The Poor And Disenfranchised Have A Friend In Mitt Romney

thefastertimes.com

Forty-six million Americans can give thanks this Super Bowl Sunday to Mitt Romney for his comments earlier this week about not being concerned for poor people.  "I'm not concerned about the very poor", Romney said.  "There's a safety net there, and if it needs repair, I'll fix it.  I'm not concerned about the very rich, they're doing just fine.  I'm concerned about the heart of America, the 90%, 95% of Americans right now who are struggling."  Unfortunately for Mitt Romney, the utterance of those two sentences have thrust the plight of the poor and disenfranchised in America into the forefront of this year's presidential election.

One has to wonder where Romney obtains his information.  There are actually 46 million Americans who live in poverty.  That number is actually 15.1% of our nation's population.  The actual dollar standard for poverty in 2012 is earnings of $11,000 for an individual and $22,300 for a family of four.  The safety net that Romney speaks of consists of numerous state and federal government programs with the four most significant including unemployment insurance, food stamps, welfare and Medicare.

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Forty million Americans currently receive food stamp assistance; 4.4 million Americans are on welfare, ten million Americans currently receive unemployment insurance and another 50 million Americans receive health care assistance through Medicare.  Staggering numbers for the most prosperous nation in the world.  These government safety net programs are designed to protect families during tough economic times and hopefully before they fall into poverty.  The percentage of Americans enrolled in these safety net programs are all up during the current economic crisis including food stamp assistance by 50%, welfare recipients up by 18% and Medicare recipients by 17%.  Americans receiving unemployment assistance is four times higher than what it was just in 2007. 

The statistics and staggering numbers should be an eye-opener for Mitt Romney who has indicated he is "not concerned about the very poor".  Romney will be reminded throughout this year's campaign that he should be concerned, gravely concerned about the plight of those Americans who currently are living in poverty or soon will be due to any number of economic conditions.  Many Americans fall into poverty or rise above poverty several times during their lifetimes.  As a presidential candidate, Mitt Romney should be concerned about this population and have strategies to help lift them out of the cycle of poverty. 

Nevertheless, Romney's comments regarding the poor will elevate the discussion on the poor people of our nation living in poverty.  They can become the forgotten few ( 15.1%) in our nation during the election cycle when the middle class and all their votes are up for grabs.  Thanks to Mitt Romney, maybe 2012 will be the year when the poor are considered as part of the national debate.