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Yes, I know how much it sucks. I’ve fired a lot of people like you.
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I liked Mitt Romney’s convention speech. And I’ve always been impressed with Romney’s business acumen.
But one line of Romney’s speech did jump out as an eyebrow-raiser given Romney’s prior profession and tax and policy priorities.
In the middle of a section of the speech aimed at the middle class that might have been summarized as “I feel your pain,” Romney said the following:
…when you lost that job that paid $22.50 an hour with benefits, you took two jobs at 9 bucks an hour and fewer benefits.
In Romney’s prior profession—corporate consulting and company-restructuring—eliminating jobs that pay $22.50-an-hour-plus-benefits in favor of $9-per-hour jobs or, better yet, no jobs, is generally viewed as a shrewd money-making move, not a bummer.
And I am confident that Romney’s Bain Capital helped eliminate thousands upon thousands of those jobs over the years.
And it’s not as though Romney’s stated presidential policy plans address the loss of $22.50-an-hour-plus-benefits jobs. On the contrary, Romney’s policies are designed primarily to put more cash in the hands of companies and investors, not in the hands of folks who are working two $9-an-hour jobs. Romney is certainly not proposing any huge hikes in the minimum wage or encouraging companies to pay their workers more or suggesting tax changes designed to incent increases in hiring and compensation or anything.
So as one Twitter user observed last night—Paul Begala, I think—when Romney spoke that line, what most Americans probably heard was this:
When I laid you off from that job that paid $22.50 an hour, you took two jobs!
SEE ALSO: That Romney Line People Are Outraged About Actually Got At A Profound Truth