that overall perspective. Here is where I disagree with your thoughts. You said earlier:
—————————————————————-
“So the progressive movement eventually took shape as a bipartisan attempt to co-opt all of this energy in the name of shoring up the very viability of the system and to stave off total revolution. That’s all that figures like the two Roosevelts were really about in the end.
“Ultimately a new social pact was forged that consisted of certain concessions – a limited social safety net and protection for workers – in return for fierce purging of communist elements in unions in the North and in the South it consisted of limited acceptance of these reforms on the strict condition that they be denied to blacks, thus perpetuating a quasi-apartheid social order there that continued until that entire system broke down in the 50s and 60s, at which point the whole arrangement collapsed and gave us the current Southern flip to the GOP. ”
—————————————————————————-
You see, I do not believe that FDR was simply all about “staving off a revolution” of the people and of preserving capitalism. Of course, he was influenced by the “noblisse oblige” of his class to some degree, and of course he would not have wanted capitalism to collapse, but I think that because of the emotional and physical pain of polio and his resulting disability, and because of the influence that his wife’s values had upon him (which is one of the main reasons he chose her), he had developed a deep resonance for the pain and hardship suffered by the average American during the years of the Great Depression. He wanted those humble men and women to have better lives and he believed in the human rights for all of American citizens that he elaborated upon in his 2nd Bill of Rights within his last inaugural address. Eleanor Roosevelt was an advocate for basically those same human rights throughout the world after FDR had died. Roosevelt was called a “traitor to his class” by those of the aristocratic elite from where his roots originated. His concern was a human concern for Americans. He and Eleanor together did what they could to that end.
So I do not believe that FDR, cynically, established the basic safety net in Americans as an exchange to politicians and political forces to purge communism in unions in the North, nor as an exchange to deny blacks access to rights in the South. I think Roosevelt “wheeled and dealed” with the possible of his day, but that his overriding concern in doing so was based on his humanity.
Remeber segregation was so pervasive throughout the nation that Eleanor Roosevelt had to insist that Marian Anderson sing before the Lincoln Memorial and Mrs. Roosevelt dropped her membership in the DAR because of their still narrow views which Mrs. Roosevelt had transcended years before.
Today, I believe that capitalism must still be modulated and it is best modulated through our beautifully established government which has a check and balance system designed by our founders. So, we are in agreement on that, as well as on the importance of the voices of average Americans having precedence within our nation.
I must go for the afternoon. This “essay” is “spotty” and not as cohesive as I would have liked because of time but I hope I have at least explained why I think Roosevelt’s primary choices originated from his unique mind and spirit, just as did Thomas Jefferson’s, who also was of the aristocratic “noblisse oblige” but who believed – in his core – in the egalitarian principles for humanity based on human rights and freedoms, as did FDR. No cynicism, just love of freedom and of the equality of every human soul. Yet they were both flawed men, as are we all, flawed men and women. We must look to the core. For the record, I like what I see as Obama’s core, more than I like what I see as Romney’s.
RB from Gwinnett
January 18th, 2012
1:14 pm
The wealth envy of you liberals is unbelievable. Pathetic.
Bruno
January 18th, 2012
1:15 pm
Hey bruno, can I borrow $500? That’s chump change according to you, thanks…
Mick–Remember that money you found along the highway a few months back?? That was from me. I threw it out the window, it was causing too much pressure in my pocket.
Don’t worry about paying me back.
Mick
January 18th, 2012
1:15 pm
The water carrying of you conservative tools is far beyond pathetic – more like self mutilation, carry on…
Link?
January 18th, 2012
1:16 pm
So the person paying $750,000 is paying 60 times more money that the other person and you say that isn’t fair???????????????
Guy Incognito
January 18th, 2012
1:17 pm
GG
You should’ve gotten a rim-shot for your 12:58. Here it is….
Ba-dum-chi!
Matti
January 18th, 2012
1:17 pm
Are you saying that being successful should be viewed as a handicap when choosing a leader??
You mean like how Bill Clinton, the son of poor common folk who worked hard in school to be at the top of his class, get scholarships, and bust his behind to make a better life and achieve the American dream, was maligned for being “slick” and a “criminal” (even when he lost money on a real estate deal) by the Repubs who were telling us how great their silver-spoon, multi-generation, never-worked-for-it rich guys were?
Good question, Bruno.
Mick
January 18th, 2012
1:17 pm
bruno
Touche! Hey, I still scan that stretch of road for that last hidden c-note…
stands for decibels
January 18th, 2012
1:18 pm
“We have to pass the bill so that we will know what’s in it and also too, I believe there are actually 57 states. Where my teleprompter at?”
–Thomas Jefferson
Adam
January 18th, 2012
1:18 pm
RB: Same to you: That’s a cop out from a coward. If YOU believe YOU should be paying LESS, do it. Apply your same idiotic stance to the government and see what happens.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
January 18th, 2012
1:19 pm
The
wealth envycomplete inabilityof youliberalscons to comprehend the difference between discussions of inequalities and gaps and a systematic distortion of taxation and that of envy is unbelievable. PatheticKamchak
January 18th, 2012
1:19 pm
Still have difficulty understand that percentage thingie, I see.
Erwin's cat
January 18th, 2012
1:20 pm
Again, all you have on Mitt is that he’s super freakin’ rich…he doesn’t have to apologize for it… so what… would you prefer a candidate that squandered away millions like Corzine?
Granny Godzilla
January 18th, 2012
1:21 pm
Kammie…
Isn’t that what’s under his picture on the 2 dollar bill?
Adam
January 18th, 2012
1:21 pm
Link?: It is not fair, correct. His 60 times more is still a lower percentage of his annual income, and leaves him with plenty of room to take care of himself and his family for YEARS. The middle class guy is lucky to take care of himself and his family for one year. So no, it is NOT fair for that to be the case.
He's Not One Of Us
January 18th, 2012
1:21 pm
@TaxPayer
January 18th, 2012
10:41 am
Aside from his religion, how is Mitt not the perfect Republican.
_______________________________________________________
He is not one of us.
His religion is another topic that frankly scares the heck out of me.
He is a 1 %er.
Mitt could never relate to the poor or middle class.
He has never had to walk in our shoes.
I could never relate to millionaires. We don’t have the same life experiences.
Joe Hussein Mama
January 18th, 2012
1:22 pm
DJ TeeJay — ““I like big butts and I can not lie
You other brothers can’t deny”
http://www.livejournal.com/users/quislibet/164084.html
Adam
January 18th, 2012
1:23 pm
“I don’t want none unless you got buns, hun” – Herman Cain.
Guy Incognito
January 18th, 2012
1:23 pm
“Gambling is illegal at Bushwood, and I NEVER slice.”
-Barack Obama
JOE Cool
January 18th, 2012
1:23 pm
Kamchak
January 18th, 2012
1:08 pm
LOL
Midori
January 18th, 2012
1:24 pm
The water carrying of you conservative tools is far beyond pathetic – more like self mutilation, carry on…
word…….
Adam
January 18th, 2012
1:24 pm
This percentages versus dollar amounts thing is why cons don’t want public education: If people know how to actually DO MATH they’ll find out just how much they’re being cheated.
Butch Cassidy
January 18th, 2012
1:24 pm
Erwins Cat – “Again, all you have on Mitt is that he’s super freakin’ rich…he doesn’t have to apologize for it”
Agreed. Now go tell Perry and Gingrich to get off his case before they blow the whole election and lock in 4 more years of Obama.
He's Not One Of Us
January 18th, 2012
1:24 pm
@moonbat betty
January 18th, 2012
10:46 am
A billion dollars says that Obama has a chance at winning this election.
____________________________________________________
YOU WIN!
Collect your billion dollars.
Kamchak
January 18th, 2012
1:24 pm
Again, all you have on Mitt is that he’s super freakin’ rich…he doesn’t have to apologize for it…
I don’t recall anyone here asking for an apology.
so what…
He’s trying to win a popularity contest and he is asking people not as advantaged as he is to chose him.
would you prefer a candidate that squandered away millions like Corzine?
I would prefer that Corzine was keelhauled.
Just sayin’.
ME
January 18th, 2012
1:24 pm
mick
I dont see Romney complaining. What do you think the top tax rate should be?
Mick
January 18th, 2012
1:26 pm
me
I would push the top tax rate back to what they were under eisenhower…
He's Not One Of Us
January 18th, 2012
1:28 pm
@AmVet – “A lot of so-called conservatives don’t know what the word means.” ~Barry Goldwater
January 18th, 2012
10:49 am
Speaking of authentic black men, I am really starting to miss Herman’s foot in mouth disease escapades on the campaign trail.
Is his campaign still suspended?
______________________________________________
Please let sleeping dogs lie.
JOE Cool
January 18th, 2012
1:28 pm
“I k!ll a communist for fun, but for a green card, I gonna carve him up real nice.”-Ronald Reagan
Erwin's cat
January 18th, 2012
1:29 pm
Mick – >i>I would push the top tax rate back to what they were under eisenhower…
you can’t even quote the number but that’s what it should be?…how the heck to you come to that conclusion?..w/o knowing the number
ME
January 18th, 2012
1:30 pm
mick
92%, really? Doesn’t give you much incentive to work after making 200k
Thulsa Doom
January 18th, 2012
1:31 pm
Granny Godzilla
January 18th, 2012
12:58 pm
What would happen if the 1% got tired of you tools, took their money out of the market, put it in a savings account, and hit the links every day?
They’d get maybe 3% interest on their money and improve their short game?- granny
Actually we already know what they would do via historical record. They would take their money out of investments that don’t provide an adequate after tax return commensurate with the risk and put their money in tax-free munis and t-bills, other tax shelters, or send money either to offshore tax shelters or overseas investments.
Granny Godzilla
January 18th, 2012
1:34 pm
Thulsa
bank account = tax-free munis and t-bills, other tax shelters, or send money either to offshore tax shelters or overseas investments.
Not at my bank it don’t.
JOE Cool
January 18th, 2012
1:34 pm
“I’ll be your huckleberry”-Larry Craig
Granny Godzilla
January 18th, 2012
1:35 pm
Oh and Thulsa
Do you also think they couldn’t improve their short game?
He's Not One Of Us
January 18th, 2012
1:35 pm
@Paul
January 18th, 2012
10:57 am
Okay, it’s been about 15 minutes since Jay posted “RB, in 2010 Obama’s effective tax rate was 23 percent.”
I’m interested in hearing from the stalwart progressives if they think that’s enough, if they think that’s fair. It’s 8 points up the scale from Mitt. Is that far enough up?
_________________________________
The SILENCE IS DEAFENING
Butch Cassidy
January 18th, 2012
1:35 pm
ME – “92%, really? Doesn’t give you much incentive to work after making 200k”
Or, doesn’t give you much incentive to HOARD after making $200,000.00
ragnar danneskjold
January 18th, 2012
1:37 pm
I suspect that only flaky leftists think Mitt Romney’s campaign speeches (and his gross income and contributions to the Mormons and practically everything else the leftists say about him) are the reason the Stimulus failed and ObamaCare is detested and Dodd-Frank continues to crush the economy. Leftists will so vote the loony line, and the rest of us will vote to eject the current Occupy Oval Office movement.
AngryRedMarsWoman
January 18th, 2012
1:37 pm
@He’s Not One Of Us – save for him being a different religion than almost all of them, your description of Mittens applies to almost everyone sitting in DC….the rise of the political class is what historians will point to when discussing the downfall of the USA. I am not sure of your definition of “us”, but I am pretty sure even if one of them was “us” at some point they stopped being “us” when they got to DC. It is like Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978, for the youngsters out there – a remake of a 1956 film). I fear that we closed our eyes to it for too long while we enjoyed the bits that actually trickled down and now have a very small chance of getting back on the right track.
Welcome to the Occupation
January 18th, 2012
1:38 pm
Erwin’s Cat: “Again, all you have on Mitt is that he’s super freakin’ rich…he doesn’t have to apologize for it… ”
No, what we have on Mitt is the fact that his wealth makes him super freakin’ narrow in outlook and in his class interests, interests which he has indicated he is determined to protect tooth and nail. The rest of us are on our own.
Joe Hussein Mama
January 18th, 2012
1:38 pm
ME — “92%, really? Doesn’t give you much incentive to work after making 200k”
I’m sure that there’s ample documentary evidence of wealthy individuals in the 40s and 50s knocking off work partway through the year so they wouldn’t be subjected to those high tax rates.
Right?
Jay
January 18th, 2012
1:39 pm
So Ragnar, exactly how does Dodd-Frank “continue to crush the economy?”
Corporate profits at record highs. Dow has risen more quickly than at any time in history. Jobs have begun to come back. So please, tell me what provisions in Dodd-Frank are crushing the economy….
Thulsa Doom
January 18th, 2012
1:39 pm
Adam,
I’m not sure that a family making 50k actually pays 25% of their income in federal taxes or $12,500 per year. Not sure but I think that the median income in the U.S. for a household is something like 55k and if 47% of Americans don’t pay federal taxes outside of FICA then it seems hard to believe that a family making 50k is paying $12,500 in federal taxes and an effective tax rate of 25%. And that’s before we even get into all the various deductions. Taking all the deductions into account it seems difficult to believe. Perhaps someone who has a family on here and makes right at 50k can enlighten both of us.
Mick
January 18th, 2012
1:40 pm
erwin
I knew it was somewhere in the 90 percentile. Funny, but we still had millionaires in the 50’s. That economic structure was much more equitable than today, so yeah, I think that’s what’s needed…
Joe Hussein Mama
January 18th, 2012
1:40 pm
Doom — ” or send money either to offshore tax shelters or overseas investments.”
I’m sure you’ve been following recent developments at the IRS with great interest, as they pertain to exactly this sort of thing.
He's Not One Of Us
January 18th, 2012
1:40 pm
@Quagmire
January 18th, 2012
11:03 am
Paid for Speaking Fees: I speak at the local liquor store all the time, especially on Sundays. I never get a fee for my speeches. Maybe I should ask for the money before I start drinking.
___________________________________________
That’s funnnny.
md
January 18th, 2012
1:40 pm
“That’s a pretty arrogant assumption. By your reckoning, EVERYONE who lost their home bit off more than they could chew?”
And your point?
They evidently did……I’ll steer you to Angry Mars Woman’s post for a more detailed explanation. She gets it……..unlike Adam, that seems to get nothing except the monthly subscription to “excuses anonymous”……
Same for Joe Mama……..just because we don’t know what may lie in the future (those unknowns), doesn’t mean it is prudent to not plan for them. My spouse and I try to eliminate some (note the word some), by spending according to the income of one of our salaries……that way, when one loses their job it won’t take us down. That doesn’t eliminate the risk if we both lose jobs at the same time……..just reduces it. ALL borrowing has risks.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
January 18th, 2012
1:40 pm
>i>I’m interested in hearing from the stalwart progressives if they think that’s enough, if they think that’s fair. It’s 8 points up the scale from Mitt. Is that far enough up?
Nope. And even Obama says so.
Another episode of simple answers to silly questions.
ME
January 18th, 2012
1:40 pm
BUtch
are you suggesting that anything over 200k is hoarding and thus not necessary?
Talking Head
January 18th, 2012
1:41 pm
yet another example of Obama pandering to his loon base, putting politics over country
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46041908
Joe Hussein Mama
January 18th, 2012
1:41 pm
R. Danneskjold — “Dodd-Frank continues to crush the economy.”
S&P’s up ~50% since Obama was inaugurated.
Crush me some more, baybee.
ragnar danneskjold
January 18th, 2012
1:42 pm
Dear Jay, are your aware of that provision of Dodd-Frank that created a dictator for Consumer Affairs? No rational businessman will contemplate expansion when such a rogue government, not subject to any oversight by elected representatives, is loose in the land. Typical leftist overlord lunacy.
Thulsa Doom
January 18th, 2012
1:42 pm
Granny Godzilla
January 18th, 2012
1:35 pm
“Oh and Thulsa
Do you also think they couldn’t improve their short game?”- granny
Granny, Of that we can both be certain. Their long game too.
Talking Head
January 18th, 2012
1:42 pm
1 in 3 adults are now considered obese…thanks haliburton
ragnar danneskjold
January 18th, 2012
1:42 pm
Dear Joe, we would agree that ObamaCare is the main reason that employment does not rise.
Brosephus
January 18th, 2012
1:43 pm
“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
– Thomas Jefferson
Jay
January 18th, 2012
1:44 pm
Dear Jay, are your aware of that provision of Dodd-Frank that created a dictator for Consumer Affairs? No rational businessman will contemplate expansion when such a rogue government, not subject to any oversight by elected representatives, is loose in the land. Typical leftist overlord lunacy.
In other words, your argument is nothing more than children’s talk about dragons, witches and ogres.
Notable Quotables
January 18th, 2012
1:44 pm
I should have stuck with making B movies. At least I only sucked at that. — Ronald Reagan
Kamchak
January 18th, 2012
1:44 pm
“But don’t tell my heart, my achy breaky heart
I just don’t think it’d understand
And if you tell my heart, my achy breaky heart
He might blow up and kill this man”
– Thomas Jefferson.
Mick
January 18th, 2012
1:44 pm
**No rational businessman will contemplate expansion when such a rogue government**
Dude, that is hogwash and ignores capitalism 101 – if I can sell it for a profit, sold…
Bruno
January 18th, 2012
1:45 pm
You mean like how Bill Clinton, the son of poor common folk who worked hard in school to be at the top of his class, get scholarships, and bust his behind to make a better life and achieve the American dream, was maligned for being “slick” and a “criminal” (even when he lost money on a real estate deal) by the Repubs who were telling us how great their silver-spoon, multi-generation, never-worked-for-it rich guys were?
Great story, Matti, though not completely accurate. For starters, “poor common folk” couldn’t afford color home movie cameras in the early 1960s. Yet, color home movies of Clinton exist today. Per his rise to the top through scholarship, that is to be admired, and has nothing to do with his “slick” label. That arose from his difficulty in telling the truth later in life. Per Whitewater, I understand that the Clintons lost some money. That isn’t the issue, however. The issue is that his buddies drew loans from a savings and loan knowing that they wouldn’t have to pay back the loans when the bank was declared insolvent.
Nice try, though.
Granny Godzilla
January 18th, 2012
1:45 pm
Talking Head
You actually defend that mess of a pipeline?
EEEK.
md
January 18th, 2012
1:46 pm
“Also, kindly note the millionaire paid 15% and the person making 50k paid 25%.”
And then kindly note that Adam is comparing apples to oranges in the hope that no one will notice….
They BOTH suck
January 18th, 2012
1:46 pm
Ragnar
“No rational businessman will contemplate expansion ”
If current or projected demand dictates hiring,,,,,,,,, companies are will hire………..
This notion that most companies are just going to tell current and prospective clients that they can’t provide the service or product because of Dodd Frank is absurd……… You know it is and frankly a LIE
Butch Cassidy
January 18th, 2012
1:47 pm
ME – “BUtch
are you suggesting that anything over 200k is hoarding and thus not necessary?”
I guess it depends on your point of view. I made significantly more than that when I was a broker, and I make a few figures above that now that I’m retired. However, I ‘ll never agree that anyone needs to make 400 times what another individual makes and then complain about anything.
Mitt Romney Taxes And Speaking Fees Comments Draw Fire | Neon Tommy
January 18th, 2012
1:47 pm
[...] liability so far, but the former Bain Capital chief executive and former Massachusetts Gov. is now taking fire for comments he made about his income from speaking fees. Mitt Romney in 2010 (Creative [...]
Thulsa Doom
January 18th, 2012
1:47 pm
Jay and Joe Mama,
S&P is up, corporate profits are at an all time high, and the Dow is way up all because as Jay has pointed out in at least one article before and as many liberals have lamented companies are “hoarding” cash. They are becoming cash cows as we’ve discussed plenty of times. Easy to have record profits when you’re not spending monies on new hiring, new expansion, new R&D, all of which are enormous cash drains. Gee, I wonder why they are sitting on the sidelines with Obama in office??? That is the $64,000 question and the one you should be asking- why do they have no faith in the economy under Obama?
Kamchak
January 18th, 2012
1:47 pm
“Lion and tigers and bears, oh my”
– Thomas Jefferson
ME
January 18th, 2012
1:48 pm
tax, tax, tax… we must tax everything thats the answer
Joe Hussein Mama
January 18th, 2012
1:48 pm
R. Danneskjold — “Dear Joe, we would agree that ObamaCare is the main reason that employment does not rise.”
We would not.
Besides, hiring and capital expenditures usually track *very* closely, and there was a notable and significant increase in business capital expenditures last year. If businesses won’t hire because of ‘uncertainty,’ then it’s quite difficult to explain why they’d invest in new equipment, vehicles, manufacturing gear and IT setups if that selfsame ‘uncertainty’ casts such a pall over the business outlook.
Notable Quotables
January 18th, 2012
1:48 pm
I’m evil. — Dick Cheney
Bruno
January 18th, 2012
1:48 pm
md–Sorry you’re stuck with all the heavy lifting today. Of course, considering the weakness of the Lib counterarguments, I doubt if you even broke a sweat.
Back in a few to discuss a new book touted on the Hannity show last night called “Ameritopia”. A lot of ideas worth considering regarding the future of our country.
JohnnyReb
January 18th, 2012
1:48 pm
The Left’s beloved Bill Clinton has reported receivng in excess of 80 million for speeches over the last 6 or 7 years. So, Romney’s 374K truly is not very much comparitively. Plus, it may be difficult for some in the 99% to comprehend, but when you have as much money as does Mitt, it is not unusual to actually not know how much has been received for speeches. He does not dwell on it. What all should be looking at is, there is a wealthy American who does not need the lifelong security of being POTUS who wants the office for all the right reasons.
Notable Quotables
January 18th, 2012
1:49 pm
We must have more tax cuts so we can pay off our 14 trillion dollar debt. — Typical Republican
Bruno
January 18th, 2012
1:50 pm
Doom–I see you’re on board now. I can go back to work in peace, knowing that you and md together have more firepower than the whole Lib contingency today.
josef
January 18th, 2012
1:50 pm
“I didn’t have sex with that woman.” –Thomas Jefferson
Notable Quotables
January 18th, 2012
1:50 pm
When I need the truth, I just splice it together from old videos. — Sean Hannity
Mick
January 18th, 2012
1:51 pm
**why do they have no faith in the economy under Obama?**
Maybe it’s not obama they are worried about. After all, they already know that he is an avowed communist/socialist. No, it’s the european market that has them spooked and they know they are socialists too, what to do? Keep sending it to communist china, yes that’s the ticket…
BigD
January 18th, 2012
1:52 pm
Bad rich man…Bad rich man…If you Liberals spent less time kissing each others butts and more time DOING SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE you may just become one of those rich guys.
It’s not a bad life.
moonbat betty
January 18th, 2012
1:52 pm
“Look man, you can listen to Jimi but you can’t hear him. There’s a difference man. Just because you’re listening to him doesn’t mean you’re hearing him.” ~ Mitt to Obama
Keep Up the Good Fight!
January 18th, 2012
1:52 pm
For starters, “poor common folk” couldn’t afford color home movie cameras in the early 1960s. Yet, color home movies of Clinton exist today
Color envy! And a thin thread without relevant fact to build on. How silly!
md
January 18th, 2012
1:53 pm
“Corporate profits at record highs.”
Come on Jay, you are supposed to be a “journalist”……..in which case you should use the word “some”, and clarify that it is hardly the majority…….unless…..
Mick
January 18th, 2012
1:53 pm
bruno
Hannity? Boy, now we know you’ve got the proper cred…
Butch Cassidy
January 18th, 2012
1:54 pm
BigD – “If you Liberals spent less time kissing each others butts and more time DOING SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE you may just become one of those rich guys.”
I’m already rich and retired. What, I have to go back to work just to prove a point to a schmuck like you?
He's Not One Of Us
January 18th, 2012
1:54 pm
@Stephenson Billings
January 18th, 2012
11:40 am
“Since1971, the average American family has seen almost NO financial benefit from their own rising productivity.”
Shoot. I guess I’ll just stop trying then. Where’s my food stamps?
________________________________________________________
I am retired and I got a foster child. My income was cut by 50%.
I applied for food stamps in the small county where I live.
They told me I made too much money.
The shame of it is that I took a child out of foster care and gave them a home. clothes, food, etc. but the government could not help me feed this child.
So I did what I was going to do anyway give this child a home, clothes, food, etc.
Notable Quotables
January 18th, 2012
1:54 pm
Why are Republicans in the dark. — Wikipedia
Talking Head
January 18th, 2012
1:55 pm
“Talking Head
You actually defend that mess of a pipeline?
EEEK.”
I support it because it will produce jobs, spur organic growth, and lessen the amount of money we send to the nut job in Iran. Also, the nut job is directly impacting my wallet since thirty percent of global seaborne crude shipments and 17 percent of oil traded worldwide passes through the Strait of Hormuz every day, so any additional production in a stable region such as the US or Canada will suffice.
They BOTH suck
January 18th, 2012
1:55 pm
Bruno
Is that the same hanitty who said he could handle being waterboarded then ignored the challenge?
That Sean Hanitty?
Joe Hussein Mama
January 18th, 2012
1:55 pm
Bruno — “For starters, “poor common folk” couldn’t afford color home movie cameras in the early 1960s. Yet, color home movies of Clinton exist today.”
I’m sure you have something more substantial than that on which to hang your charge of the Clintons not being “poor common folk.”
Keep Up the Good Fight!
January 18th, 2012
1:56 pm
Come on Jay, you are supposed to be a “journalist”……..in which case you should use the word “some”, and clarify that it is hardly the majority…….unless…..
This coming from the same poster who attributed all foreclosures as evidence of people not being able to afford their homes at the time of purchase.
Notable Quotables
January 18th, 2012
1:57 pm
We got rid of your taxes so when do we get those jobs. — The Conned
Butch Cassidy
January 18th, 2012
1:58 pm
Keep – “This coming from the same poster who attributed all foreclosures as evidence of people not being able to afford their homes at the time of purchase.”
No, No, No….He attributed the forclosures due to the lack of foresight in knowing that a catostrphic event might actually occur and wipe them out. You know, the kind of thing everyone thinks about when entering into the borrower/lender relationship.
Granny Godzilla
January 18th, 2012
1:59 pm
Talking Head
“oils sands crude…not just for breakfast anymore” Thomas Jefferson
Obama is over
January 18th, 2012
1:59 pm
Bill Clinton has earned $75.6mm from speaking engagements since leaving office in addition to the $30mm he made from book publishing. This includes $1mm from speaking at a conference sponsored by the private equity firm Renaissance Capital.I am sure that President Clinton paid the full load on his $100mm in earnings and just like Romney, is paying the 15% on his investment income today. The fact that the founder of Bain Capital has been successful and is wealthy should not be a surprise to anyone. If you remove the class warfare rhetoric from this conversation, it only proves that the United States tax system needs to be drastically reformed. Our tax code is grotesquely complex, often arbitrary, and corrupted by the back scratching relationship between our elected officials and influencial lobbyists. As far as the foreclosure situation goes, Obama’s proposal to address the REO properties on the Fannie/Freddie/FHA books (estimated to be 2mm homes) is to sell the portfolios to private investors to create low income housing. Of course, since most of these houses have been vacant for the past several years( while waiting on the Goverment to decide on what to do) they need significant investment to become habitable again. Thus, Obama is exploring yet another Federal bailout where guaranteed loans will be given to select private parties to purchase these housing portfolios to be rented to Government subsidized tenants. If it works, the private parties win and the housing agencies cut their losses at taxpayer expense. If it doesn’t work, the agencies take their losses, the private parties lose nothing and the taxpayers get stuck with another $50 Billion loan loss. In Obama’s world view, it doesn’t matter because all we have to do is tax the 1% and borrow more money. Next loss, the 85% default rate on government guaranteed student loans in the for profit college market….
BigD
January 18th, 2012
2:00 pm
BC …What can I say..you just said it all. This is why the country is in decline.
I could retire any time I choose as could many of my ilk,but I choose to make more and make a difference as an individual and not as a part of some tribe like mentality…as you obviously do.
Paul
January 18th, 2012
2:00 pm
Philosopher
“What’s your point? That millionaires shouldn’t contribute significantly to the church to which they belong?
I tell you what concerns me about this: Mittens repeatedly uses his “business experience” to tout how great he would be at turning the financial state of America around. Well, if you look at his “”business experience” and you see how he stepped over everyone, including his own dog, in his path and fired tens of thousands of real live human beings in his steamrolling path to furthering his great wealth…and in the process, contributed millions of dollars and stocks from the businesses he owned and worked for and gave that to further the “business” of the LDS, you should be concerned. His way of doing “business” is not OK by me. I guess we’ll find out in November if the majority of Americans want the Muslim, birth-certificateless, socialist out so bad that they will sell their souls for this….”
O-kaaay…. then how ’bout if he was Jewish and donated to a for-profit hospital and had a wing named after him?
Seems an awful lot of disguised anti-LDS sentiment out there looking for a way to be justified.
Joe Hussein Mama
January 18th, 2012
2:00 pm
Keep Up, Butch, I found this earlier this week. You might find it interesting reading in view of your discussions with md. For that matter, md might find it interesting, too. but probably dismissable.
http://www.thereformedbroker.com/2012/01/17/robosigning-credit-cards-the-next-major-bank-scandal/
Talking Head
January 18th, 2012
2:00 pm
“If you build it, they will come.” – George Soros to Obama with regards to campaigning on class warfare to the sheeple
Jay's Gerbil
January 18th, 2012
2:01 pm
I’m sure this will all get paid back too.
http://news.yahoo.com/treasury-dips-pension-funds-avoid-debt-limit-202850021.html