Mike Walker: The Real story behind Romney’s 47%

Let Them Eat Cake

  “There are 47% of the people who will vote for the President, no matter what. Alright, there are 47% who are with him, who depend on government, who believe that they are victims, who believe government has the responsibility to care for them, who believe they are entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing.”

  - Mitt Romney caught on an open mike in September 2012

  You have got to be kidding me! Goddamn this pompous, arrogant asshole and the silver spoon he rode in on. He’s the guy who was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple. Do you want to know the REAL issue in this country with the 47% worthless, miserable, human beings who Romney wants to scrape off the soles of his $1500 shoes? Here it is in a nutshell.

  Look closely at this chart – PLEASE! Notice the chronology of the graphs first. They start in 1979 and are broken down by income groups. Those in the top 1%, hereinafter known as the lucky bastards, are illustrated in red. Those in the top 20% in light yellow, and all the rest of us are a nice diverse group of dark blue, light blue, orange, and dark yellow. Why is 1979 so important? Because Ronnie Raygun was elected president and “trickle down” (or supply side) economics started off like a little mole on your neck. The mole was starting to get darker and less well-defined. We were in trouble.

  Ronnie described “trickle down” as providing a combination of tax cuts and rolling back regulations on big banks, oil companies, and the one-percenters. He explained in that soft midwestern drawl of his, that if we took care of the rich and powerful (my words, not his) that they would start to become richer and more powerful. These civic-minded groups of course would then reinvest that wealth back into the communities and their wealth would then “trickle down” to the masses. Those masses bought this line of crap, hook, line, and sinker! The mole was turning black.

  Now look at the charts again. You’ll notice in the chart on the right, that in 1979, all groups were on equal footing based on their after tax income share. Now focus on the red line… Romney’s line if you will. By 1987 the red folks had increased their share of after tax income by nearly 80%! The blues (appropriate color) had dropped by 30%. DROPPED! The oranges and dark yellows had followed the blue train, while the top 20% saw their share of after tax income grow by about 15%. By 2007, the reds were up by nearly 130% while the bottom 80% had lost nearly 30% of their share of income. Melanoma had set in, and metastasized!

  Now just take a quick glance at the charts and see the trend. It is unmistakable and alarming. Trickle down had worked, not the way it was described to us, but the way it was originally intended. The rich became massively richer and the bottom 80% found themselves struggling to stay out of poverty. The “Trickle” you ask? When the wealthy get obscene shares of the wealth, they have no incentive to reinvest back into the community, so they stuff it in their mattresses, give it to their spoiled brat kids, or ship it off the Switzerland and the Cayman Islands to avoid paying taxes on it. They actually allow less of that money to trickle down their leg than they did when they were riding in the same boat we were.

  So what did we get from Reaganomics? 47% of our populace is living in poverty! They (according to Romney) are enjoying feeding off the public teat and think they are ENTITLED to food! Around 45% of the people in that group pay no taxes! Why, you ask?  Because they don’t make enough freaking money! They are poor, they are hungry, and they are trying to stay alive and keep their families alive. They are NOT, Mr. Romney, lazy and parasitic! Those people have seen their share of the wealth sucked up by the large leech known as “trickle down” economics, but have not been trickled down upon enough to buy food.

  This is an obscene situation, folks. We live in a country now that idolizes wealth while ridiculing hard-working people who are just trying to survive. This 47% is deserving of food. They are deserving of housing. They are deserving of healthcare. They are deserving of a fair opportunity to hold down a decent job and to envision a better future for themselves and their children. They depend on government to help them survive, because government has been stolen away from “We The People” and ceded to the rich and powerful.

  I’m sure Mr. Romney and his wife Anne are nice folks who think they represent mainstream thought in this country. I’m certain they see themselves as part of the great American melting pot… the one in which all men are created equal. I honestly don’t think they realize how much their extravagant lifestyle has been supported and expanded by the efforts of hard-working people in the 47%. When you’re born with a silver spoon in your mouth, maybe it’s hard to empathize with people who work 40 hours a week, or sling hamburgers for minimum wage, or worry about what their children will eat at suppertime.

  Mr. Romney, please take a step down from your ivory tower and live in the real world for one year. Try to live off $320 dollars a week, BEFORE taxes and feed that big happy family of yours. Try to understand that our economy is not defined by the stock market, but my main street America and THOSE are the people who should be given the breaks. Any free-market economist knows that you can’t have a robust economy without customers, and Mr. Romney, we’re starving the customers.

  I’ll end with one more desperate attempt to get yourfocus back on the two charts in the middle of the article. Tax cuts for the wealthy and reduced government regulation have (predictably) created these charts and Mr. Romney and his ilk are wanting to FURTHER cut taxes, deregulate business and banking, and continue to fatten the fat cats. I’m sure most of you have heard the real definition of insanity, “doing things the same way and expecting a different outcome.”

  Let’s start treating the 47% with respect and kindness and stop ridiculing them because we have a sucky economy. And for the Romney’s, you can never understand the problems faced by every-day Americans because you’re living in a foreign place… much like your money.

  Peace, my friends!

  About the author: Mike Walker, retired educator in the Montgomery Public Schools System, is living his golden years inspired by the words of Albert Einstein, “Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions.” He likes to stir up the status quo. Visit his blog: Southern Liberal Man.