Mother Jones’ David Corn has unearthed a video–apparently taped secretly at a Romney fundraiser–in which Romney talks candidly to his donors about the 47 million people–essentially moochers who consider food and health an “entitlement”–whose votes he doesn’t care about. His comments demonstrate an astonishingly unfeeling attitude about people less fortunate than him and his friends in the one percent. One could argue that all he’s saying is that he doesn’t need–and won’t get–their votes. But the callous, disdainful way he describes “those people” reveals an outlook that would undoubtedly be reflected in his policies. See for yourself and pass it along.

 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.

He continued: “[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

By the way, Mother Jones also offers a very clear explanation of why 47 million people don’t pay income taxes.

The post Romney says what he really thinks about poor people appeared first on Occasional Planet.

Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell, Eric Cantor many other Republicans want to slash—or even kill–Medicaid, food stamps, Head Start, Social Security and other programs that help poor Americans. They want us to believe that nobody is truly poor around here, and that people who qualify for safety-net programs are just lazy folks who want to game the system, get something they haven’t worked for, and bankrupt America with their undeserved entitlements.

Romney and the guys at the country club are wrong. Unfortunately, they’re getting away with their distorted talking points because the rest of us aren’t doing a good enough job of telling it as it really is.

Myth busters

In the real world, people living in poverty include seniors who’ve retired from a lifetime of work, new moms, students, and job searchers still pounding the pavement.

In fact, low-income working families, contrary to right-wing myth, work hard:  Adults in low-income working families worked on average 2,500 hours per year in 2006, the equivalent of almost one and a quarter full-time workers. One out of four working families in the U.S. is low-income, and virtually all of those families, or 96%, work at least half-time and over 70% work full-time or more. They’re also eager to acquire new skills and improve their jobs and work conditions. More than 7 million Americans are working two or more jobs just to make ends meet.

And, by the way, poor people can’t afford to be lazy. They’re skipping sleep to work long hours at multiple jobs and still falling further behind. Like any hardworking parent, they’re more than willing to take that extra shift so they can put food on the table.

But the less money you have, the less time you have to get ahead. Without a reliable car, taking the bus to work can take hours. No reliable child care means less time to find a better paying job. And when you have less money, every day is full of hard choices with harder consequences: which basic needs will you meet today — food, winter clothes, medicine — and which ones will you just have to go without?

Facts about low-income families

According to Media Matters Action Network:

One out of five American adults who have jobs are earning only $10.65 an hour or less. Even at 40 hours a week, that’s less than $22,000 per year — the poverty level for a family of four.

Over 80% of Americans believe it’s almost impossible to survive on minimum wage, which is only $7.25 per hour (federal) right now.

It’s expensive and time-consuming to be poor in America, too. The less money you make, the more you are probably paying extra banking, credit card, and lending fees, living in “food deserts” without accessible supermarkets that sell cheap fresh food, paying jacked-up health care prices, and paying as much as 40% of your income on child care while you’re at work.

All Americans pay taxes. Even those who don’t make enough money to pay taxes on their income still pay taxes like payroll, property or sales tax, or taxes on everyday things like gasoline.

Unfortunately, for many in our know-nothing political culture, facts don’t matter. By repeating the same myths and misinformation over and over again, right-wing opinion-shapers have been very effective in upending the truth. People who actually care about economically disadvantaged families and individuals need to do a much better job of making the case for reality–before it’s too late.

The post Living in poverty: Myths that need busting appeared first on Occasional Planet.