In the April 1 (no fooling) episode of Mad Men<\/a>, Governor Romney is called a clown. We\u2019re talking about Michigan Governor George Romney, father of Mitt, a current Republican candidate for president.<\/p>\n

Mad Men is loaded with harsh judgment, often distanced from fact or logic. The statement about George Romney may have been one such salvo. But Mitt, the son, is in a constant battle with competitor Rick Santorum for \u201cfoot in mouth\u201d disease. Ironically, some of Mitt\u2019s greatest gaffes have been related to the industry of which his father was a \u201ccaptain\u201d \u2013 the auto industry.<\/p>\n

With the recent successes of the auto industry, the antiquated and archaic \u201csolutions\u201d that Romney has suggested over the past four years become more bizarre and at the least show Romney as a poor predictor. In April, 2012 we learned that in 2011, General Motors posted its largest profit ever, $7 billion.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Over the past two years,\u201d America\u2019s Big Three (GM,\u00a0 Ford,\u00a0 and\u00a0 Chrysler) have added 15,000 more manufacturing jobs<\/a>. Each of these jobs supports another nine jobs in the U.S. Workers at a number of plants are receiving profit-sharing bonuses of $7,000 for the success that they and their supervisors have had. But the success of the auto companies is possible only because of the direct involvement of the federal and other levels of government. As Massachusetts Democratic Senatorial candidate, Elizabeth Warren, has pointed out<\/a>,<\/p>\n

There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there \u2013 good for you! But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to education. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn\u2019t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us do.<\/p>\n

Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea \u2013 God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n