Romney admits he 'misspoke' over poor Americans
The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
-
U.N. Security Council blames Syrian gov't for Houla killings
( 3 )
-
U.S. drones kill 5 militants in Pakistan
( 6 )
-
NATO has fight on its hands in Afghanistan - Panetta
( 1 )
-
Iran may rethink 20% enrichment: spokesman
( 0 )
-
Egypt's uprising activists weigh Brotherhood vote
( 0 )
-
- English Instructor (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe)
- Berlitz Japan, Inc. (ベルリッツ・ジャパン株式会社), Kansai
- Salary: ¥125,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month
-
- ALT - Mie Prefecture - Yokkaichi City - June start
- NPO法人グローバル教育推進機構（GLAD), Mie
- Salary: ¥230,000 / Month For a full working month. Some months differ.
-
- Business Teaching Positions - Part-time - Kanto Region
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥3,000 ~ ¥5,000 / Hour
Order by Time Order by Popularity
59 Comments
Login to comment
1
Laguna
Romney continued, "I ADORE poor Americans! So much so that be sure of this, Romney policies will focus like a laser on the middle class to make sure the ranks of poor Americans increases like never before!"
"I also misspoke about the safety net. It's terrible, and that is not a bad thing."
2
KingBasil
He misspoke. That basically means he did not lie in just the right way.
-1
sailwind
He has his work cut for him then if he wants to top Obama when it comes to increasing the ranks of poor Americans.
WASHINGTON — Another 2.6 million people slipped into poverty in the United States last year, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday, and the number of Americans living below the official poverty line, 46.2 million people, was the highest number in the 52 years the bureau has been publishing figures on it.
And in new signs of distress among the middle class, median household incomes fell last year to levels last seen in 1996.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/us/14census.html?pagewanted=all
2
unreconstructed
Romney "misspoke." Whatever. Does the OnePercentMedia really think Americans don't notice the treatment this guy gets in comparison to the fawning orchestrated sycophancy that characterized their coverage of Obama in 08 ?
4
paulinusa
Most people have to be drunk to blurt out what they really think. Not the case with Mitt.
0
The Truth Matters
"Some of the my very favorite people that I've fired have been poor people," he added in another Mitt moment.
He bet me 10 grand he wouldn't have another one by the end of the month. Sucker bet.
1
The Truth Matters
Paulinusa,
The cliche "LOL" is the most overused and now meaningless thing on the internet but I gotta tell you; you're 09:08 post made me "laugh out loud."
Thanks for a good laugh.
-2
smithinjapan
This guy is screwing himself over in such a classic manner it is HILARIOUS to watch! "I ADORE poor people!" "Some of my very favourite people that I've fired have been poor people!"
Yep, Mitt... you're really showing that you can sympathize with and relate to 'the poor people'. I can't wait until the starts slipping up like this in regards to Mexicans and immigrants, etc.
-5
j4p4nFTW
Mitt ROMNEY is the only one who can save America from the specter of European Socialism. Obama has bankrupted America in his first term, if he gets a second there may be no country left by the end.
0
sailwind
Mitt Romney admitted Friday he “misspoke” in an ill-advised comment about poor Americans.
Thought I'd help the Media here by including their exact past descriptions about Mitt in the article so far from articles about him here on JT.
Multi-millionaire, wealthy businessman, former venture capital boss Mitt Romney admitted Friday he “misspoke” in an ill-advised comment about poor Americans,
I can't wait to see what they come up with next, Former Wall Street Tycoon is still up for grabs.
0
smithinjapan
sailwind: "Thought I'd help the Media here by including their exact past descriptions about Mitt in the article so far from articles about him here on JT."
Is this going to be like the other day when you decried the media for making soundbites and misquoting, only to have you quote the EXACT same thing the media said and somehow claim the quotations were different?
"Multi-millionaire, wealthy businessman, former venture capital boss Mitt Romney admitted Friday he “misspoke” in an ill-advised comment about poor Americans,"
So tell me, sailwind, how is that not included in this article, and how does it change what he said? I ADORE the fact that you quote, "Multi-millionaire, wealthy businessman, former venture capital boss Mitt Romney" as though not having it in the article (given that it's well known) somehow should make us more sympathetic about his complete lack of concern for the poor, or how he tried to cover it up later.
"I can't wait to see what they come up with next,"
More like, "can't wait to see what Mitt says next".
But please, do go ahead and tell us how he didn't actually say what he said and that it is being misquoted.
Here's what you should do, Romney -- forget all this, "I misspoke" and simply say, "I made a mistake, and I apologize wholeheartedly for it". But could this guy utter the words "I'm sorry for what I said"? I think not.
1
Laguna
In an interview with Nevada’s “Face to Face with Jon Ralston,” Romney said:
Wow. The guy is like an amateur magician who doesn't understand how the trick works so is clueless when it goes wrong. How about this, Mitt: it's not how the sentiment is expressed; it's the sentiment itself.
Betcha $10,000 that he'll continue slipping up in the same vein. As Fitzgerald said, "Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft, where we are hard, cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand."
0
sailwind
You thought wrong.
He said that almost exactly word for word in the interview (time 29 seconds into it in the video)
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/03/romney-on-poor-comment-i-misspoke/?iref=allsearch
0
zurcronium
The republicans are all the same, looking out for the rich and the rich only. They use money from the rich to fool dumb voters to vote republican. The research out last week proved that indeed republican voters are pretty dumb overall, dumb enough to think a super rich guy will care about them. Wrong. Bush screwed you guys over in creating the current near depression and yet you do not learn. You vote to give your money to the rich. Why not send it all to MIttens now and just get it over with. Write a check for all your savings cause if Mitt becomes President you will lose out big time.
The democrats are the only hope that the middle class has to survive the next 25 years. Otherwise the USA goes the way of South Carolina or Mississippi or the Philippines. All the wealth in the hands of few only and the rest living in poverty.
0
smithinjapan
Oh, sailwind, sailwind, sailwind... how did I know the interview was going to be EXACTLY what I thought it was. It's no more an apology than someone saying, "Well, if you misinterpreted me, then I'm sorry (you misinterpreted me)", for that's what he said. He did not apologize AT ALL for the actual words he uttered. What's more, when the interviewer asks him what he said he completely avoided the, "I'm not concerned about the very poor" and skipped immediately to, "I said that I'm concerned about the middle class.", touching later on the "if there are holes in the safety net we'll fix it. Wow... an apologist for a man who cannot admit he made a mistake but instead puts the blame on people for misinterpreting his remarks. Now THAT's sad!
0
KingBasil
He decried the media for making soundbites and for cutting quotes in convenient places. His exact words were "full quote" and later "exact quote" and his meaning was clearly, again, "full quote". He did not say misquote. Only you did smithinjapan.
And while I am clearly on the opposite side of the fence from sailwind, he was correct about the soundbite making ie, intentional cutting up of quotes.
There is nothing wrong with what Romney said exactly. The soundbites are for morons. The trouble is that Romney's words do not match his actions. He is a liar. He talks about the benefits of a safety net while taking a knife to it. That is the problem.
1
sailwind
Romneys actions, on 1/14/12
SUMTER, S.C. – Presidential candidates hear tales of woe all the time on the campaign trail. But rarely does one respond by pulling cash out of his back pocket to help a struggling voter pay her bills. Mitt Romney did just that here Saturday night, according to ABC News. When a 55-year-old woman, Ruth Williams, who said she lost her job last October, approached the Republican presidential front-runner on the rope line following a campaign rally in Sumter, he gave her what an aide later said was about $50 or $60. It did not appear that the exchange was caught on camera, but ABC’s off-air reporter, Emily Friedman, witnessed it and interviewed Williams afterward. “I was on the highway praying and said, ‘God, tell me how to get [my] lights on,’” Williams, apparently referring to her electricity bill, told Friedman. “I pulled up to a stop sign and his bus was there. And then God said, ‘Follow the bus,’ and I followed the bus.” Williams told Friedman that South Carolina Treasurer Curtis Loftis, Romney’s state campaign chairman, paid her light bill on Thursday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/mitt-romney-gives-cash-to-financially-struggling-woman-at-south-carolina-rally/2012/01/14/gIQAbxHRzP_blog.html01/14/2012
1
smithinjapan
sailwind: " But rarely does one respond by pulling cash out of his back pocket to help a struggling voter pay her bills."
Tell me what happens when this woman runs out of money again after Romney has patted himself on the back for solving her problems? What he SHOULD have done, if he wanted to help, was create a job for her, or better help her find one herself.
Only a fool would think that forking out a bit of cash for a political point is going to solve this woman's problems. Now if he had given it to her and said, "Let this tie you over for a couple of days. Then come to my local campaign office and we'll see if we can help you earn some more" then I could have respected it -- but all this little publicity stunt did was the opposite of what he intended; it showed how ABSOLUTELY out of touch the man is with poor people in particular. A quick cash hand out is simple, especially for the rich. Doing some actual work to really help people is hard, and the man clearly is not cut out for it.
0
smithinjapan
KingBasil: "His exact words were "full quote" and later "exact quote" and his meaning was clearly, again, "full quote"."
You are indeed correct, which means my bad -- and if people misunderstood me then I'm sorry for that! (see how that works). haha.
Seriously, though, sailwind ACTED like the press had twisted the man's words when all they did was cut out one part at the end, and even included that later in the article. The latter part was irrelevant and has been repeated constantly, and does not help him at all. The FULL 'if the safety net has holes' was quoted shortly thereafter, and the 'focus on the middle class' and 'rich are doing fine' were also all in the article. I agree for the most part that cherry-picking and soundbites are for morons, but in this case what followed was not immediately relevant to the comment. Now, if he had said something like:
"I'm not concerned about the very poor. Well, wait... it's not like that... what I mean is..." and the cut out everything after the 'very poor' part, I would agree it was low.
Agree with you on everything else.
1
KingBasil
What a heartwarming story about Romney's reaction to ONE American. How about the millions of other poor Americans he intents to stab in the back?
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2012/02/paul-krugman-romney-isnt-concerned.html?cid=6a00d83451b33869e20168e6a3c10c970c
0
sailwind
KingBasil,
Paul Krugman?????
The economic genius that was behind Obama's stimulus plan and his economic policies that have resulted in this?
WASHINGTON -- The number of people in the U.S. living in poverty in 2010 rose for the fourth year in a row, representing the largest number of Americans in poverty in the 52 years since such estimates have been published by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Median household income in the U.S. also declined.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/13/national/main20105376.shtml
0
unreconstructed
Do any of Romney's would-be attackers here take any time to actually look into his background? Relying on Jon Stewart or DailyKos for info about the guy might score you points down at Cafe Megalamonia but it makes you look silly here.
Joe Biden, in 2006, gave a whopping 380 dollars to charity. Romney in 2010, gave 14. 6 percent of his adjusted gross income to charity - about 3 million dollars.
Romney donated 7 million dollars to charity in the last two years.
Evil capitalist ! A "Randian" ! Devoid of "altruism" !
Romney, while president of the eeevil Bain Capital, shut it down for a few days in order to organize a search for the daughter of one of his employees, who had gone missing in New York city:
"He closed down the entire firm and asked all 30 partners and employees to fly to New York to help find Gay's daughter. Romney set up a command center at the LaGuardia Marriott and hired a private detective firm to assist with the search. He established a toll-free number for tips, coordinating the effort with the NYPD, and went through his Rolodex and called everyone Bain did business with in New York, and asked them to help find his friend's missing daughter. Romney's accountants at Price Waterhouse Cooper put up posters on street poles, while cashiers at a pharmacy owned by Bain put fliers in the bag of every shopper. Romney and the other Bain employees scoured every part of New York and talked with everyone they could - prostitutes, drug addicts - anyone.
"That day, their hunt made the evening news, which featured photos of the girl and the Bain employees searching for her. As a result, a teenage boy phoned in, asked if there was a reward, and then hung up abruptly. The NYPD traced the call to a home in New Jersey, where they found the girl in the basement, shivering and experiencing withdrawal symptoms from a massive ecstasy dose. Doctors later said the girl might not have survived another day. Romney's former partner credits Mitt Romney with saving his daughter's life, saying, "It was the most amazing thing, and I'l never forget this to the day I die."
0
Madverts
Withdrawl symptoms from ecstasy? Nice story though.
0
sailwind
Only a fool would think that forking out a bit of cash for a political point is going to solve this woman's problems. Now if he had given it to her and said, "Let this tie you over for a couple of days. Then come to my local campaign office and we'll see if we can help you earn some more" then I could have respected it
Start respecting it......
Williams said she has been volunteering at Romney’s Columbia headquarters since meeting his bus last week.
“I’ve been working at his campaign office cleaning and just doing little things,” she said.
“They really did, they really came through for real,” she said.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/01/romney-gives-unemployed-woman-cash-on-ropeline/
2
Laguna
Yes, the Nobel Prize-winner Paul Krugman, who warned early and stridently that Obama's prescriptions for America's economic ills were thin enough as they were, only to see the Republicans strip them down even further.
When one takes less than half of a course of medicine a doctor prescribes and fails to recover, one would do well not to blame the doctor.
0
lostrune2
Hahaha...... Man, politicians are getting petty. Remember when they said that Obama said Americans are lazy? They always like to take things at face value out of context, hahaha.
0
KingBasil
Rather than attempt to launch an ad hominem attack on messangers and steer us onto unrelated issues, could you stick to the topic? The topic is Mitt Romney's mouth claiming to not be worried about the poor because they have safeguards, while his knife wielding hands are trying to cut the safeguards.
Anyway, what a nice reward I get for trying to foster honest and respectful debate, eh?
-2
unreconstructed
Got any hoky, homespun analogies for cowardly Obama ("Uh, listen, folks, uh, I've kept the First Lady, my bitter half, waiting for 45 minutes...") enlisting Clinton to announce to all of Obama's slavering devotees on the economically illiterate Left that the hated Bush Tax cuts would be extended ?
The secret Larry Summers memo to Obama made it pretty plain that the 'stimulus' was about implementing the Obama agenda. Keynes, for Obama, is just one more pious fraud to be invoked and brandished before Liberal Creationists. The congregation can't get enough.
Chuckle to see people rushing to Krugman as if he is at all relevant anymore.
http://blog.american.com/2012/01/11-stunning-revelations-from-larry-summers-secret-economics-memo-to-barack-obama/
0
unreconstructed
"his knife-wielding hands." Why are Lefties so melodramatic? Did Romney "cut the safeguards" in Massachusetts as their governor?
0
Laguna
Unreconstructed is posting articles from the American Enterprise Institute - classic! This is the "think tank" Neocons and uber-rightwingers go to recover from public humiliation (Newt Gingrich, AEI senior fellow) or to be put out to pasture if beyond recovery (John Bolton, also an AEI senior fellow). The place is so stuffed Bush administration detritus (Lynn Cheney? Check. Paul Wolfowitz? Check. Richard Perle? Check.) that you could practically walk across it to reach the founding of the John Birch Society.
If this is what you offer in the area of "relevance" - well, they don't seem to be spawning much offspring. It's more of a Jurassic Park of right-wing crazies than anything capable or producing intellectual value. Thanks for the chuckle, though.
0
Madverts
Yeah but to quote Adverts,
"Denial is free."
"And legal"
2
Serrano
In what way would Mitt Romney be a worse president than Barack Obama?
1
SuperLib
Sailwind, you can talk about the media all you want, but it should be hardwired into a politician's head that the phrase "I’m not concerned about the very poor. " should never be uttered. It was a gaffe, even if it was part of a longer statement. And on top of that he said that he'll fix something "if" it needs to be fixed. It sounds like it comes from the mind of a man who thinks the very poor are fine just being very poor.
Any way you slice it, it was a horrible choice of words and he deserves criticism for it. If you don't agree with what the media has been doing then that's your choice, but I'm not hearing a lot in the way of your own criticism of Romney, if you think any is necessary.
0
zurcronium
So Mr. Romney’s position seems to be that we need not worry about the poor thanks to programs that he insists, falsely, don’t actually help the needy, and which he intends, in any case, to destroy. Paul Krugman today.
Romney is a liar willing to say anything at any time even if what he said five minutes before was 180 to what he says now. He is the perfect republican.
0
just-a-bigguy
Dont be syrprised....there were thousand of 'despicable' politicians all over the capitol hill! He was just 'tip-loosed' and too honest!
0
sailwind
Just like President Obama and his Nobel because they both have made the world economy and peace for all.
Superlib,
Any way you slice it, it was a horrible choice of words and he deserves criticism for it. If you don't agree with what the media has been doing then that's your choice, but I'm not hearing a lot in the way of your own criticism of Romney, if you think any is necessary.
Romney is nothing than more than Obama's policies in a Republican dress. But he is "electable".........The only reason I give my support to him is this, he actually understands a budget and that we can't spend our to prosperity.
He gets that part . Obama does not.
0
RomeoR
U.S. democrat elites don't care for the very poor except to use them as pawns to justify more socialist spending. The very poor rarely vote so that use is not available to the left either.
RR
0
Deplore
Haha. Notice how it used to be "a lower rate than the average American." Of course, when that was disproved they had to change it to "many struggling Americans." What that means, nobody knows.
0
Deplore
I once told a friend "I'll bet you a million dollars..." You see, it wasn't that I was using this time honored literary technique called hyperbole. Oh no, it's actually that I'm a multimillionaire who can afford to make such bets!
Get real. People who attack Romney for these artificial reasons look ridiculous. If you want to attack him, at least base it on policy.
-2
Alphaape
@RR: Right on point!
I get what Romney was trying to say. Contrary to ppopular belief, there is a vast safety net for the very poor in America. Why else would people come from places like Mexico and other places to live there who can't speak the language, yet manage to live there for years and send money back to their home countries. Try getting a job in a place like Japan if you have no working concept of the language.
It is the Middle class, especially the lower end of it who are getting hit the most. They make just enough to not qualify them for Federal assistance, yet the rising costs of items, and the loss of jobs hits them the most. Don't think so, remember this; there is a way that an elderly person can qualify to live in assisted living totally paid for by Social Secuirty. However to do so, if they have any assests like a home or any money, they have to give it away or turn it over so that they can be declared "below the poverty leve" so that they can get assistance. If you just happen to be a middle class person in that situation, you have to sell it all off to become poor in able to get assistance. That needs to be fixed.
0
The Truth Matters
Yep, Willard is so altruistic that on his website he states that he plans to sign the Ryan plan into law. You know the Ryan Plan, the one that plans on making deep cuts to the social services that the poor rely on.
How altruistic.
Do you guys think before posting or is it just knee-jerk reaction? I gotta ask.
0
yabits
How is Romney, or any Republican, going to fix that?
Cite one specific Republican plan that is going to greatly improve that situation for the increasing numbers of elderly Americans who will likely need it, and explain how that plan will indeed "fix" the situation for those you described at the "lower end" of the middle class.
I am betting that neither you nor any other GOP supporters on this board has any answers to that.
0
The Truth Matters
Yabits,
Tax breaks for "job creators."
Heh.
0
KingBasil
Melodrama? No. Just trying to conjure an image that can be understood by some who need extra help.
I would say no. I would even say it looks like he has a good record on this issue as governor. But I am less concerned about his history and more concerned about his potential future. Answer yabits' questions for us.
0
unreconstructed
So if critiicism of the stimulus (by one of the ppl who crafted it) appears on a site you don't approve of well then in the solipsistic world a "liberal" inhabits the event could not have really taken place?
A downloadable PDF of the summary is available. Do the search.
What's classic - classically "Liberal" - is Laguna's attempt at deflection.
0
Alphaape
@yabits: True, Romney has not laid out a plan to fix it, but I think that middle class Americans will have a much better chance at getting better than under Obama. Obama made many grand promises when he was running, and what has he done? How has Obama helped the middle class since he has been in. And for that matter, how have the poor been helped since Obama has been in office? Their numbers have increased and not decreased.
0
Alphaape
Back in 1964, the US poverty rate was 19% of the population. In 1965, LBJ instituted the "War on Poverty" and during the years since then there has been $16 trillion spent on welfare programs. But yet, the poverty rate in America today (with an estimated 50 million Americans in poverty) only went down by 4%, to 15%. So spending $16 trillion in 46 years only brought the leve down by 4%. Obviously it is not working.
Notice in Romeny's statements, he said he wasn't going to cut any programs, but he was going to fix them where they needed fixing. Making sure that those programs are doing what they are supposed to be doing, providing a safety net for those who need it and not wasting tax payers money is a good thing. Nor did he say that he was going to help the middle class by taking from the poor.
0
sailwind
How much did I win? (it's bi-partisan also).
ss
Medicare reform: This could work Editorial The Wyden-Ryan proposal brings innovation to the market without dismantling the federal program.
December 28, 2011
If you were looking for someone to save Medicare, you might think of Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a healthcare wonk who helped found his state's chapter of the Gray Panthers advocacy group for senior citizens. You probably wouldn't pick House Budget Committee Chairman Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), whose proposal to replace Medicare with vouchers has made him some senior groups' Public Enemy No. 1. Nevertheless, the two have teamed up to offer a bold and politically risky plan that could help slow the rate of growth of premiums and bring more innovation to the health insurance market without dismantling one of the federal government's most popular programs. Lawmakers should give it serious consideration as they look for ways to solve the government's long-term budget problems.
The Wyden-Ryan plan is, simply put, a much better version of Ryan's previous proposal. Starting in 2022, it would give seniors subsidies that they could use to buy insurance through new regional marketplaces called exchanges, similar to the ones created by the 2010 healthcare reform law. But rather than eliminating Medicare for anyone not yet 55 years old, as Ryan proposed, Wyden-Ryan would continue to make the current Medicare program available as an option through the new exchanges. And rather than shifting the risk of rising healthcare costs onto seniors, the plan would guarantee that subsidies would be large enough to buy at least as much coverage and value as Medicare provides. In other words, the government would provide the same kind of defined benefit that Medicare does today, while giving seniors the option to obtain that coverage somewhere else.
Why bother providing a private alternative, if Medicare works? Because its costs are growing unsustainably. It's already one of Washington's costliest programs, and its burgeoning demand for dollars is draining resources from other priorities. It can't survive on its current trajectory.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/28/opinion/la-ed-medicare-20111228
0
yabits
Sorry -- providing a "solution" to the wrong problem means you lose again.
The problem, as stated by Alphaape, was that Americans in the lower middle-class being forced to sell their assets, including their homes, in order to qualify for assisted living benefits. Those benefits do not pertain to Medicare.
0
yabits
The American people were sold that same bill of goods when they turned over a healthy economy and a federal budget in surplus in 2000 to a Republican president and a Republican Congress. The result was a total squandering of the gains made in the 1990s and near-total financial collapse.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans who work for the auto companies and the many hundreds of companies in that supply chain have President Obama to thank for helping save that industry.
Enabling children to stay on their parents' health-care plans as dependents until their post-college years has been a tremendous benefit to middle-class Americans. That added to the hundreds of thousands of middle-class jobs saved as mentioned.
0
sailwind
Under the Wyden-Ryan plan proposal Seniors would also be able to purchase private insurance plans that would very well also include coverage for assisted living benefits such as visiting nurse home care so they wouldn't have to very well sell their assets in the first place.
Blame Bush isn't going to work this election cycle, Obama's got a record now as President.
The Treasury Department estimates the government will lose more than $23 billion on the auto bailout:
Health insurance premiums for employer-sponsored family plans jumped a startling 9 percent from 2010 to 2011
.
0
Alphaape
@yabits: And you just validated what Romney was saying. There is a safety net for the very poor, but yet those who are not classified as that have no safety net, and that is what Romney wants to tackle. He also said he is not concerned about the very upper class, since they seem to be making it. If he sticks to that, then I hope that he cuts out the bailouts for those super rich who make risky investments and fail.
0
The Truth Matters
Alphaape,
What you and every conservative here seems to be missing is that the very poor have that safety net because they have nothing else. The middle class still has their middle class homes, their middle class IRAs, their middle class health insurance and their middle class standard of living.
The poor have safety net because without it they would die. The middle class is not suffering the same fate. They are suffering, they may lose what they have but to equate their struggles with that of the poor is really more of a case of woe is me than it is a case based in reality, don't you think?
0
Alphaape
@ The GTruth Matters: You have not been really paying attention to the news lately. Sure middle class may have their homes and IRA's, but what we have been seeing is that the value of these homes have been decreasing, yet these persons still are paying for them at what they bought them for, thus in an emergncy will have no equity. Also long term unemployment has caused many middle class families to have to dip into their IRA's since the amount you get from unemployment insurance will not cover their needs (i.e health insurance premiums, mortage, etc). My own brother is a clear example. Solidly middle class, worked for over 20 years at a company and was laid off. Had to dip into IRA, and sell home wich left him with nothing. The funny thing about this is that when he did try to apply for assistance, he was told that because he had been making money above a certain level in the year before, he was ineligbile for any asskstance. All while he was sitting in a room full of single mothers and women who didn't speak the English language as a native, getting all the assistance that they needed (and before you start the diatribe on race, he like me is a Black man).
So no there is not a safety net for the middle class as there is for the very poor.
0
The Truth Matters
Yes there is. You stated it yourself. When the middle class becomes the poor, they will have a safety net.
OH. I get it. You want a safety net to keep you from lowering your standard of living. It's fine for the poor to have a crappy standard of living, we can keep things that way but we mustn't have the middle class sacrificing their way of life. That would be downright un-American.
If you were trying to convince me that somehow middle class Americans have it worse than the poor, you'll have to do a far better job.
But I'll tell you what, if the poor have it so much better than you, there's a guy sleeping under I-95 bridge at the Scaggsville exit that would probably trade places for you so that you could have it better. I hear those poor people are awfully kind in situations like that.
0
Alphaape
No that is not what I said. Why wouldn't you want a Safety Net to help those who fall from the Middle Class, to get back on their feet? The problem we have with the very poor in America now, is that there is no incentive to get off the safety net. When all the talk was in Congress about extending the Unemployment benefits from 99 weeks for the long term unemployed affected by layoffs, there was opposition from both sides. Yet, where is the opposition from cutting off welfare for those who spend years on it, with no desire to get off. I can point to people in my own family, who have generational members on public assistance, and some demand to stay that way; yet we get a Congress that wants to cut off unemployment insurance (which many people have to pay into from their taxes).
So the safety net for the very poor is strong in America. Romney said he will fix it in areas that need to be fixed. We need solutions to help the middle class.
0
FruitsBasketFan
I love how some posters are demonizing the poor.......
Our safety nets are not as strong as France, Germany, and Nordic countries (the latter having the most extensive and generous benefits, yet hardly feel the effects of the global recession).
US welfare do not give you enough to live a "good" life....Hardly, they give you cash "assistance."
The most that a single person would get is somewhere between $100-$250 a month (not enought to live a good life, huh?).
Families with children get about $300-$500 a month (again, not enough).
The US is near the top of the list out of First World countries where the gap between the rich and the poor are the highest. Japan is a close second when it was revealed that the amount of poor people was just 2% lower than the US (about 15% v 17% in Japan and the US, respectively).
The c urrent Republican nominees want to severly cut back social programs aim at helping these people!
0
FruitsBasketFan
Most people in welfare have to work because it does not give you enough to sufficiently provide for yourself and your family (just gives some assistance).
And it is pretty hard to get out of poverty when minimum wages do not meet up with inflation and college costs are expensive compared to other countries.
0
FruitsBasketFan
It will do good to do international research instead of listening to Fox News and other political agenda bias news agencies.
Back to top