OP-ED COLUMNIST
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: February 2, 2012
If you’re an American down on your luck, Mitt Romney has a message for you: He doesn’t feel your pain. Earlier this week, Mr. Romney told a startled CNN interviewer, “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there.”
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Paul Krugman
Related News
‘Poor’ Quote by Romney Joins a List Critics Love (February 2, 2012)
Related in Opinion
Editorial: The Darkening Tone of the Primaries (February 2, 2012)
Gail Collins: Mitt Speaks. Oh, No! (February 2, 2012)
The Loyal Opposition: Romney Spins His Remarks on the Poor, Poorly (February 1, 2012)
Readers’ Comments
Readers shared their thoughts on this article.
Faced with criticism, the candidate has claimed that he didn’t mean what he seemed to mean, and that his words were taken out of context. But he quite clearly did mean what he said. And the more context you give to his statement, the worse it gets.
First of all, just a few days ago, Mr. Romney was denying that the very programs he now says take care of the poor actually provide any significant help. On Jan. 22, he asserted that safety-net programs — yes, he specifically used that term — have “massive overhead,” and that because of the cost of a huge bureaucracy “very little of the money that’s actually needed by those that really need help, those that can’t care for themselves, actually reaches them.”
This claim, like much of what Mr. Romney says, was completely false: U.S. poverty programs have nothing like as much bureaucracy and overhead as, say, private health insurance companies. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has documented, between 90 percent and 99 percent of the dollars allocated to safety-net programs do, in fact, reach the beneficiaries. But the dishonesty of his initial claim aside, how could a candidate declare that safety-net programs do no good and declare only 10 days later that those programs take such good care of the poor that he feels no concern for their welfare?
Also, given this whopper about how safety-net programs actually work, how credible was Mr. Romney’s assertion, after expressing his lack of concern about the poor, that if the safety net needs a repair, “I’ll fix it”?
Now, the truth is that the safety net does need repair. It provides a lot of help to the poor, but not enough. Medicaid, for example, provides essential health care to millions of unlucky citizens, children especially, but many people still fall through the cracks: among Americans with annual incomes under $25,000, more than a quarter — 28.7 percent — don’t have any kind of health insurance. And, no, they can’t make up for that lack of coverage by going to emergency rooms.
Similarly, food aid programs help a lot, but one in six Americans living below the poverty line suffers from “low food security.” This is officially defined as involving situations in which “food intake was reduced at times during the year because [households] had insufficient money or other resources for food” — in other words, hunger.
So we do need to strengthen our safety net. Mr. Romney, however, wants to make the safety net weaker instead.
Specifically, the candidate has endorsed Representative Paul Ryan’s plan for drastic cuts in federal spending — with almost two-thirds of the proposed spending cuts coming at the expense of low-income Americans. To the extent that Mr. Romney has differentiated his position from the Ryan plan, it is in the direction of even harsher cuts for the poor; his Medicaid proposal appears to involve a 40 percent reduction in financing compared with current law.
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.
Still, I believe Mr. Romney when he says he isn’t concerned about the poor. What I don’t believe is his assertion that he’s equally unconcerned about the rich, who are “doing fine.” After all, if that’s what he really feels, why does he propose showering them with money?
And we’re talking about a lot of money. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Mr. Romney’s tax plan would actually raise taxes on many lower-income Americans, while sharply cutting taxes at the top end. More than 80 percent of the tax cuts would go to people making more than $200,000 a year, almost half to those making more than $1 million a year, with the average member of the million-plus club getting a $145,000 tax break.
And these big tax breaks would create a big budget hole, increasing the deficit by $180 billion a year — and making those draconian cuts in safety-net programs necessary.
Which brings us back to Mr. Romney’s lack of concern. You can say this for the former Massachusetts governor and Bain Capital executive: He is opening up new frontiers in American politics. Even conservative politicians used to find it necessary to pretend that they cared about the poor. Remember “compassionate conservatism”? Mr. Romney has, however, done away with that pretense.
At this rate, we may soon have politicians who admit what has been obvious all along: that they don’t care about the middle class either, that they aren’t concerned about the lives of ordinary Americans, and never were.
-
- Karen Garcia
- New Paltz, NY
-
Trusted
Romney's cavalier statements about poor people and social programs are not only heartless, they are politically clueless.
Mitt and his fellow nihilist Republicans might be interested in the results of a recent poll commissioned by the nonpartisan research group Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity. A whopping 88% of respondents said a candidate's position on poverty is important in determining their vote. Nearly half the Republicans, and two-thirds of Democrats polled say they have not heard enough from presidential candidates on how they plan to reduce poverty. And not surprisingly, voters are also dissatisfied with how the corporate media are covering the poor in America. You can find more details here:
http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org/event.aspx
Romney has inadvertently performed a triple public service: he has shown his true nasty core, rare for a politician; his rhetoric is only serving to foment widespread popular disdain for his entire party and may even serve to hasten its inevitable demise; and finally, he has brought the issue of poverty in America to the forefront of the public discourse. What Occupy started, Mitt is only too obligingly helping to continue.
It's poor people leading the news this week, and we have a vulture capitalist to thank for it. Keep up the great work, Mitt!
http://kmgarcia2000.blogspot.com/
-
- Winning Progressive
- Chicago, IL
-
Trusted
Let's see, we have a former vulture capitalist who isn't concerned about the poor, wants to slash Medicaid and the rest of the social safety net, is seeking to raise taxes on the working class while lowering them on the wealthy elite, and is proposing policies that would increase the federal deficit. In other words, Mitt Romney has decided to become a doctrinaire right wing conservative.
When Multiple Choice Mitt tries to pretend during the general election campaign that he is a "moderate," let's remember that when he had a chance during the GOP primaries to try to bring his party back to some semblance of reality, he rejected the opportunity and instead helped lead the Republican Party even further into crazy land.
http://www.winningprogressive.org
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Winning-Progressive/195682780442236
-
- SR
- Dallas, Texas
The prospect of a Romney win in November becomes more and more frightening as time marches forward. It's become obvious to me, that he is in fact an extremely shallow but high speed thinker, possibly manic. He blurts out his first associations when questioned. His mentations are quite revealing. He appears not to internalize anything. Thus the contradictions.
It's also troubling that many of my fellow Americans, whether they are conservative or liberal, can't see this and ask; What's behind that insipid, pasted on smile?
The answer is nothing. There's nothing there!
-
- Charley James
- Minneapolis MN
-
Trusted
LBJ launched the "War On Poverty," Mitt Romney has declared "War On Those In Poverty" in his race to become the meanest SOB in the room.
Not to be outdone, Rick Santorum snarkily tells a mother of a very ill child "Tough luck, lady," when she asks what he would do to keep her son from dying because she can't afford cancer medicine. Newt Gingrich tells nine and 10 year old children to "scrub school toilets" to raise themselves out of poverty. Ron Paul tells poor people we're robbing them of their "freedom" by giving them a helping hand when we feed their kids..
Who are these people? What happened in their life to make them totally devoid of humanity, of compassion, of the sense that Americans are all in this together? For men who claim to be so devoutly Christian, they sure are lacking in any sense of Christian charity.
And what's happened to the media - television especially - that it stopped exposing stories of how one-sixth of this nation lives? If so-called "reality shows" are so popular, why aren't there reality shows like the long-abandoned "CBS Reports" covering topics like it once did such as "Harvest Of Shame" and "Hunger In America" and "Rats, Kids And Disease"?
On a totally unrelated note, Doctor, I'm delighted that you were able to get out a column despite the jet lag, the cold bug and enduring a few days of the worst winter Moscow has experienced in 30 years.
-
- Kevin Rothstein
- New York
-
Trusted
Mr. Romney says one thing and then a week or two later says something entirely different. Mitt is completely out of touch with what the average American is going through. Romney is just reflecting the fact that the Republicans really have no plan to do anything if they win the White House. They don't believe in government except when it comes to the military and making sure a woman who is raped give birth to the child. Global warming is a hoax, the planet is 6000 years old, and we are a Christian nation. Every man for himself. States' rights. The Republican Platform.
-
- Jake
- Wisconsin
My brother has B.S. in electrical engineering and has been chronically unemployed since he was fired for contracting cancer--his company didn't want it's insurance rates to increase. His cancer is now cured, but he has a stack of medical bills and no one will hire him. He has is thus both educated and poor.
I know just as well someone with a Master's who makes about $15,000 a year with no medical insurance and someone with a doctorate who is chronically unemployed and makes no money at all. These may constitute a statistically insignificant sample, but in my world education certainly does not equate with wealth. On the other hand, the wealthiest person I know personally has an M.B.A. (a degree that does not impress me) and works in a field (as president of major international corporation) that produces nothing whatsoever.
The problem isn't lack of education, the problem is a phony economy that rewards those play vacuous games with money and punishes those who actually work, who actually produce.
-
- Mark Thomason
- Clawson, Michigan
-
Trusted
"At this rate, we may soon have politicians who admit what has been obvious all along: that they don’t care about the middle class either, that they aren’t concerned about the lives of ordinary Americans, and never were."
Well said. Wonderful column. Far too rare in current media.
That is a closely related problem. The media generally does not report what has been obvious, but play along and promote and support those who were so obviously wrong. Even if the politicians did start to admit this as you posit, it still would not be reported as an admission of the long-obvious. After all, it has been "obvious all along" yet what is so obvious is buried in reports of nonsense the politicians say to excuse themselves.
We need to clean up politics. We also need to clean our media of those who enable those politicians.
So far, those who were wrong about the wars and disasters of the recent past still hold their positions, and those who were correct remain in the obscurity of alternative media.
Now they are giving us "moderate" Romney and war on Iran. We pay a high price that they have paid no price.
-
- Martin Stein
- Portland, Oregon
-
Trusted
Romney like most of the GOP is a grossly defective person who views human beings with the detachment of an accountant going over a spread sheet..
He doesn't have the capacity to feel empathy for people he doesn't identify with.
I think has emotions only for family members, members of the Mormon Church and those in his economic class because they are like him. He is a very limited person, though I am not sure he is cruel. I think Romney is closer emotionally to Ron Paul and his son,who also lack emotional empathy Their intellect is cut off from their emotions and they can intellectually discuss the constitutionality of civil rights laws without feeling the suffering they caused.
People like Eric Kantor, and Paul Ryan, who unlike the poor, really leech off the rich have a nihilistic mean streak, as does Senators Kyle and Hatch who who ridiculed the unemployed as being lazy and drug users. Such people should not be making decisions effecting people's lives. Even Dick Nixon was heard saying on tape, "We have to give something to the blacks" Today he might be to the left of Obama. Imagine that!
Most of the GOP are hard line nihilists, as rigid and cold as the old Soviet hard line Stalinist Communists and if Americans are not careful they will bring this country down, the same way the Stalinists did to the Soviet Union,
The country is having an opportunity to view the soul of the GOP personified in Romney whose election would be a form of national suicide.
-
- kellymac
- Austin, TX
In America, we talk about the "poor" as if they are a separate species. As someone recently unemployed who is hanging on by the skin of my teeth with a meager unemployment benefit while desperately searching for a new job, I found Romney's comments infuriating.
All it takes is one layoff, one serious illness or some other catastrophe out of your control and you, too can join that club that Mr. Romney thinks are doing okay. That safety net feels more like a sieve to me.
I'd like to propose a new requirement for anyone running for president. They should be required to subsist for at least one month on what we "lucky duckies" get for unemployment and nothing else. That might open their eyes a bit.
-
-
- Ron Zaudke
- Prescott, Wi
This truly disgusting statement, taken in full context, reveals a man and a political party living in a delusional world created by years of Fox/Limbaugh-type propaganda directed against the most vulnerable in American society.We see again the same old Reagan myth of the "welfare queen" once again used to divert attention from cynical plutocrats enriching themselves, even as they destroy the middle class and buy politicians. The right-wing echo chamber has created, for half of America, an upside- down world where the super-rich are "victims" and millions of poor Americans who work, or are unable to work, are lazy parasites living in luxury. It is amazing that millions of Americans continue to fall for this thirty- year-old cheap trick; it is beyond pathetic that a presidential candidate, even a crass opportunist like Mitt Romney, would believe such obvious, discredited nonsense.
-
- LWS
- Dallas, TX
I would not be surprised if the Mormon church issued a statement disavowing Romney's comments about poverty and wealth. Central in its doctrine is caring for the poor and using wealth for the betterment of society. Every member fasts once a month and contributes the money saved plus as much more as is possible to the church for the poor. The bishop of every congregation is authorized to used these funds as he sees fit. He does so after private consultations with the needy people so that they can retain their dignity. Donations from wealthier congregations are shared with poorer congregations.
I'm a long-time Mormon with a history that goes back to the church's beginning; and I have worshipped in congregations around the globe. Frankly, I am horrified by Mitt Romney; he does not represent the vast majority of Mormons I know.
-
- David Gustafson
- Minneapolis
Mr Romney's problem is that he deeply truly thoroughly believes that he is an aristocrat, someone so much better than the commoners that he's almost of another species, but at the same time is not quite hypocritical enough to be comfortable with lying about his belief. But though he hasn't been able to purchase patents of nobility, he's done the next best thing: he has acquired a condescending contempt for all those whom he feels are beneath him, to such an extent that he barely acknowledges their existence, save as "the help." Within his contemptible worldview, Willard is correct: the poor and the middle class do not matter, as they are not human beings. And from without his worldview, Willard cannot see, for he lacks entirely the empathy to put himself in the place of another.
-
- Gemli
- Boston
You have to wonder why Romney or any of the other Republican candidates bother to speak at all. Virtually everything they say, every claim that they make, every criticism levied against Mr. Obama and the Democrats, is patently false. It seems that these claims and criticisms are little more than rhetorical charades that take the place of substantive and meaningful argument.
Republicans have latched on to a new idea, which is essentially to repeat simple minded conservative cant over and over again, confident that the conservative base is going to vote Republican regardless of what they say. Why should they waste time and effort trying to make sense? This is probably futile anyway, since it's hard to defend condemning the poor to sickness and starvation while lavishing tax breaks on billionaires.
But they have to say something to fill the dead air, and at least try to manufacture some sort of vaguely political-sounding narrative that lets them defend their despicable philosophy while pretending to care. Republicans may call it compassionate conservatism, but it's really nothing more than plausible deniability.
-
- Jake
- Wisconsin
More accurately, Romney cares about the middle-class VOTE, not the middle class itself.
-
- angrygirl
- Midwest
Romney is just the least crazy face of a party who cares only for white evangelical Christians and rich people of any religion or race. The fact that he sometimes lets the truth slip out -- about how the GOP feels about the poor, for example -- is because his puppet handlers cannot script every second of his day.
What is even sadder is that Jesus, whom all those white, Evangelicals profess to care about so much, would be doing everything in his power to HELP the poor. If he were to return, as they all hope he will, he would be disgusted with the GOP's lack of compassion for "the least among us."
-
- CM
- CA
I can't understand how people who say they are Christian can make such uncaring statements about the most vulnerable people in our society. They attack the poor with such vigor. I think that the more unequal a society becomes in terms of income, the more hatred toward the poor that must happen, the more blaming the poor for their circumstances. People want to deflect any blame that might come their way regarding how they made their money, and who had to suffer in order for them to be super wealthy.
-
- RdeanNYC
- Amherst, MA
Good column. To those who think this is a "gotcha" opinion, read it again. Romney said something that doesn't square with either the facts of the safety net, nor his own published policy proposals. This is fair game. And it seems to me to add up to one simple conclusion: Romney is a liar.
-
- K. John
- Atlanta
In reading Mr. Romney's response to the question about the poor, I guess I was not really surprised. It was a brief, yet telling, realistic response from a man who spends much of his time rehearsing how he should act when a camera and a microphone is in front of his face. There are no poor people in Mr. Romney's world. He, like most American politicians, can always use the catch phrase, "my words were taken out of context" or "I was misquoted" to cover up or gloss over their obvious "aloof from reality" statements. The problem for the American middle class and the poor is that the media goes along with the charade. They convince the people who were most offended that as long as the rich recover with a "plausible" explanation we, the American people, should move on and forget about it. Mr. Romney and his party have made it abundantly clear, in their arrogance and contempt for those of us who earn wages for a living, their only goal is to make Mr.Obama a one term President. Getting G.W. Bush into the White House and appointing the next Supreme Court Justices was the real game changer for the poor and middle class. Take note as to how the former White House resident is never mentioned by any Republican candidates. They are hoping that the American people are either very forgetful, as full of rage as they are that an African American sits in the Oval Office or that the populous is quite stupid. Mr. Romney will fix the safety net. Just like a vet fixes a cat. Thanks Dr. Krugman
-
- Dave Scott
- Cornwall Bridge, Connecticut
-
Trusted
To explore the idea of substituting charitable activity for government programs in taking care of the poor, we should ask charity heads how much they would have to expand if the government cut back, whether this expansion was feasible, how much advertising and fundraising would be necessary to raise the resources they needed, how to avoid corruption and theft, and how long it would take them to get up to speed.
There is very little discussion of these questions, which implies that those who wish to shrink the government safety net have not thought it through. This means that shrinking the safety net will lead to a decline in quality of life and a shortening of lifespan for people at the lower levels of our society. We will join the Russians in having a shorter lifespan for our citizens, unless charitable organizations are prepared to expand to meet their new responsibilities and we are prepared to support them.
-
- califpoppy
- california
Mr.Romney sounds as if he assumes people who don't have a lot of money choose to be that way. it isn't a choice in most instances,and saying something so arrogant and insensitive is just typical of the attitude of many 1%ers. Newt suggested hiring 13 year olds to be janitors! The jobs people have lost most likely will never come back.
People struggling to make ends meet is a reality,not a myth. Mr. Romney and the other candidates don't care about the poor or middle class,and never will. I don't want anyone with that arrogance leading this country,because they will always treat the less fortunate as a nuisance. they will cut even more funds,as if to teach these people a lesson. The Republican attitude is " I have mine,I am keeping it, don't ask for help. get your own. I want more tax cuts for me,none for you. I have healthcare,you don't.tough. they have declared war on women and children. they don't care.
-
- seanseamour
- Mediterranean France
As the poorer on the bottom grow in numbers the rich on the top grow in dollars, those left in the middle with ever less have ever more to pay, footing the bill for both. This society is a product of the Romney generation, he built his wealth exacerbating the situation, the hypocrisy of his concern is plain to see. Espousing the Ryan plan clearly demonstrates his membership in the Top End Club and a conservatism decidedly dedicated to just that, maintaining the stays quo.
If elected Romney will banter with an extreme crony-capitalisme bent legislature filled with wannabe Club aspirants from both aisles plus on his coattails of the newly minted corporate citizens who put him there. Excepting the UK, our Democrats are to the right of mainstream conservatives in Europe, the pendulum needs a shove back!
-
- jimbo
- seattle
Perhaps if Mr. Romney had had the benefit of serving in our armed forces, he would have come in contact with people of more modest circumstances. It is amazing that a person who served as governor in one of our more educated states would have such a tin ear when discussing the struggles of everyday citizens. The Roosevelts and Kennedys had comparable wealth with Romney, but infinitely more empathy and compassion. (and as far as I know, never strapped the family dog to the roof of the car. Wink to wonderful Gail Collins)
-
- Chandra Varanasi
- Broomfield, CO
As always, Krugman nailed it. That phrase 'safety net' itself should be abolished from the lexicon. Would anybody call living in extreme poverty with some meager assistance a safety net? It somehow connotes the image of a helpless infant being hugged for dear life by a mother. Living in poverty on meager assistance is not particularly safe - physically, emotionally, mentally, financially. At best, it is just one step away from outright hunger.
Forget the unseemliness of a mega-millionaire talking so casually about poverty for a moment, there seems to be a race among these candidates to show how tough they can be on the poor - one candidate continually lectures them about their need to be janitors and learn the work ethic, the other openly declares his lack of concern to prove his bonafides as a Republican. Is there any shame left in the party? If the party base keeps eating this hatred of the poor daily, vicariously feeling they are millionaires because the real millionaires are cleverly separating them from the poor, and starts supporting all these tax policies, pretty soon they will join the ranks of the despised poor.
-
- walterrhett
- Charleston, SC
-
Trusted
This year's Republican candidates have mounted no-holds-barred attacks against the President and invited the rest of the country to the bonfire of their blame.
Mitt Romney has sought to beat down the President with cheap shots that lack the support of facts. But his political infamy was sealed by saying “I don't really care about the very poor.” Twice, in a two minute interview.
He cares for the most of us, but not the least of these. He subdivided the 99% into the 90 – 95%. His policies will benefit those who send their children to the $40,000 a year preschools springing up in New York City, but offer nothing for homeless children. The 1% get a tax break. The rest of us get a reduction in services. He's truly dizzy if he thinks the rest of will award him the November decision based on that scoring.
Romney, ready to show his mettle, demonstrated his stupidity, and an arrogance so supreme it is unable to recognize its brazen contempt.
So vote for Mitt if you think as Gail Collins pointed out, “greedy paupers” are America's domestic threat. Put his “America, the Beautiful” on your ring tone.
In the meantime, if I can find my ID card, I'm going to see a man about a dog.
twitter.com/walterrhett
If you’re an American down on your luck, Mitt Romney has a message for you: He doesn’t feel your pain. Earlier this week, Mr. Romney told a startled CNN interviewer, “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there.”
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Paul Krugman
Related News
‘Poor’ Quote by Romney Joins a List Critics Love (February 2, 2012)
Related in Opinion
Editorial: The Darkening Tone of the Primaries (February 2, 2012)
The Loyal Opposition: Romney Spins His Remarks on the Poor, Poorly (February 1, 2012)
Gail Collins: Mitt Speaks. Oh, No! (February 2, 2012)
Readers’ Comments
Readers shared their thoughts on this article.
Faced with criticism, the candidate has claimed that he didn’t mean what he seemed to mean, and that his words were taken out of context. But he quite clearly did mean what he said. And the more context you give to his statement, the worse it gets.
First of all, just a few days ago, Mr. Romney was denying that the very programs he now says take care of the poor actually provide any significant help. On Jan. 22, he asserted that safety-net programs — yes, he specifically used that term — have “massive overhead,” and that because of the cost of a huge bureaucracy “very little of the money that’s actually needed by those that really need help, those that can’t care for themselves, actually reaches them.”
This claim, like much of what Mr. Romney says, was completely false: U.S. poverty programs have nothing like as much bureaucracy and overhead as, say, private health insurance companies. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has documented, between 90 percent and 99 percent of the dollars allocated to safety-net programs do, in fact, reach the beneficiaries. But the dishonesty of his initial claim aside, how could a candidate declare that safety-net programs do no good and declare only 10 days later that those programs take such good care of the poor that he feels no concern for their welfare?
Also, given this whopper about how safety-net programs actually work, how credible was Mr. Romney’s assertion, after expressing his lack of concern about the poor, that if the safety net needs a repair, “I’ll fix it”?
Now, the truth is that the safety net does need repair. It provides a lot of help to the poor, but not enough. Medicaid, for example, provides essential health care to millions of unlucky citizens, children especially, but many people still fall through the cracks: among Americans with annual incomes under $25,000, more than a quarter — 28.7 percent — don’t have any kind of health insurance. And, no, they can’t make up for that lack of coverage by going to emergency rooms.
Similarly, food aid programs help a lot, but one in six Americans living below the poverty line suffers from “low food security.” This is officially defined as involving situations in which “food intake was reduced at times during the year because [households] had insufficient money or other resources for food” — in other words, hunger.
So we do need to strengthen our safety net. Mr. Romney, however, wants to make the safety net weaker instead.
Specifically, the candidate has endorsed Representative Paul Ryan’s plan for drastic cuts in federal spending — with almost two-thirds of the proposed spending cuts coming at the expense of low-income Americans. To the extent that Mr. Romney has differentiated his position from the Ryan plan, it is in the direction of even harsher cuts for the poor; his Medicaid proposal appears to involve a 40 percent reduction in financing compared with current law.
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.
Still, I believe Mr. Romney when he says he isn’t concerned about the poor. What I don’t believe is his assertion that he’s equally unconcerned about the rich, who are “doing fine.” After all, if that’s what he really feels, why does he propose showering them with money?
And we’re talking about a lot of money. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Mr. Romney’s tax plan would actually raise taxes on many lower-income Americans, while sharply cutting taxes at the top end. More than 80 percent of the tax cuts would go to people making more than $200,000 a year, almost half to those making more than $1 million a year, with the average member of the million-plus club getting a $145,000 tax break.
And these big tax breaks would create a big budget hole, increasing the deficit by $180 billion a year — and making those draconian cuts in safety-net programs necessary.
Which brings us back to Mr. Romney’s lack of concern. You can say this for the former Massachusetts governor and Bain Capital executive: He is opening up new frontiers in American politics. Even conservative politicians used to find it necessary to pretend that they cared about the poor. Remember “compassionate conservatism”? Mr. Romney has, however, done away with that pretense.
At this rate, we may soon have politicians who admit what has been obvious all along: that they don’t care about the middle class either, that they aren’t concerned about the lives of ordinary Americans, and never were.
- Karen Garcia
- New Paltz, NY
- Trusted
Romney's cavalier statements about poor people and social programs are not only heartless, they are politically clueless.
Mitt and his fellow nihilist Republicans might be interested in the results of a recent poll commissioned by the nonpartisan research group Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity. A whopping 88% of respondents said a candidate's position on poverty is important in determining their vote. Nearly half the Republicans, and two-thirds of Democrats polled say they have not heard enough from presidential candidates on how they plan to reduce poverty. And not surprisingly, voters are also dissatisfied with how the corporate media are covering the poor in America. You can find more details here:
http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org/event.aspx
Romney has inadvertently performed a triple public service: he has shown his true nasty core, rare for a politician; his rhetoric is only serving to foment widespread popular disdain for his entire party and may even serve to hasten its inevitable demise; and finally, he has brought the issue of poverty in America to the forefront of the public discourse. What Occupy started, Mitt is only too obligingly helping to continue.
It's poor people leading the news this week, and we have a vulture capitalist to thank for it. Keep up the great work, Mitt!
http://kmgarcia2000.blogspot.com/- Winning Progressive
- Chicago, IL
- Trusted
Let's see, we have a former vulture capitalist who isn't concerned about the poor, wants to slash Medicaid and the rest of the social safety net, is seeking to raise taxes on the working class while lowering them on the wealthy elite, and is proposing policies that would increase the federal deficit. In other words, Mitt Romney has decided to become a doctrinaire right wing conservative.
When Multiple Choice Mitt tries to pretend during the general election campaign that he is a "moderate," let's remember that when he had a chance during the GOP primaries to try to bring his party back to some semblance of reality, he rejected the opportunity and instead helped lead the Republican Party even further into crazy land.
http://www.winningprogressive.org
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Winning-Progressive/195682780442236- SR
- Dallas, Texas
The prospect of a Romney win in November becomes more and more frightening as time marches forward. It's become obvious to me, that he is in fact an extremely shallow but high speed thinker, possibly manic. He blurts out his first associations when questioned. His mentations are quite revealing. He appears not to internalize anything. Thus the contradictions.
It's also troubling that many of my fellow Americans, whether they are conservative or liberal, can't see this and ask; What's behind that insipid, pasted on smile?
The answer is nothing. There's nothing there!- Charley James
- Minneapolis MN
- Trusted
LBJ launched the "War On Poverty," Mitt Romney has declared "War On Those In Poverty" in his race to become the meanest SOB in the room.
Not to be outdone, Rick Santorum snarkily tells a mother of a very ill child "Tough luck, lady," when she asks what he would do to keep her son from dying because she can't afford cancer medicine. Newt Gingrich tells nine and 10 year old children to "scrub school toilets" to raise themselves out of poverty. Ron Paul tells poor people we're robbing them of their "freedom" by giving them a helping hand when we feed their kids..
Who are these people? What happened in their life to make them totally devoid of humanity, of compassion, of the sense that Americans are all in this together? For men who claim to be so devoutly Christian, they sure are lacking in any sense of Christian charity.
And what's happened to the media - television especially - that it stopped exposing stories of how one-sixth of this nation lives? If so-called "reality shows" are so popular, why aren't there reality shows like the long-abandoned "CBS Reports" covering topics like it once did such as "Harvest Of Shame" and "Hunger In America" and "Rats, Kids And Disease"?
On a totally unrelated note, Doctor, I'm delighted that you were able to get out a column despite the jet lag, the cold bug and enduring a few days of the worst winter Moscow has experienced in 30 years.- Kevin Rothstein
- New York
- Trusted
Mr. Romney says one thing and then a week or two later says something entirely different. Mitt is completely out of touch with what the average American is going through. Romney is just reflecting the fact that the Republicans really have no plan to do anything if they win the White House. They don't believe in government except when it comes to the military and making sure a woman who is raped give birth to the child. Global warming is a hoax, the planet is 6000 years old, and we are a Christian nation. Every man for himself. States' rights. The Republican Platform.- Jake
- Wisconsin
My brother has B.S. in electrical engineering and has been chronically unemployed since he was fired for contracting cancer--his company didn't want it's insurance rates to increase. His cancer is now cured, but he has a stack of medical bills and no one will hire him. He has is thus both educated and poor.
I know just as well someone with a Master's who makes about $15,000 a year with no medical insurance and someone with a doctorate who is chronically unemployed and makes no money at all. These may constitute a statistically insignificant sample, but in my world education certainly does not equate with wealth. On the other hand, the wealthiest person I know personally has an M.B.A. (a degree that does not impress me) and works in a field (as president of major international corporation) that produces nothing whatsoever.
The problem isn't lack of education, the problem is a phony economy that rewards those play vacuous games with money and punishes those who actually work, who actually produce.- Mark Thomason
- Clawson, Michigan
- Trusted
"At this rate, we may soon have politicians who admit what has been obvious all along: that they don’t care about the middle class either, that they aren’t concerned about the lives of ordinary Americans, and never were."
Well said. Wonderful column. Far too rare in current media.
That is a closely related problem. The media generally does not report what has been obvious, but play along and promote and support those who were so obviously wrong. Even if the politicians did start to admit this as you posit, it still would not be reported as an admission of the long-obvious. After all, it has been "obvious all along" yet what is so obvious is buried in reports of nonsense the politicians say to excuse themselves.
We need to clean up politics. We also need to clean our media of those who enable those politicians.
So far, those who were wrong about the wars and disasters of the recent past still hold their positions, and those who were correct remain in the obscurity of alternative media.
Now they are giving us "moderate" Romney and war on Iran. We pay a high price that they have paid no price.- Martin Stein
- Portland, Oregon
- Trusted
Romney like most of the GOP is a grossly defective person who views human beings with the detachment of an accountant going over a spread sheet..
He doesn't have the capacity to feel empathy for people he doesn't identify with.
I think has emotions only for family members, members of the Mormon Church and those in his economic class because they are like him. He is a very limited person, though I am not sure he is cruel. I think Romney is closer emotionally to Ron Paul and his son,who also lack emotional empathy Their intellect is cut off from their emotions and they can intellectually discuss the constitutionality of civil rights laws without feeling the suffering they caused.
People like Eric Kantor, and Paul Ryan, who unlike the poor, really leech off the rich have a nihilistic mean streak, as does Senators Kyle and Hatch who who ridiculed the unemployed as being lazy and drug users. Such people should not be making decisions effecting people's lives. Even Dick Nixon was heard saying on tape, "We have to give something to the blacks" Today he might be to the left of Obama. Imagine that!
Most of the GOP are hard line nihilists, as rigid and cold as the old Soviet hard line Stalinist Communists and if Americans are not careful they will bring this country down, the same way the Stalinists did to the Soviet Union,
The country is having an opportunity to view the soul of the GOP personified in Romney whose election would be a form of national suicide.- kellymac
- Austin, TX
In America, we talk about the "poor" as if they are a separate species. As someone recently unemployed who is hanging on by the skin of my teeth with a meager unemployment benefit while desperately searching for a new job, I found Romney's comments infuriating.
All it takes is one layoff, one serious illness or some other catastrophe out of your control and you, too can join that club that Mr. Romney thinks are doing okay. That safety net feels more like a sieve to me.
I'd like to propose a new requirement for anyone running for president. They should be required to subsist for at least one month on what we "lucky duckies" get for unemployment and nothing else. That might open their eyes a bit.- Ron Zaudke
- Prescott, Wi
This truly disgusting statement, taken in full context, reveals a man and a political party living in a delusional world created by years of Fox/Limbaugh-type propaganda directed against the most vulnerable in American society.We see again the same old Reagan myth of the "welfare queen" once again used to divert attention from cynical plutocrats enriching themselves, even as they destroy the middle class and buy politicians. The right-wing echo chamber has created, for half of America, an upside- down world where the super-rich are "victims" and millions of poor Americans who work, or are unable to work, are lazy parasites living in luxury. It is amazing that millions of Americans continue to fall for this thirty- year-old cheap trick; it is beyond pathetic that a presidential candidate, even a crass opportunist like Mitt Romney, would believe such obvious, discredited nonsense.- LWS
- Dallas, TX
I would not be surprised if the Mormon church issued a statement disavowing Romney's comments about poverty and wealth. Central in its doctrine is caring for the poor and using wealth for the betterment of society. Every member fasts once a month and contributes the money saved plus as much more as is possible to the church for the poor. The bishop of every congregation is authorized to used these funds as he sees fit. He does so after private consultations with the needy people so that they can retain their dignity. Donations from wealthier congregations are shared with poorer congregations.
I'm a long-time Mormon with a history that goes back to the church's beginning; and I have worshipped in congregations around the globe. Frankly, I am horrified by Mitt Romney; he does not represent the vast majority of Mormons I know.- David Gustafson
- Minneapolis
Mr Romney's problem is that he deeply truly thoroughly believes that he is an aristocrat, someone so much better than the commoners that he's almost of another species, but at the same time is not quite hypocritical enough to be comfortable with lying about his belief. But though he hasn't been able to purchase patents of nobility, he's done the next best thing: he has acquired a condescending contempt for all those whom he feels are beneath him, to such an extent that he barely acknowledges their existence, save as "the help." Within his contemptible worldview, Willard is correct: the poor and the middle class do not matter, as they are not human beings. And from without his worldview, Willard cannot see, for he lacks entirely the empathy to put himself in the place of another.- Gemli
- Boston
You have to wonder why Romney or any of the other Republican candidates bother to speak at all. Virtually everything they say, every claim that they make, every criticism levied against Mr. Obama and the Democrats, is patently false. It seems that these claims and criticisms are little more than rhetorical charades that take the place of substantive and meaningful argument.
Republicans have latched on to a new idea, which is essentially to repeat simple minded conservative cant over and over again, confident that the conservative base is going to vote Republican regardless of what they say. Why should they waste time and effort trying to make sense? This is probably futile anyway, since it's hard to defend condemning the poor to sickness and starvation while lavishing tax breaks on billionaires.
But they have to say something to fill the dead air, and at least try to manufacture some sort of vaguely political-sounding narrative that lets them defend their despicable philosophy while pretending to care. Republicans may call it compassionate conservatism, but it's really nothing more than plausible deniability.- Jake
- Wisconsin
More accurately, Romney cares about the middle-class VOTE, not the middle class itself.- angrygirl
- Midwest
Romney is just the least crazy face of a party who cares only for white evangelical Christians and rich people of any religion or race. The fact that he sometimes lets the truth slip out -- about how the GOP feels about the poor, for example -- is because his puppet handlers cannot script every second of his day.
What is even sadder is that Jesus, whom all those white, Evangelicals profess to care about so much, would be doing everything in his power to HELP the poor. If he were to return, as they all hope he will, he would be disgusted with the GOP's lack of compassion for "the least among us."- CM
- CA
I can't understand how people who say they are Christian can make such uncaring statements about the most vulnerable people in our society. They attack the poor with such vigor. I think that the more unequal a society becomes in terms of income, the more hatred toward the poor that must happen, the more blaming the poor for their circumstances. People want to deflect any blame that might come their way regarding how they made their money, and who had to suffer in order for them to be super wealthy.- RdeanNYC
- Amherst, MA
Good column. To those who think this is a "gotcha" opinion, read it again. Romney said something that doesn't square with either the facts of the safety net, nor his own published policy proposals. This is fair game. And it seems to me to add up to one simple conclusion: Romney is a liar.- K. John
- Atlanta
In reading Mr. Romney's response to the question about the poor, I guess I was not really surprised. It was a brief, yet telling, realistic response from a man who spends much of his time rehearsing how he should act when a camera and a microphone is in front of his face. There are no poor people in Mr. Romney's world. He, like most American politicians, can always use the catch phrase, "my words were taken out of context" or "I was misquoted" to cover up or gloss over their obvious "aloof from reality" statements. The problem for the American middle class and the poor is that the media goes along with the charade. They convince the people who were most offended that as long as the rich recover with a "plausible" explanation we, the American people, should move on and forget about it. Mr. Romney and his party have made it abundantly clear, in their arrogance and contempt for those of us who earn wages for a living, their only goal is to make Mr.Obama a one term President. Getting G.W. Bush into the White House and appointing the next Supreme Court Justices was the real game changer for the poor and middle class. Take note as to how the former White House resident is never mentioned by any Republican candidates. They are hoping that the American people are either very forgetful, as full of rage as they are that an African American sits in the Oval Office or that the populous is quite stupid. Mr. Romney will fix the safety net. Just like a vet fixes a cat. Thanks Dr. Krugman- Dave Scott
- Cornwall Bridge, Connecticut
- Trusted
To explore the idea of substituting charitable activity for government programs in taking care of the poor, we should ask charity heads how much they would have to expand if the government cut back, whether this expansion was feasible, how much advertising and fundraising would be necessary to raise the resources they needed, how to avoid corruption and theft, and how long it would take them to get up to speed.
There is very little discussion of these questions, which implies that those who wish to shrink the government safety net have not thought it through. This means that shrinking the safety net will lead to a decline in quality of life and a shortening of lifespan for people at the lower levels of our society. We will join the Russians in having a shorter lifespan for our citizens, unless charitable organizations are prepared to expand to meet their new responsibilities and we are prepared to support them.- califpoppy
- california
Mr.Romney sounds as if he assumes people who don't have a lot of money choose to be that way. it isn't a choice in most instances,and saying something so arrogant and insensitive is just typical of the attitude of many 1%ers. Newt suggested hiring 13 year olds to be janitors! The jobs people have lost most likely will never come back.
People struggling to make ends meet is a reality,not a myth. Mr. Romney and the other candidates don't care about the poor or middle class,and never will. I don't want anyone with that arrogance leading this country,because they will always treat the less fortunate as a nuisance. they will cut even more funds,as if to teach these people a lesson. The Republican attitude is " I have mine,I am keeping it, don't ask for help. get your own. I want more tax cuts for me,none for you. I have healthcare,you don't.tough. they have declared war on women and children. they don't care.- seanseamour
- Mediterranean France
As the poorer on the bottom grow in numbers the rich on the top grow in dollars, those left in the middle with ever less have ever more to pay, footing the bill for both. This society is a product of the Romney generation, he built his wealth exacerbating the situation, the hypocrisy of his concern is plain to see. Espousing the Ryan plan clearly demonstrates his membership in the Top End Club and a conservatism decidedly dedicated to just that, maintaining the stays quo.
If elected Romney will banter with an extreme crony-capitalisme bent legislature filled with wannabe Club aspirants from both aisles plus on his coattails of the newly minted corporate citizens who put him there. Excepting the UK, our Democrats are to the right of mainstream conservatives in Europe, the pendulum needs a shove back!- jimbo
- seattle
Perhaps if Mr. Romney had had the benefit of serving in our armed forces, he would have come in contact with people of more modest circumstances. It is amazing that a person who served as governor in one of our more educated states would have such a tin ear when discussing the struggles of everyday citizens. The Roosevelts and Kennedys had comparable wealth with Romney, but infinitely more empathy and compassion. (and as far as I know, never strapped the family dog to the roof of the car. Wink to wonderful Gail Collins)- Chandra Varanasi
- Broomfield, CO
As always, Krugman nailed it. That phrase 'safety net' itself should be abolished from the lexicon. Would anybody call living in extreme poverty with some meager assistance a safety net? It somehow connotes the image of a helpless infant being hugged for dear life by a mother. Living in poverty on meager assistance is not particularly safe - physically, emotionally, mentally, financially. At best, it is just one step away from outright hunger.
Forget the unseemliness of a mega-millionaire talking so casually about poverty for a moment, there seems to be a race among these candidates to show how tough they can be on the poor - one candidate continually lectures them about their need to be janitors and learn the work ethic, the other openly declares his lack of concern to prove his bonafides as a Republican. Is there any shame left in the party? If the party base keeps eating this hatred of the poor daily, vicariously feeling they are millionaires because the real millionaires are cleverly separating them from the poor, and starts supporting all these tax policies, pretty soon they will join the ranks of the despised poor.- walterrhett
- Charleston, SC
- Trusted
This year's Republican candidates have mounted no-holds-barred attacks against the President and invited the rest of the country to the bonfire of their blame.
Mitt Romney has sought to beat down the President with cheap shots that lack the support of facts. But his political infamy was sealed by saying “I don't really care about the very poor.” Twice, in a two minute interview.
He cares for the most of us, but not the least of these. He subdivided the 99% into the 90 – 95%. His policies will benefit those who send their children to the $40,000 a year preschools springing up in New York City, but offer nothing for homeless children. The 1% get a tax break. The rest of us get a reduction in services. He's truly dizzy if he thinks the rest of will award him the November decision based on that scoring.
Romney, ready to show his mettle, demonstrated his stupidity, and an arrogance so supreme it is unable to recognize its brazen contempt.
So vote for Mitt if you think as Gail Collins pointed out, “greedy paupers” are America's domestic threat. Put his “America, the Beautiful” on your ring tone.
In the meantime, if I can find my ID card, I'm going to see a man about a dog.
twitter.com/walterrhett
