Mitt Romney's Advice to College Grads: Start Having Babies as Soon as Possible (dollar, rating)
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They did. It wasn't like they were a starving, struggling couple with no help from family. Both Mitt and Ann came from wealthy parentage.
Yup. Mitt's trust fund was plenty large enough for Mitt and Ann to live large while going to school. Mitt's a cheapskate, though, and lived below his family's standard of living until he was all graduated up.
Cheap' is relative. They never had to decide which bills needed to be paid first, and they never had to worry about paying for the family car- they always drove a new Rambler for as long as his father owned American Motors. Living downscale for Mitt is the life most of us live for all our lives.
Yup. Mitt's trust fund was plenty large enough for Mitt and Ann to live large while going to school. Mitt's a cheapskate, though, and lived below his family's standard of living until he was all graduated up.
Cheap' is relative. They never had to decide which bills needed to be paid first, and they never had to worry about paying for the family car- they always drove a new Rambler for as long as his father owned American Motors. Living downscale for Mitt is the life most of us live for all our lives.
I can find no evidence that the Romney's lived off of a trust fund.
In the late 1970's, university professors weren't making $100,000 a year. They probably could not afford to buy a house like Romney's for cash outright, and many wouldn't have been able to afford the mortgage on such a house.
I don't hate rich people, at all. I'm pointing out that the Romneys weren't living a meager existence. Many college students live in basement apartments. I lived in an attic apartment and in a basement apartment when I was in college. I also worked two jobs on top of going to school full-time. I respect that Mr Romney wasn't living high on the hog when he was at school, and that he is an astute businessman. I respect Mr Romney's faith, and I respect that he and his wife raised a family they can be proud of. But that doesn't mean that we cannot acknowledge that Mr Romney was born with many advantages, and that his wealth has insulated him from a lot of the issues that average Americans must face.
From your link: Year Built:1935 Last Sold:Aug 1978 for $81,000
80 grand for a house in '78 is what I'd consider reasonable. It's current value of 750K is outragous, IMO.
As far as living in a basement apartment, if you don't consider that living a meger existance, what DO you consider a meger existance? Cardboard box in the alley?
No doubt being born to wealthy parents makes you more privileged, but doesn't mean it removes your ability to empathize with the plight of the common man.
I can find no evidence that the Romney's lived off of a trust fund.
Where did he obtain the stocks that he and Ann lived off of when he was at BYU? He was born with advantages that most of us do not have. That's the simple truth. It doesn't make him a bad person. He seems like a very good person, as a matter of fact. He has morals and values. His work with the Olympics. The fact that he didn't accept a salary for being governor. The fact that he wanted to serve his country as President of the United States. These things demonstrate that he is a good person. He doesn't have to have been a poor man to be a good man. But he never was poor. He never lived a meager existence. And there's nothing wrong with pointing that out.
Romney made his own way in the world. He donated his inheritance.
No, he donated the EQUIVALENT of his inheritance 30 years after he got it. You'll notice he sure as hell invested and made a lot of money off of that inheritance. How do you think he got the money to start bain capital in the 1980's so soon after he graduated?
From your link: Year Built:1935 Last Sold:Aug 1978 for $81,000
80 grand for a house in '78 is what I'd consider reasonable. It's current value of 750K is outragous, IMO.
As far as living in a basement apartment, if you don't consider that living a meger existance, what DO you consider a meger existance? Cardboard box in the alley?
No doubt being born to wealthy parents makes you more privileged, but doesn't mean it removes your ability to empathize with the plight of the common man.
You seriously believe that Mitt Romney "empathizes with the plight of the common man"?
From your link: Year Built:1935 Last Sold:Aug 1978 for $81,000
80 grand for a house in '78 is what I'd consider reasonable. It's current value of 750K is outragous, IMO.
As far as living in a basement apartment, if you don't consider that living a meger existance, what DO you consider a meger existance? Cardboard box in the alley?
No doubt being born to wealthy parents makes you more privileged, but doesn't mean it removes your ability to empathize with the plight of the common man.
I consider it a meager existence when you have to choose between food and utility bills. I consider it a meager existence when you have to go to the landlord and explain that your car needed new brakes, so you're going to be late with the rent this month. I consider it a meager existence when the car breaks down and you end up walking six miles to work the next day. I consider it a meager existence when, at the end of the week, when you've paid all the bills and bought the groceries, you realize you don't have any money left to pay for gas for the car. I consider it a meager existence when you're sick, but you don't even entertain the idea of going to the doctor, because you can't afford it. I consider it a meager existence that when you go to the dentist for an abscess, you choose to have the tooth taken out, because you can't afford a root canal.
Last week I was working in my yard, and the little girls across the street came over to play with my dog. They casually mentioned that their electricity had gone out, and they were living without power for the weekend. Their mother didn't have the money to pay the electric bill. They don't have TV because their mother can't afford to pay for cable. Their yard hasn't been mowed for a month because their grandfather brings his mower over to do it, and he's been sick. They are barely scraping by. That's a meager existence.
Being born to wealthy parents makes you more privileged, because it comes with a set of advantages. Certainly it doesn't remove your ability to empathize, but it also means that you make a host of assumptions about life, and those assumptions don't always apply. It's great that Mr Romney found a way to fund his education without student loans. But you can't assume that everyone can do this because he did. He did it because he sold off shares of stock. How many high school kids have substantial stock portfolios that can be liquidated and pay for undergraduate and graduate school?
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