Crossposted from Hillbilly Report.
Republicans now appear to be settling on a nominee after the long and winding freakshow that can only be known as a Presidential primary in the modern Republican Party. With his fellow Republicans vanquished, Mitt Romney and his staff are turning their attention to the general election and President Obama. The early strategy appears to be attacking Obama on job creation. However, when one looks at the experience Mitt Romney will be touting to attack President Obama you begin to wonder if maybe Mitt Romney and crew may want to scale back some of the attacks.
Romney advisor Eric Fehrnstrom recently took to the airwaves to give "23 million" reasons why voters should vote for Mitt Romney in 2012:
"Here's a number you're going to hear a lot on this campaign: 23 million," Fehrnstrom said on "Face the Nation," referring to 12.7 million unemployed, 7.7 million underemployed and more than 3 million Americans who are discouraged from finding work or have dropped out of the job search, according to the latest numbers by the Department of Labor.
http://www.cbsnews.com/...
After begrudgingly admitting that the failed policies Mitt Romney would return our country to caused the mess, Fehrnstrom touted Mitt Romney's record of job creation at Bain Capital as one of the main reasons voters should trust him with the American economy as a whole:
Fehrnstrom acknowledged that the president isn't responsible for the economic downturn, but said it became his responsibility in 2009. "We all know that President Obama didn't create this recession, but his policies are not working for (those) 23 million people," he said.
Fehrnstrom said Romney's record as governor and experience in the private sector, including as a partner and co-founder of venture capital firm Bain Capital, makes him better equipped to deal with the economy.
"People are looking for someone with capability to lead during some very challenging times," Fehrnstrom told host Bob Schieffer. "I think the best thing we have going for us is a candidate with a strong pro-jobs message."
Watch:
So what is the real Romney record on creating jobs at Bain Capital? When you begin to look deeper it is no wonder that Republicans have nominated Romney as their standard bearer. You see, while some jobs may have been created by Bain Capital at certain companies their impact on workers and the economy as a whole is dismal. This is because these jobs create even more income inequality as very few of them pay middle-class wages or offer benefits. Indeed, these jobs appear to insure more Americans remain in poverty while men like Mitt Romney make out like bandits on their labor:
Many workers at Staples, Sports Authority, and Domino's Pizza earn wages below the poverty line for a family of three. Sales associates at Staples make an average of $8.49 per hour, and sales associates at Sports Authority make an average of $8.96 per hour, according to Glassdoor.com, a site which tracks wages at 150,000 companies. Altogether, that amounts to less than $19,000 per year. These wages are less than the average in those industries, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Workers at Domino's and Bright Horizons, which Romney helped turn around at Bain, don't make much either. Delivery drivers at Domino's earn an average of $7.66 per hour, according to Glassdoor.com, which adds up to less than $16,000 per year. Teachers at Bright Horizons make an average of $12.94 per hour, according to Glassdoor.com, amounting to about $27,000 per year.
Meanwhile, Romney enriched himself while leading Bain Capital, amassing a fortune of more than $200 million, which translates to roughly $6,400 an hour.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
In fact, as someone who has worked as a driver for Domino's Pizza on and off for years I can attest to a few things about the way Mitt Romney "creates jobs" and makes money. When Mitt Romney and Bain Capital got their hands on Domino's Pizza they indeed made changes. Although the drivers foot the bill for gas they instituted a delivery charge they did not give the drivers. In fact, because many costumers believed the charge goes to the drivers it actually costs their drivers huge money in tips.
If it stopped there it would not be as bad. Domino's Pizza went one step further. After paying their drivers minimum wage for decades, when the last minimum wage increase went through most Domino's stores also quit paying their drivers minimum wage and began making them claim tips to make up the difference. Tips Domino's already steals from off the top with the delivery charge and were long understood to be compensation for the damage done to the drivers vehicles, the insurance costs and the gas they must pay for out of their own pockets.
In other words under Bain Capital Domino's Pizza could not stand to steal from their drivers just once. They stole not only their tips, but their hourly wages too. All of this for the people that did all the hard, dangerous work to build a multi-million dollar corporation.
Mitt Romney and the vultures at Bain Capital teamed with the thieves at Domino's Pizza simply could not wait to rob their costumers and their workers blind. That is the real Romney vision for jobs. Jobs that keep millions in poverty while men like Mitt Romney make out like bandits by stealing wages from the people that do the actual work.
While President Obama has been disappointing on so many fronts the Mitt Romney vision for America offers only one vision. That men like Mitt Romney will be allowed to keep you in poverty doing dangerous work while they pick your pockets clean. Their only concern for workers is to figure out how they are going to ship their high-paying jobs overseas and rob them blind while they work the pathetic jobs that remain in America. Yes, their vision is how they will get even richer as they pay you less and less for doing the actual work.
If Domino's Pizza personifies the vision Mitt Romney will bring American on jobs, then no thank you.