“The working poor haven’t abdicated responsibility for their lives. They’re drowning in it.”

[pampango]

When he said this (that 47% have abdicated personal responsibility for their lives), Romney didn’t just write off half the country behind closed doors. He also confirmed the worst suspicions about who he is: an entitled rich guy with no understanding of how people who aren’t rich actually live.

The thing about not having much money is you have to take much more responsibility for your life. You can’t pay people to watch your kids or clean your house or fix your meals. You can’t necessarily afford a car or a washing machine or a home in a good school district. That’s what money buys you: goods and services that make your life easier.

The problem is that he doesn’t seem to realize how difficult it is to focus on college when you’re also working full time, how much planning it takes to reliably commute to work without a car, or the agonizing choices faced by families in which both parents work and a child falls ill. The working poor haven’t abdicated responsibility for their lives. They’re drowning in it.

The point here isn’t that Romney is unfamiliar with cutting-edge work in cognitive psychology. It’s that he misses even the intuitive message of this work, the part most of us know without reading any studies: It’s really, really hard to be poor. That’s because the poorer you are, the more personal responsibility you have to take.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-18/what-mitt-romney-doesn-t-get-about-responsibility.html

Now there is a explanation of personal responsibility that romney will have a hard time digesting.

[xchrom]

1. Du rec. Nt

[Barack_America]

46. I'm tempted to create a sockpuppet just so I can rec this again.

But I'll just have to settle for a rec and a kick nt

[Scuba]

2. By the appearance of his campaign, and his personal readiness, Romney is the laziest person I know.

[Skidmore]

3. This man has spent the past 6 years

trying to run for the office of President. Just one thing. And not even a recognized job at that. He didn't even have to do it while trying to support his family on another job.

It is really hard to take someone like this seriously, especially given how bad he is at it.

[JBoy]

4. And during those 6 years, he never left the bubble he's lived in his whole life.

Never bothered to actually learn anything about the country. Lazy fuck never stepped out of his comfort zone.

[JHB]

22. And let's not forget to mention: didn't bother to clean up his tax returns...

...apparently because since he was able to squeak by in Massachusetts without releasing them he assumed he'd be able to do the same in a presidential run. Who's taking responsibility for that?

[fishwax]

52. "especially given how bad he is at it"

So true.

[speedoo]

5. Ezra nailed it.

Ezra has impressed me over the last month or so, and in this column, he impresses me even more.

[SemperEadem]

9. he's also doing a great job filling in for Ed Schultz

he's gotten smoother and more polished on camera.

[laundry_queen]

6. So many good points in that article

There was recently a study that showed that if a person has to have self-control and discipline in one area, in other areas they will not be able to exert the same amount of self-control. So, for instance, if you have to work hard to make the money buy enough food to last to the end of the month, you are less likely to be able to, say, control an alcohol addiction. If you are working and in college trying to make ends meet, you are less likely to be able to retain discipline when it comes to eating habits. And so on. With the working poor, when you heap mountains of responsibility on them they make decisions in other areas that may seem like they have no self-control.

For instance, I had this online friend who worked, who was poor enough that her child received Medicaid but she didn't receive anything and she had a chronic condition. I was perplexed (as a Canadian) as to why she would spend so much money buying nice clothes and toys for her child when she, herself, didn't even have health insurance. So I asked her. She explained it to me like this: in order to be able to afford health insurance, she would have to cut ALL unnecessary spending out of her budget. Every last cent. And she would have to decrease her food budget by a small amount. And if she got sick, she still had a deductible that now she would be unable to pay anyway. At least without paying for health insurance, her child got to have a good life, they both had good nutrition (important for my friend's condition), and they both enjoyed the life they had a little bit more. Now some people would think she made horrible decisions and that her child doesn't deserve nice clothes and toys and that the mother is being irresponsible, but they haven't been there and they don't know how hard it is to pay for insurance when you have a pre-existing condition (if they'll even accept you, soon it won't matter). It's not that easy to be 100% disciplined with your money when you're working, are a single parent, have a chronic health problem, and have little hope of ever getting an affordable policy for your health.

And the author was bang on about Romney just not getting that he WAS privileged. Reminds me of my brother. My parents paid for part of his education, helped him with gas and insurance and he worked to pay for the other part, with a job that he got from my dad that paid well. I was a girl and was offered no such job, and only had min. wage jobs and had no help with my car expenses so couldn't afford to continue past my first year of university (I had scholarships for the 1st year and parents refused to pay second year). He doesn't understand that not only were my parents sexist (a girl doesn't need an education as much as a boy does so why pay for it?) but that he had many more opportunities than I did. To this day, he thinks that because I dropped out and got married and had kids that I was a 'loser' with no ambition. Now that I'm back in school full time and my ex is paying my way, he thinks I'm acting entitled and that I have it easy (yes, single mother of 4, so easy /sarcasm). He totally doesn't see how he had extra support from my parents and that his road was much, much easier than mine. He thinks he is where he is because he was a harder worker than I was. God, he's totally like Romney (and yes, he's on the right side of the spectrum, AND thinks he's right all the time.) People like that will NEVER see their own advantages, it's easier to degrade and shame those who aren't where he is than to admit he had it easier.

[raouldukelives]

8. Well said.

On the other hand the people that do seem to have good benefits, pay and retirements these days almost always seem to work for corporations, heavily invest in corporations and devote their very lives to those corporations. Good companies like Chevron, Dow or Apple. Companies that will rape this planet til we can't breathe, til the all fish are belly up, til the workers kill themselves for some desperate release from the hell they were born into.
So, many are faced with a choice. Be a friend to the natural world, support wildlife and forests, try to save what is left of our fragile climate, be counted as a force for conservation in the world or work & invest in corporations and throw any ideas of personal responsibility for making this world better out the window.

[redgreenandblue]

11. There was a time where I needed to be 100% diciplined about my job.

Just starting out in a new field, eager to prove myself and working from six month contract to six month contract.

So guess what I did: Started to drink liquor in order to sleep at night. It happens...

[Mapletonian]

38. It's 6:30 am and 33 degrees in northern Maine right now

I had to go out and take a walk after reading your post.

Same damn thing happened to me.

30 years of it; I got past it.

Hope you're better now.

Beautiful morning, by the way!

[redgreenandblue]

55. Wow.

Glad you got past it. 30 years is a long time. Sounds horrible....

I guess my situation eased up after a while, and I found that "nightcaps" (and in not so rare cases more than one of them...) were counter-productive.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

47. No one in this nation should have to make that choice.

Sadly, it is the case.

[SemperEadem]

7. Mittiot is like the overbearing oaf who takes you out to dinner

berates the wait staff, complains incessantly about the food and then leaves a 50 cent tip and walks out with a smirk on his face, as if he's done something that will gut the waiter's life forever.

[Mopar151]

10. And his wife nicks the tip off the next table when (she thinks) no one's lookin' n/t

[Pirate Smile]

12. I love this article. Everyone needs to read it. So much of it is so obvious yet a massive percentage

of Republicans seem completely oblivious to this reality that most people know because they've lived it or simply have a functioning heart & brain.

[George II]

13. In 1984, after losing to Reagan, Walter Mondale said:

“I have always wanted to run for President in the worst way, and I did…”.

I think Romney has earned that distinction - running for President in the worst way!

[Aldo Leopold]

14. Brilliant line!

[hamsterjill]

15. Great article which I have promptly shared on my Facebook page

It'll have some Republican "friend's" little panties in a wad in no time!

[PotatoChip]

16. This is an excellent piece.

Well worth a full read.

[itssimplestupid]

17. Romney = New Name = Bubble Boy

We should start referring to Romney as bubble boy. I truly believe Mittens doesn't even realize how good he has had it. It may not even be his fault. How could someone that spent their whole life among the "haves" possibly understand people like me that works 80 hours a week, and is barely getting by?

http://www.RepublicansAreADisease.com

Romney doesn't understand that he was born on 3rd base. He doesn't even understand that some people will never have the opportunity to get to first base, only because of government policies that reward wealth not work.

Poor people need more than food stamps, a crap education, and a ssi check. They need opportunity.

Jessee Jackson said it best. "prison is a step up" for many.

Romney, and his country club economic traitors will never understand.

They need to have their power removed.

[Hestia]

28. Which is why the Democrats must win back Government again, not just the Presidency.

Demand Civil Servants do the jobs that political hiree's just can't. Or can (hide) if they from the particular industry they've been hired to oversee. The whole dysfunction has got to go. We' got to start standing up and really be heard. Other than a mass work-strike and economic-strike, if we aren't taken seriously, when will we get a functioning government again? Internet petitions haven't worked, physically protesting did get A message across but other than broken bones and tear-gassed eyes, where are we? Have we changed any?

[freshwest]

30. +1

[annabanana]

18. This excellent article points up one of my BIGGEST BEEFS with the right wing meme...

There is nothing that you have to work HARDER at than living poor in
America.

Lazy poor people are DEAD people.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

50. " Lazy poor people are DEAD people."

I'm going to use that.

[Orrex]

19. Magnificent article! Debunks the "personal responsibility" meme of self-declared GOP bootstrappers.

I've seen more than a few here on DU who would do well to take this information to heart, too.

[valerief]

20. It isn't that Mittfalca doesn't know this. HE DOESN'T GIVE A SHIT. nt

[WinkyDink]

23. Thank you! NO amount of argument will make a dent or move him, because he DGAS!!

[valerief]

24. Right. I hate the phrase "out of touch." He's not out of touch. He DGAS!!!!

[Care Acutely]

21. K & R and onto my Facebook

[SheilaT]

25. Sometime in the 1990's there was a series on

NPR, Morning Edition I think, about the working poor. I no longer recall any details except this: At the very end the reporter said that the problem with being poor was that you had no money. You had no money to afford a reliable car, which often meant you couldn't reliably get to a job. If you had a car and it broke down, you didn't have the money to get it fixed. And so on.

I have never forgotten that.

I've been relatively poor at various points in my life, but never on the edge of homelessness, and never without reliable transportation. Which means, in a certain profound sense I've never really been poor.

I have also observed many times that the hardest working people out there are the poor. They're the ones working two or three jobs, struggling to pay the bills, keep a roof overhead, and so on. People of privilege just don't get it.

[George II]

26. Excellent observations..

When I was in college (1970s), I drove a taxicab in NYC at night. I noticed that the nicest, most sincere, BEST tippers were the hard working blue collar passengers. They KNEW what it was like to hustle for a living, and they passed on that appreciation to others who worked hard.

On the other hand, the snarliest, most unfriendly and WORST tippers were those going to Sutton Place, Fifth Avenue, etc. It was almost like they begrudged having to spend 15 minutes or so in the same car as a lowly taxicab driver. In fact, one old woman that I drove to a ritzy address on the east side ran up a fare of $1.25. She gave me the fare and then dropped a nickel, then a second nickel, and finally a third nickle into the cup between the driver and passenger seats. I gave her back the $0.15 and told her "this probably means more to you than it does to me!"

Ever since, I've always gone out of my way to be an excellent tipper in restaurants, taxicabs, etc - knowing full well how hard these people (not "THOSE" people!) work and how much they need the extra few cents or dollars.

A little off topic, but I saw many of the same things you mentioned above in my younger days.

[JDPriestly]

27. K&R

[freshwest]

29. Ezra Klein, I love you. Thanks for bringing this here, Pampango.

[Raine]

31. Absolutely totally on point! nt

[spooky3]

32. Excellent piece. Maybe money can't buy you happiness, but it sure can reduce your stress levels.

[juajen]

33. His arrogance knows no bounds.

Imagine, his five boys served their country by helping him get elected? No military for those elite boys, just as there was none for him.

[ancianita]

34. THIS is why redistribution of labor value is NOt collectivism -- it's economies of scale...

in the world of human resources.

[awoke_in_2003]

35. I worked full time...

while doing a full time school schedule. It is VERY hard to do, and probably aged me considerably.

[avebury]

36. K&R nt

[Laelth]

37. Truth. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[tclambert]

39. Republicans: lazy, irresponsible people calling hard-working people lazy and irresponsible.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

40. And the fools on Morning Joe

are pushing the 47% entitlement meme....It's like they haven't heard a word about just who falls into that 47% category. Joe the Schmoe actually said they don't contribute to the nation and listed schools as one of those entities not supported by the 47%...since when have federal income taxes been the sole source of funding for schools?

[myrna minx]

41. Thank you for posting.

[Pachamama]

42. Excellent article...what disturbed me though more than the accuracy of which Ezra Klein describes...

....Mitt Romney and his attitudes towards the 47%, are the mean and ignorant comments being left about the article there on Bloomberg. Where do these people come from? Are these people even human? Its sickening....

[liberal N proud]

43. People like Romney are not capable of understanding the 47%

They have never been there and most likely never will, therefore they have no desire to understand the lives these people have to endure.

More importantly, Romney has no compassion what so ever. He is as cold hearted as a James Bond villain.

[Marrah_G]

44. In Romney's world if a person can't find a job and feed themselves...

... they should be responsible and just find a spot to lay down and die.

[PD Turk]

45. We can't put our bills on auto-pay

Have to sit down every month and arrange them by cutoff date, spend hours on the phone making payment arrangements. My wife spends a lot of time clipping coupons and looking through the sales and planning shopping trips around them.

Mitt and Ann have people to do all that pedestrian class stuff for them. They have no clue what our lives are like .

[treestar]

48. K&R

So well said.

[malaise]

49. MUST READ

Rec

[Laurajr]

51. this article gave me flash back and tears

what I remember as a single mother raising 4 kids:

doing laundry for 5 with No dryer hanging clothes outhside 4 seasons a year
car breaking down on busy road in winter with twins 6 months old...no money to fix it
finding creative ways to make mac and cheese 5 night a week
working full time, raising 4 kids alone, taking college classes, waking up to study at 4 in the morning because that was the only time I could find quiet
living in my mom's basement with 4 kids for 3 years
working 2 jobs to save up for a home for those kids

and this is how a lot of people live who don't have stocks they can sell off a little at a time...

I feel stronger for it and more appreciative and the main thing is I HAVE EMPATHY FOR OTHER PEOPLE and empathy is what Romey lacks because he never lacked for anything

[kestrel91316]

53. + 5 brazillion

[Nikia]

54. Being well off is never having to consider the price of anything you buy at the grocery store

I am always amazed how people will be so critical of what people on food stamps buy while asserting that they are dumb and/or lazy to need them in the first. People on food stamps and others with limited budgets have to work hard to decide what they can afford to buy and what they can't. They have to check the sales and coupons. There might be a non cheap item that they like that they can only buy when its on sale. If they go really cheap everything else, they might be able to buy one higher priced item that they like.
People that are well off buy whatever they feel like at the grocery store whenever they want. It is something that they don''t have to worry about. Of course, people like the Romney's can buy pretty much anything that they want, which makes things even easier.