Can’t Spell Romney Without Money… or Envy

Willard Mitt Romney thinks we are all envious of his money:

“You know, I think it’s about envy. I think it’s about class warfare. I think when you have a president encouraging the idea of dividing America based on 99 percent versus one percent, and those people who’ve been most successful will be in the one percent, you’ve opened up a wave of approach in this country which is entirely inconsistent with the concept of one nation under God…

You know I think it’s fine to talk about those things in quiet rooms and discussions about tax policy and the like. But the president has made this part of his campaign rally. Everywhere he goes we hear him talking about millionaires and billionaires and executives and Wall Street. It’s a very envy-oriented, attack-oriented approach and I think it’ll fail.”–Mitt Romney

Yes Mitt, you got me. You are 100% correct. I am envious of you and your ilk. But before I explain why, let me throw out some reasons why YOU might think I am envious of you:

You may think I spend sleepless nights wishing that my daddy was a millionaire who handed me everything I needed to grow up and be just like you…a millionaire.

You may think that I am jealous because I had to work full-time and go to school full time and take out student loans that took me decades to pay off and you never had to sweat the “small stuff” like that. You know I’m jealous because you never had to worry if you couldn’t make a car payment or had to miss a day’s pay if you got sick.

You figure I can barely concentrate as I drive to work everyday, knowing I will never make all that much more money comparatively than I make now and I will never be rich, because I chose a profession that gives me a measure of satisfaction and one where I can try to make a positive difference, and not one where I see workers as “chips” to be manipulated for my own personal gain.

You think that I long for the ability to be like you and your vulture capitalist buddies, who take the money that your daddies give you, swoop in to buy companies, declare bankruptcy, look for short-term solutions, loot worker pensions, cut salaries and benefits, sell for huge profits, and let the door hit the asses of the stiffs you had to fire to make it all work for you without looking back.

You are very sure that I am jealous because I will never reach what the 1% have ordained as the the pinnacle of success which is to be as filthy rich as possible. I understand that being wealthy is the true barometer of happiness and I will therefore never be happy.

But here is where your assumption that we are all envious, simply and for no other reason than because you have tons of dough, runs off the rails. You think we all salivate over your mansions and fancy automobiles and European vacations. Actually, you couldn’t be more off the mark Mr. Perfect. You see, many of us don’t need to be rich to lead happy and fulfilling lives. Most of us have simple needs and values.

We want a decent place to live where we can raise our children in safe communities. We want to be able to have access to good healthcare so our kids remain healthy. We would like to be able to send our children to good schools and not have to pay the equivalent of a second mortgage to send them to college. We would prefer to not have to work two jobs just to keep up.

We would like decent paying jobs with decent benefits and fair pensions. We will work hard, contribute to society, and play by the rules in return.

Ultimately, we don’t envy you for being rich Mr. Romney. We actually admire and respect those who earn their wealth through hard work and industriousness. We look up to people who do it the right way… and therein lies the rub.

We have been the victims of entities in our culture who have enriched themselves through pure, Gordon Gekko-type greed, without an ounce of morality or responsibility.

Wall Street suckered us knowing the bubble would burst, and then had their hand out to the American public to save them.

However, the very people who covered their asses got their asses handed to them in the form of lost jobs, pensions, benefits and futures–because you know– it was all their fault the economy collapsed, right? Alternately, the Wall Street suits and banksters picked right up where they left off, pocketing those sw-eet million dollar bonuses at the end of the year. Thank you very little.

Tax codes are skewed for the rich who can buy the best accountants and find the best loopholes to avoid paying their fair share.

Corporations rent offices in the Cayman Islands to shelter their millions/billions in profits and weep about how high the corporate tax code is.

Bottom line? The middle class has been stripped bare and taken to their knees, while the 1% have economically soared.

So guess what Mr. Willard Mitt Romney? We ARE envious. But we are envious that the way you and your kind got to the top was by using your wealth and power to buy and sell the rules of the game. We are envious that you continue to line your pockets while you pick ours. We are envious that we keep bailing your butts out and you keep giving us the back of your hand in return.

You want to be the president so that you can prescribe for our future more of the same. You want more tax cuts for the corporations who don’t pay enough taxes now. You want less regulations on polluters of our water and air who don’t give a flying fig if our children suffer because of it. You want less regulation and oversight on your companies because it cramps your style of finding new ways to screw everyone for another cool billion or two.

We do resent you, Romney, for not wanting to talk about income inequality except in “quiet rooms…” where us little people can perhaps press our bulbous noses to the glass while all of you “meritous” folk game plan on how to keep the tax breaks flowing and the CEO bonuses hefty and the subsidies to your businesses in place. All of this while you figure out how to dismantle all safety nets, bust unions and essentially destroy the middle class way of life and somehow get the sniveling masses to buy into it.

Ultimately Romney, we do not envy your millions, but have instead become disgusted and frustrated by your ability to use those millions to make the rules for your own selfish, personal gain while you admonish us to just work a little harder.

Yes, Mitt Romney, I suppose I am green-eyed because as many Americans take home less wages, have less benefits, and are losing their pensions, people like you are making more and more and paying less and less in taxes.

I take umbrage with the thought process of those who say that unemployment insurance, healthcare, or tax cuts for the middle class are burdens on our economy but bailouts for Wall Street thieves who took greed to a new level are good for everybody.

I loathe the fact that CEO’s who have essentially failed at their jobs, still manage to leave those jobs with stunning golden parachutes, roughly averaging somewhere around 100 million dollars, while workers like those you love to fire have the privilege of wondering if they will lose their homes in a few months.

I find it disturbing and telling that you actually enjoy the ability to “fire” people. I don’t imagine I would get off on that if given the chance. Yes, I’m almost positive I would not enjoy that.

You and the others that build your wealth, not by creating a business or making a product… in essence producing something of worth… but by sucking companies dry and discarding them like so much trash, are supposed to be applauded you say. You shuffle paper and people around to best figure out how to line your pockets. If people get hurt, so be it. Capitalism is messy and there are winners and losers. Boo– frikken–hoo, right Mitt?

Perhaps, son of a millionaire and a governor, I look upon your rise to power as just one of many who don’t think twice about the extreme benefits and privileges you have incurred due to who you were born to and what you were born into. You cannot relate to our struggles, nor do you really give a crap. You tell us to suck it up, work harder, take chances. The problem is, if I blow my extra few thousand on a chance, I will be living in my car. If you take a chance, you’ll still be dining at that 5 star restaurant later that day. See how this works?

But honestly, you don’t get it, and never will Mitt Romney.

Attitudes like yours is why government should never be run as a business. It is government’s role to secure the well being of ALL Americans, and not to profit a few. It is and has been your job, and the job of your ilk, to look out for only yourselves. My fear is that if elected president, you will continue to do just that, and that is a scary premise.

So yes, call me envious Mitt…but I get to call you a greedy, selfish bastard in return. Deal?