Wall Street Journal and Politico reported that Mitt was in New Hampshire Townhall today talking about his life as a "deprived" missionary in France.
Mitt Said:
"We were able to receive, I think, it was $110 a month from our savings. That would be the equivalent today because this was back in the late 1960s, that would be equivalent of maybe five or six hundred dollars a month in today's dollars.
"And with that we had to buy our clothing, our food, our rent, virtually everything we had. Our transportation, all came out of about five or six hundred dollars a month. So you know, you're not living high on the hog at that kind of level."
"And so I lived with people in France who lived very modestly. A number of the apartments I lived in when I lived there didn’t have toilets. We had instead the little pads on the ground, ok, you know how that works, all right."
~ Mitt Romney, December 11, 2011 at NH Townhall
Here's the kicker, Mitt went on to say:
"And so, I lived in a way that people of lower middle income in France lived and said to myself, ‘Wow, I sure am lucky to have been born in the United States of America.’ And I began to appreciate the freedoms and the gifts that come by virtue of having been in this country."
~ Mitt Romney, December 11, 2011 at NH Townhall
What the hell is Mitt talking about!
Is he so Out of Touch with 99% of Americans that he really thinks, if a person is "born in the United States of America." they will have "the freedoms and the gifts that come by virtue of having been in this country."
It might surprise Mitt to learn that his father, who grew up poor, was able to become a multi-millionaire when Tax Rates were 91%.
Digest that, Mitt Romney's father was able to become a Multi-Millionaire when Tax Rates were 91%.
At the same, Mitt Romney's father became a Multi-Millionaire when Unions were their strongest.
In fact, 45 years ago, when Mitt went to France to live with the Middle Class, he said he had "grown up in a home with a great deal of affluence." At that time, 45 years ago, the Tax Rate was 70%.
How about those facts? High Tax Rates plus Strong Unions allowed Mitt Romney to "grow up in a home with a great deal of affluence."
Why can't Mitt see that?
Unfortunately, the environment and freedom to expand wealth that Mitt's father was lucky enough to live under does not exist today. As people born in the United States today do not have the same "freedoms" Mitt's father was able to enjoy because today we let Corporations, like Mitts, who enjoy massive Tax Breaks and Tax Cuts, dismantle unions and ship American jobs to sweatshops overseas thus keeping wages down for American families.
That wasn't so when Mitt Romney's dad went from being poor to becoming a multi-millionaire.
Today, and since 2001 (some say since 1983), where's the virtue and freedom for those born in the USA when CorpThug Bosses like Mitt ship thousands of American Jobs overseas thereby crushing American Families and giving rise to homelessness, hunger, and toilet-lessness.
Many of those families who lost their jobs, didn't have $100.00 or $600.00 per month after Corporate-Thug-Mitt made millions by shipping American jobs overseas. And guess what? They were born in the United States.
Mitt admits he has a "limited understanding of the economy" but is Mitt so clueless to economics that he has no idea that many homeless Americans are employed people but are so underpaid that they are homeless?
Mitt in interview with editorial board of the Washington Examiner
"I’m not an economist by training, but what limited understanding of the economy I have ..."
~ Mitt Romney , December 7, 2011
But the American homeless want to get off the streets ... and they'd love to have Mitt demand Corporations, who have been posting historic record profits for the last 10 years, STOP shipping American Jobs to sweatshops overseas so they can get off of the streets and have: shelter, food, clothing, toilets, etc.
The American homeless who do have jobs, would love for Mitt to demand that Corporations, who have been posting record profits, pay these families higher wages so they can not only get off of the streets and have: shelter, food, clothing, toilets, etc.
By the way, the American homeless would also love to earn a high enough wage so they can pay into the Federal Income Tax.
Does Mitt even realize that when his rightwinged supporters/surrogates , like Ann Coulter, whine "47% of workers don't pay income tax" --- it's because those 47% have wages that are so low they get a Refund check from the IRS at the end of the year? Mitt should demand these families born in the United States have the virtue and gift of a high enough wage to pay federal income tax?
Mitt should demand that Corporations who post record profits and/or who benefit from all the 'virtues and gifts' the United States offers hire American Workers and pay their workers a high enough wage that those workers are not homeless and earn a high enough wage that they can pay into the Federal Income tax.
Unfortunately, Mitt doesn't know these American homeless people exist because Mitt thinks that all families "born in the United States of America" have the "freedoms and the gifts that come by virtue of having been in this country."
Mitt lives such a sheltered life that he fails to see that American families (born in the United States) have no "freedom" or "gifts from the virtue" of being born in the United States that Mitt's father enjoyed, as American families today are beholden to:
- Congress defunding education,
- Congress enabling Wall Street to write laws that crush American families,
- Corporations that ship American jobs to overseas sweatshops -crushing American families,
- Congress not reinvesting in America's infrastructure,
- Congress blocking an agency (CFPB) that would protect American Families (& America) from Bank's De-regulations that caused the 2008 Economic Meltdown and comparing CFPB to Stalin who killed millions because Russia had NO CFPB,
- Congress' continued demand to make Bush Tax Cuts permanent,
(even though in an interview on Meet the Press, Dick Cheney said Bush Tax Cut were 25% of the Deficit)
- Congress slashing unemployment benefits while not demanding American jobs stay in America,
- Congress slashing: food stamps, WIC, & other programs that help American homeless, while not demanding American jobs stay in America.
- Congress keeping America dependent on oil thus spending Trillions of American's Taxpayer money in continued military engagement around the world.
Where is the virtue in any of that?
Mitt's father did not have to live under such an oppressive Congress so he was able to work hard, have his wages increased, not worry about his job being shipped to a sweatshop overseas, and lived in a country whose elected leaders reinvested Taxpayer money in infrastructure and education.
Today, Congress oppresses American Families by Laws that give rise to an astronomical income gap because Congress is owned by Corporate Thugs who write our Laws .... there is NO "virtue" in Congress and no more "virtue" or "freedom to" rise out of poverty in America because of Congress.
Mitt wanted voters in New Hampshire to have sympathy for him, for the brief time he spent living with the Middle Class in France 45 LONG years ago.
Mitt is so Out of Touch he lacks the ability to see, and have sympathy, for today's American families who are not lucky enough to live under the same laws that allowed his father to become a multi-millionaire.
Ya see, what Mitt failed to learn from his father's life experience was that Mitt's father became who he was because when he was at the bottom of the work-ladder, he was paid high enough wages, did not worry about his job being shipped overseas and ... and ... at that time, the United States reinvested Taxpayer money in infrastructure (another thing missing today).
Mitt fails to see, American families don't want handouts, American Families want:
- the same type of decent wage that keeps up with the Cost of Living that his father had that enabled him to move out of poverty,
- American jobs to stay in America,
- American politicians to spend Taxpayer Dollars on infrastructure and education,
Ya know, the same stuff his dad had.
Remember, Mitt's dad became a multi-millionaire when Tax Rate was 90% and unions were strong ... clearly showing that higher taxes do NOT prevent Corporations from hiring Americans at a decent Cost of Living wage.
It also shows Unions do not prevent Corps from hiring Americans at a decent Cost of Living wage.
Mitt is completely Out of Touch with American Families, and his $10K bet added to his I-lived-with-Middle-Class-in-FRANCE-45-Years-Ago Speech in New Hampshire only underscored how deeply Out of Touch with American Families Mitt Romney is.