{"id":6122,"date":"2012-01-05T15:38:37","date_gmt":"2012-01-05T23:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=6122"},"modified":"2012-01-07T01:58:39","modified_gmt":"2012-01-07T09:58:39","slug":"mitt-romney-fails-world-economy-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=6122","title":{"rendered":"Mitt Romney Fails World Economy 101"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Republican presidential candidate relying the most on a resume of financial acumen to propel him into the White House is undoubtedly Mitt Romney (or R*Money, as his Highlife Homies call him). But as his first post-Iowa campaign event in New Hampshire shows, he may not be able to live up to the hype. From the National Journal<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“One man asked about the growing gap between rich and poor in America. Romney essentially said that it could be worse, and challenged the crowd to name a country where the average income is higher than in the United States.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First of all, there are ten countries<\/a> that have a higher average income than the U.S., including Norway and Qatar. But that’s beside the point. The average income says nothing about income inequality. If I were in a room with Bill Gates, the average net worth of that room would be about $25 billion dollars, of which my contribution would be negligible. The United States is home to several billionaires whose presence warps the average income scale.<\/p>\n

A more relevant fact is that the 400 richest Americans control more wealth than the bottom 150 million combined. There’s your wealth gap. What’s more, on income inequality<\/a> the U.S. ranks 18th out of the 20 richest countries:<\/p>\n

Click to enlarge
\n\"Decadence<\/a><\/center>
\n<\/p>\n

Romney, the man who believes that corporations are people<\/a>, chose the cowardly route and dodged the substance of the question. It was also a bit arrogant of him to expect the crowd to have come to the event with data on the world’s average incomes and then claim victory when they didn’t dispute his evasive premise. Which is a good thing because the facts didn’t support his premise.<\/p>\n

Finally, the event was also an opportunity for Romney get a bootlicking from his newest fan, John McCain. After declaring his endorsement, the exceedingly “senior”<\/em> senator from Arizona introduced the former Massachusetts governor as “President Mitt Romney.”<\/em> Just a slight reality tilt. I’m sure he’ll be fine.<\/p>\n