" I'm Not Concerned About Poor People..."

" I'm Not Concerned About Poor People..."

Woke up this morning late, needing to head off to a meeting, but as is usual, had my bedroom television set on, tuned to CNN, and as I awoke to a new day, I hear Mitt Romney saying, "I'm not concerned with the very poor. We have a safety net there." This from a man that lives on $36,000 a day...would he be singing a slightly different tune if he knew what it was like to raise a family of four on $1,833.00 per month, which comes out to around $61 each day?  Has he really looked at the cost of living almost anywhere in America, and compared that cost of living to our supposed "Safety Net" for the poor?

In the county I live in, rent and heat combined in what is considered to be affordable housing is considered a bargain at $950 a month.  So, right out the door, that average poor family which Mitt Romney could care less about has their budget for the month cut down to $833.00  Looking at say Time Warner Cable and their one year special for phone, cable and internet, there is another $110 a month...it is actually $99 but you have to add in all those government fees and taxes which pushes it up.  Factor in say an average monthly electric bill of around $75 and that family living on the edge of poverty now has only  $698 on which to cover all their other monthly expenses.

We all know food is going to be a big ticket item in the budget.  A gallon of milk is four dollars, and even chopped meat on sale these days is running around $3.89 a pound, with even the lowest grade steaks starting at $6.99 a pound.  A box of cereal is four dollars, and even a half a gallon of Orange Juice on sale cost around three bucks.  Two kids, two adults, each eating three meals a day is 84 meals a week.  Lets say they are eating SUPER CHEAP....on average, lets say 1.50 a person per meal for food.  That comes out to one hundred and twenty four dollars a week just for food times the typical four weeks in the average month for a food budget of $504 dollars, leaving them just $194 each and every month for everything else.

What is in that everything else.  Well, if the family is lucky, they have an old piece of shit car that hopefully is fairly reliable, but still needs gasoline at around $3.60 a gallon.  Think it a fair assumption that said family would use ten gallons of gasoline a week running kids around, going grocery shopping, and driving to and from a minimum wage (or just above it) job at Walmart.  Four weeks is forty gallons of gas means another dip into that tight budget of $144.  Not to worry, they still have another $50 left for the incidentals like soap, shampoo, toilet paper and the rest....OH FUCK...one of the kids gets sick, comes home early from school with a very bad cold, or even worse the flu.  Have you priced cough medicine lately, not to mention the cost of a visit to the doctors.  Two kids...they run through things like SHOES...hello, they are growing like weeds, and even sneakers at Walmart these days are going to set you back $20-$30 bucks a pair.  Socks, underwear, and the occasional new pair of blue jeans because the old ones don't fit any more.

Your callous remark Mr. Romney shows average Americans just how out of touch with our reality you really and truly are.  Yet, you want us to trust you to turn this country around, want us to believe that you both know and feel our pain.  I don't think so.  You may show up at campaign stops wearing a pair of blue jeans, doing your best to act like one of us, but lets be honest, YOU ARE NOT, and NEVER WILL BE.