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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTop Romney Adviser: If You Own A Microwave, You Aren’t Really Poor
By Igor Volsky
A top adviser to Mitt Romneys presidential campaign denied the nations income inequality gap in a Wall Street Journal editorial on Thursday, brushing off the growing concentration of wealth in the hands of the very wealthy by arguing that lower-income Americans are buying more consumer goods.
Today we hear that the gains from economic growth accrue to the highest-income earners while the standard of living of the poor and middle America stagnates and the gap between the richest and the poorest grows ever wider, Kevin Hassett and Aparna Mathur argue. That portrait of the country is wrong:
Yet the access of low-income Americansthose earning less than $20,000 in real 2009 dollarsto devices that are part of the good life has increased. The percentage of low-income households with a computer rose to 47.7% from 19.8% in 2001. The percentage of low-income homes with six or more rooms (excluding bathrooms) rose to 30% from 21.9% over the same period.
Appliances? The percentage of low-income homes with air-conditioning equipment rose to 83.5% from 65.8%, with dishwashers to 30.8% from 17.6%, with a washing machine to 62.4% from 57.2%, and with a clothes dryer to 56.5% from 44.9%.
The percentage of low-income households with microwave ovens grew to 92.4% from 74.9% between 2001 and 2009. Fully 75.5% of low-income Americans now have a cell phone, and over a quarter of those have access to the Internet through their phones.
But this argument, a favorite of conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, is highly misleading. Appliances and commonly used consumer gadgets like cell phones are necessities in the 21st century and are significantly cheaper today than they were just decades earlier. In fact, were families to sell their appliances in order to help pay for food and other basic necessities, many would still struggle for while prices on microwaves and air conditioners have fallen, the real everyday basics such as quality child care and out-of-pocket medical costs are squeezing the budgets of the poor and middle-class alike.
Hassett argues that safety net programs like unemployment insurance, food stamps, Medicaid help families afford basic needs, further shrinking the nations income gap. But these programs are already failing to keep up with need and Romney and Ryan have proposed massive cuts to the safety net in order to pay down the deficit and finance a tax cut plan that is heavily skewed towards the rich.
- more -
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/10/25/1091501/top-romney-adviser-if-you-own-a-microwave-you-arent-really-poor/
Does that mean if you don't live on the street, you're not poor?
I can't stand Mittwit and his fucking ilk.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)He's never been in a Goodwill. Microwaves a-plenty.
I am pretty wealthy and I got mine for free. A hand-me-down and it's kept working so I've kept it all these years.
Another sign of Mitt being completely out of touch.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)But I may get one next month.
Horse with no Name
(33,956 posts)so that makes me rich?
theKed
(1,235 posts)As one of the rich, microwave-owning, upper class, you qualify for massive tax cuts!
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)These are the big costs.
It doesn't matter if you can get a used microwave/tv/and computer for under 100$ total if you can't keep a roof over your head and food in your belly.
Tennessee Gal
(6,160 posts)or wash their clothes. I guess they really should do without a stove and cook their food over a fire. And never mind about electricity. They could exist at night by candle. Oh, and they should just dig a hole in the back yard for an outhouse. No need for running water.
These people make me sick. What kind of country do they really want? Where is the compassion?
n2doc
(47,953 posts)and admit that their standard for 'poor' is utter destitution- no clothes, nor roof over head, starving, etc. Essentially if you aren't worse off than a war refugee from Somalia you are 'working class' or a 'ducky ducky'.
tk2kewl
(18,133 posts)Maybe when you are as poor as those Chinese workers he described in the 47% video, then he might label you as poor?
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)lower than whale shit.
JBoy
(8,021 posts)In 2012.
Cha
(296,848 posts)Nobody needs these big ol freaking assholes telling them if they are poor or not by their standards.
"romney and ryan paying down the deficit"? rofl...They would spike the Defict like bush-cheney did with Endless Fucking WAR...And, take away the Social Safety Net.
Buddaman
(503 posts)yellowcanine
(35,693 posts)living in someone's basement. Having a microwave makes them middle class?
Canuckistanian
(42,290 posts)Maybe 70 or 80 bucks.
It'll last for YEARS (ours has lasted 5 years)
The cost of that microwave PALES in comparison to food, shelter, transportation and health care. You know, the NECESSITIES.
salin
(48,955 posts)Clueless.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)because you can reheat your coffee or your Hot Pocket. The fact that you don't have to fucking beat your clothes on rocks in the river doesn't mean you aren't poor. These fucking assclowns don't even consider that you can have household goods and still have no job or money--they're not going to repossess your paid-off household shit when you lose your job or go broke from medical bills.