Romney Needs To Hear

339

To The Editor:
Romney’s lack of compassion for the poor parallels his lack of knowledge. 

Mitt Romney’s latest insensitive comment about the poor is yet another indication of his total lack of knowledge of who the poor are, how many there are, and how they got there.

Saying that he’s not concerned about the poor because we have a “safety net” is objectionable for a host of reasons. To begin, the safety net he refers to is woefully inadequate for many to live on and is becoming more inadequate due to reductions in social programs during this recession.
One gets the sense from Romney, and Newt Gingrich for that matter, that the status of ‘poor’ necessarily represents a failure, in contrast to the ‘success’ of those at the top. But let’s not forget how so many Americans became poor and unemployed— the consequences of a severe recession caused not by the poor themselves, but rather by government policies and weak regulation coupled with corporate greed and excess. Can’t these candidates recognize this and show some empathy for the millions who have suffered, largely at the hands of the powerful and ‘successful,’ in other words, ***ITALSpeople like them?**ENDTALS 

When Romney goes on to say he’s only worried about the other 90 percent or 95 percent who aren’t rich or poor, this again reveals his ignorance. Just those living below the poverty level comprise fully 15 percent of Americans, and most researchers believe the true number of poor is much higher.

Finally– and this hardly seems necessary to say but apparently Romney needs to hear it– as I understand it, the poor would vastly prefer decent opportunities to work over any safety net. So we need government and corporations to stop destroying the jobs that people so depend on
Tony Giordano
Fair Haven