“I’m Wayne’s Mom and I approved this message!”
“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it — that that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. … These are people who pay no income tax.” – Mitt Romney
You ever work yard crew at a paper mill?
Mama did.
She would come home in a thick, green jumpsuit, looking like a man and smelling like sulphur. Over time, the lime on the ground scoured her toenails off and started eating into her skin until she had to quit. But that was just one job.
Mama was a lunchroom worker, a bus driver, and a waitress. She was a teacher’s assistant for special needs kids, and those needs were often excremental.
She did whatever work she could find in our poor, depressed part of the country to make sure we had enough. She stretched our dollars by wearing hand-me-down clothes (that she nonetheless insisted on paying for) and buying the cheapest groceries. Through it all, hard as it got, she did her best to retain her dignity, generosity, and good humor.
None of her jobs offered a pension, so she’s retired on Social Security, which means she pays no income tax. And, because she pays no income tax, Mitt Romney says she feels entitled to free stuff from the government.
My Mom: deadbeat.
I don’t know about your mom, but mine has only ever felt entitled to one thing from the government–not her daddy’s money like Romney got, not a big Federal bailout check like his company got. All Mama ever asked for was a vote.
I know I usually blog about gay issues and religion, but damn if I’m going to just go along with it while some snob calls Mama “entitled” for casting her vote any way she sees fit. Let Romney talk about your mom if you want; I’m defending mine, no matter how she votes (Note: “I’m voting for Obama” – Wayne’s Mom).
You ever spend much time under fire in 130-degree heat?
My friend Micah did.
In Iraq. Wartime. Enlisted navy, which meant he didn’t pay taxes on his salary while he was overseas. He saw combat; risked his life. And, as a Hospital Corpsman, he saw, over and over again, combat’s horrific results. PTSD is now part of his life, maybe forever, but that hasn’t stopped him from trying for a fresh start, studying Political Science at UCSC.
What a dependent loser.
Ever raise a family, just starting out, with no help from your parents? (Note: “We don’t have it to lend, Mr. Romney.” – Wayne’s Mom)
My sister did.
She and her husband decided to have a baby early on, since she was worried that medical issues would make it impossible as she got older. She found an entry-level job and enrolled in college part-time, and so did her husband.
Without a lot of financial help, and with child-care and medical expenses, they qualified for government aid, which they needed and took. They took the Earned Income Tax Credit, which meant they paid no Federal Income Tax for a few years. Even still, they barely made it.
But they made it.
Today she’s a teacher and he’s got a great job in the petrochemical industry. They have wonderful children whom they are raising to be good Christians, good athletes, good citizens.
What a bunch of entitled bottom-feeders.
Most of you reading this have, at one time or another, been in that 47% that doesn’t pay income tax. You’ve been poor college students, perhaps, or on disability.
Even if you haven’t, you may be headed there soon, since most jobs have no pensions and most 401(k)’s are underperforming. Without rich parents to rely on, many of us will drift in and out of that 47% that Romney so disdains through the course of our lives. And, guess what? It’s okay! That’s what it’s there for!
Scary as some people make it sound, Government isn’t some shadowy figure; it’s just us! Government, for all its faults, is just a big word for “community,” and if people need a little temporary help from the community to make their lives better, the whole community is stronger in the long run for giving it. We all know that.
But, nonetheless, I know how this works.
With a wink and a nudge from Romney and maybe a little willing complicity from you, this dust-up will turn into a discussion of all the true parasites out there: that very small percentage that never contributes; the scary bunch down at the liquor store; the woman at Wal-Mart with all those kids.
Yes, there are parasites on the system, and some of them have Barack Obama’s skin color. Most of them, however, resemble Mitt Romney, and in more ways than one.
Wherever money is moving around, there’s always someone there to corrupt the system, whether it’s localized welfare fraud or international bank fraud.
But, in that private meeting with those billionnaire East Coast donors, many of whom have made fortunes moving your money around, Mitt didn’t talk about the 4.1% that are actually on welfare, did he?
No he did not. He talked about the 47%–my sister, my friend, my mom–that don’t pay income tax. And that audience ate it up like caviar.
So if you think Mitt Romney was really talking about deadbeats, losers, and bottom-feeders, I think you’re right.
But, to Mitt Romney and his super-rich friends, those bottom-feeders, deadbeats, and losers are your mama and you.
VERY WELL SAID. I’m in that 47% this year… because at the end of last year, I lost my job. For a few months, until I found some paying work, I took unemployment and food stamps (I’m such a deadbeat) so my family wouldn’t starve. As soon as I got some contract work — not a full-time job, mind you, no benefits, no insurance, just a regular pay check that covers most (not all) of the bills — I called the state and requested they take me off the food stamps. Because, being an entitled loser and a bottom feeder for a few months was hard work! All those forms… the constant correcting of the errors in my file… having to give them regular updates on my work search… attempting to parse convoluted rules and regulations… it got tiring. So now I work for a living, even though that goes entirely against my bottom-feeding principles. I have no insurance. My kids have insurance, though: one (the healthy one) through Medicaid (guess that makes him a loser) and the other (the one with chronic disease) through COBRA, because I do not trust Medicaid to provide the quality of care he needs, and could only afford to pay COBRA for one kid. But thanks to my son’s medical expenses and my much lower annual income, I won’t pay taxes, at least — gosh it’s good to be a part of the culture of dependency. It’s just SO much easier than inheriting money from a parent, or bilking investors out of billions, or making risky bets on the stock market with other people’s money.
Thank you
I, too, am one of the 47% and I won’t apologize
So are/were most people I know-the working class- America’s backbone
There were times when my own mom worked three jobs. If anyone is entitled to anything, she damn sure is. Shut up Mitt. Just. Shut. Up.
How many of those 47% are really like your Mom & mine, Wayne? What percentage can you pull out of your shorts that are not over 70, on SS & Medicaid, and actually entrenched dependents of mine, who wouldn’t work for anything more than a hand-out?
Not sure I understand you. The numbers are easy to find. 4.1 was the percentage of people on Welfare and they will all be required to find work. Otherwise, here are the numbers for you. You’ll find that the numbers related to the terminally lazy poor are very low indeed.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/charts-47-percent-romney-tax-data
So i went and took a look at the reference for the motherjones.com chart that you point to here. And in actual fact the numbers are very difficult to understand take a look for yourself if you want you head to spin http://www.taxpolicycenter.org
It is a complicated bit of number-crunching, Brett, but don’t lose sight of the major point, which is that, by FAR, most people who need a little help from the community only need it for a time, and for good reason, until they can get on their feet and contribute. If it weren’t for the help, they’d never contribute, they’d just fail. The fact that a very tiny few take advantage is no excuse for disparaging the rest (and he’s now done it several times, so it’s not just a gaffe).
Understood completely, having spent my early life in a trailer park in England and on food stamps (UK equivalent). There is no excuse for his words and exaggeration of numbers. The help is there and the stories here and above reaffirm that to be true. But, no matter how small the number of people taking advantage of the system, those who do not wish to get back on their feet, should drive us all to fix the system. By fixing the system we will not allow politicians to skew numbers one way or the other.
Yeah, I’m just a SAHM raising a kid with a medical condition. I don’t work & I don’t want to work right now. I also live directly off the government because I’m married to a sailor.
I’m such a leech. I should be embarrassed to be me. /sarcasm
Mitt Romney is an elitist asshole. I’ve never been more sure of my vote for Obama. Oh? That sailor I’m married to? He’s voting for Obama, also.
Wayne, I want to say that I appreciate your views and how powerful your words come across. I
was on public assistance when I was younger. I got pregnant at 16 and relied on the welfare system while I finished high school. I went on to college and earned my BA in accounting. I didn’t become a statistic like so many others but had I not have the help from government programs to keep my head above water I don’t know where I would be today. That being said; today I am a successful business woman, currently working on my Masters, and my son is attending Centre College which is in the top 35 schools of the nation. I am among of the 47% too!!!
My parents divorced when i was 12 and my mother, who had been a stay at home mom until that time, ended up working 3 jobs to support us. We were forced to move out of the house I grew up in and received $80 a month from my father. We moved in with my grandmother for a short time and then ended up getting into the HUD program which is government assisted housing, as well as getting food stamps. I can still recall opening our cabinets and finding only a tub of Crisco. When I was 16 I got my first (official) job to help her with the bills. Before I was 16 I did a paper route, catering and telemarketing for the local paper, all with my mother so they would allow me to work underage. During this time she was also working nights at a women’s halfway house and in a restaurant during the day while I was at school. Sometime during that she also started sitting on the weekends with the elderly mother of a member of her church congregation. I easily recall Christmas morning the year I was 16 because that was the first year I woke up and found nothing under our tree, exactly as it had been the night before. But she did make a large Christmas breakfast to compensate (thanks to the food stamps.) Sometimes we would come home and find boxes of food on our porch that had been delivered from the Church. I remember going through those boxes and it feeling like it was Christmas when I would find a name brand Spaghetti-O’s. After I graduated high school I went to college on scholarships and financial aid. I am not on any government assistance and do pay taxes in instead of getting a refund (fyi I am not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination). However, I can never forget the time in my life when my mother and I would lay out our paychecks beside our bills to see how much we were short for the month. I owe my mother everything.
I quit my job to care for my mama and daddy for a year, and that made us a one-income family. We filed and got a pretty hefty refund, meaning that we paid some and got some back. We are probably on the edge of being in the 47%. If I don’t find a job, we will be in that category next year. I resent the whole Rmoney thing and will vote for Barak Obama this November.
Great post. I just shared it on fb.
Just to clarify….there is a big difference between what Romney said: “47% of Americans pay no income tax” and the actual statistic that 47% of Americans pay no FEDERAL income tax. Which means that a large portion of that 47% DO pay taxes on their income, in the form of payroll taxes (social security & medicare) and state/local taxes.
While I disliked Romney before this video was made public and was already planning to vote for Obama, this statement has made me so furious. I am a part of the 47% of Americans who did not pay federal income taxes in 2011 because I was laid off last July. I have been searching for work, but have not been able to find anything full-time and permanent. I decided that while I am job-hunting, it couldn’t hurt to enroll in some courses at my state university to make myself more marketable. So, due to my vastly smaller income last year and the education credit I received, I did not have to pay taxes. However, I HAVE paid federal income tax for each of the 15 years preceding my layoff, and I fully intend to pay taxes again once I am able to find full-time employment. (I guess I am just a deadbeat, though.)
My sister and her husband purchased a home last year, and through the various first-time homeowner deductions, they also did not pay federal income taxes last year. They are a hard-working couple, who between them work five (!) jobs to finance the remainder of my sister’s college degree. (Obviously they believe they are victims and refuse to take personal responsibility for their lives.)
What frustrates me most of all is the unbelievable arrogance and smug self-congratulation on display here. Does he really believe he can casually write off 47% of voters and still win the election???? Fellow 47%-er’s (and sympathizers!) need to band together to make sure this does not happen!
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Well said. I too had a few years where I didn’t pay income tax. I was back in school, working when I could as a substitute teacher, barely paying my bills. I would have been homeless and on food stamps, except I was fortunate enough to be able to live with my mom. I now have a better job, own my own home and pay taxes.
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