Money troubles and humble living according to Ann Romney

You know what's annoying... when people who want for nothing try to make it sound like they struggled through money problems. Some rich people are so greedy, they want your sympathy too! Case and point Ann Romney: Marie Antoinette thinks she's Cossette! These quotes were taken from a Boston Globe article from 1994, when Mitt was making his US Senate run vs. Teddy K. The Romneys were not well known in MA at the time, so I guess this was Ann's attempt to endear themselves to the working-class New Englanders?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/16/1083802/-Ann-Romney-s-tale-of-struggling-We-learned-hard-lessons-living-off-our-stock-portfolio

I'm sorry for harping on poorly chosen words uttered decades ago, but stuff like this is ignorant and disrespectful to the people who actually do have to live with hardships. That's one thing that money can't buy (in America at least) - no matter how much you exaggerate, lie, and reframe your own narrative, you can't pretend to be a self-made man if you're not. They could have given away all their assets and tried to make something from nothing to see what they were really made of. But that is just too hard and risky (though it's knows as "reality" for most humans). It must chafe them so much to have to campaign against an actual self-made man who is a better communicator to everyday Americans and is generally better liked by them (and he is the POTUS). That is the difference between a real rags-to-riches story and a poser. The real deal doesn't feel the need to shove his/her story down our throats until we shower them with admiration (we may forgive Obama's self-promoting books because he was trying to launch a national political career at the time). The real deal is grateful for his/her success, and wants to give back so others can have it too. Conversely, a poser feels entitled, egocentric, and superior. The rich love judging and psychoanalyzing the poor to make themselves feel better, so I am just trying to return the favor (not that I am or speak for the poor). I know I haven't struggled much financially in my life, so I don't act like I did.  It's not a difficult concept to grasp. And for one's biggest struggles, or triumphs for that matter, there is a certain dignity in keeping it private unless there is some edifying, inspirational purpose - and winning a campaign to "save America" (i.e. help rich people) probably isn't a valid reason.

I know that millions of poor people will end up voting for Mitt in November, but I hope not a single one of them votes because they truly believe that the Romneys care about their plight and will make their lives better. Well to be fair, I don't think the Romneys are cruel a-holes, and they probably do care about the suffering of the poor - to the extent that most Americans care about Darfur. We feel bad, but not enough to lift a finger about it, because we have higher priorities (like shopping and dressage). Also if you don't understand a problem, it's hard to truly care about it.  

So getting back to Ann's speech about their student days at BYU... I think most students are short on cash (plus it's not like the cost of tuition and living in UT back then was terrible). There's a certain romance to being a "starving student", and it can be liberating. But for millions of students now facing much more daunting costs, family constraints, and uncertain futures, it's a big deal. They take out loans with crappy terms or work several part-time jobs, but not the Romneys. They were so poor in their youth that Mitt needed to sell his American Motors stocks (gifts from daddy, probably bought at employee discount) to pay the bills! Ann recounted the story like a true out-of-touch aristocrat. And for the record, Ann is the daughter of a Michigan industrialist turned mayor. She first met Mitt at an exclusive private school. Les Miserables indeed!

Some highlights from the article:

- Neither one of us had a job, because Mitt had [stocks]. (Ah, so they didn't work because they didn't NEED to, not because they couldn't find a job like many of the 25M unemployed today whom Mitt claims to fight for)

- [Mitt's dad] invested Mitt’s birthday money year to year — it wasn’t much, a few thousand... (Aw what a meager bday gift, especially in 1960's dollars)

- Five years later, stock that had been $6 a share was $96 and Mitt cashed it. (I thought this was supposed to be a sob story! She just couldn't resist bragging about their capital gains - of course in those days they had to pay a 35% tax rate for long term)

- We were living on the edge, not entertaining. (They were so poor that Ann was too ashamed to host dressage parties)

- Right after Mitt graduated in 1975, we had our third boy and it was about the time Mitt’s first paycheck came along. So, we were married a long time before we had any income, about five years as struggling students. (Hm, 3 kids with no steady paycheck - is Ann a "welfare mom" who needs to learn, as Mitt said, "the dignity of work"?)

- ...I don’t even consider myself wealthy, which is an interesting thing, it can be here today and gone tomorrow. (this quote was uttered more recently. So how much net worth does it take to be wealthy then, a billion? And "interesting" is not the first word I would use to describe that comment)

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In the current campaign season she's changed her tone a bit:

"Look, maybe I haven't struggled as much financially as some people have," she said recently on Fox News. "[But] I can tell you — and promise you — that I've had struggles in my life, and Mitt and I have compassion for people that are struggling." -NPR

Does compassion for struggling people entail endorsing the most draconian budget in modern US history that slashes social services spending (that millions literally depend on for survival and social mobility) in order to fund tax breaks for the wealthy and big businesses? Yes, their humble roots at BYU certainly shaped their future values.