Does Ann not realize that "stock" for most people is chicken broth?

[dballance]

No, Ann most of our parents were not rich people running a car company. So we didn't get a stock portfolio to help us through college. No, we got multiple jobs to make money and that took time away from our studies.

You are obviously the epitome of the rich bitch who never had to raise a finger. While I, on the other hand, worked two jobs to make money. I don't regret those jobs because they taught me a lot. You, on the other hand, only learned to be the privileged bitch you still are. Go ride your fricking horse.

[ananda]

1. or cattle.. as in livestock?

nt

[lpbk2713]

2. Something you load up in the warehouse with a fork lift.

... at minimum wage.

[riderinthestorm]

3. What is this referencing?? Can you possibly, please, provide SOME details? nt

(I hate OPs that just assume everyone is watching or reading whatever the same thing!)

[jsr]

4. She was starving and destitute:

"They were not easy years. You have to understand, I was raised in a lovely neighborhood, as was Mitt, and at BYU, we moved into a $62-a-month basement apartment with a cement floor and lived there two years as students with no income... Neither one of us had a job, because Mitt had enough of an investment from stock that we could sell off a little at a time."
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/08/fact-checking-ann-and-mitt-romneys-hardknock-early-years/56321/

[kestrel91316]

5. The HORROR!!! A BASEMENT apartment!! With - gasp - a cement floor!!!

Those poor dears.

I say send them to Haiti to live in a tin shack for a while so they can learn what REAL poverty and deprivation is.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

28. The farmhouse I grew up in....

had a basement with a dirt floor. There was a small concrete slab where the wood-burning furnace sat. Other than that, it was all dirt.

I lived there for eighteen years, yet somehow I survived.

[shireen]

49. i wonder if it was a concrete basement floor like this ...

http://www.atlantaconcreteartist.com/Basement-Floors.html


This is a more modern design, but in the 1960s, people already started staining concrete. It can look pretty good if done by a professional.

[Avalux]

6. "I was raised in a lovely neighborhood, as was Mitt"

Those words are very telling....she was accustomed to a certain lifestyle, she was entitled, yet there she was in a miserable basement apartment with a cement floor, living off of investment stock.

I can't imagine how horrible that was for her, poor thing must have been in shock, living like a commoner.

[jsr]

7. The threat of hunger was constant

Waiting for dividend checks was HARD. Besides, how can one trust the government? Those checks could have been delayed or misdelivered by sloppy government employees!

[Care Acutely]

31. Ann and Mitt "knew" that their neighbors and their neighborhood were below them

We should admire them for tolerating the humiliation of living among ordinary people all that time.

From a post I made before:

I grew up in a four room house. My parents paid $47 dollars a month on Dad's GI bill mortgage. I thought our neighborhood was LOVELY.

We kept our yard neat and clean. When the city forced us to install a sidewalk, Dad taught his 9 year-old girl how to dig it out, mark it off, pack the sand, and then mix, spread and finish cement. And when it snowed, we kept that neat and clean too. When I wanted to grow some flowers in front of the house, Mom took me to the public park, and we picked a few of the "dead-head" flower heads gone to seed and we planted those. I mowed the lawn. We didn't have air conditioning, but Dad made us a swamp cooler out of an old radiator. We had one 14" black and white TV.

We didn't have any rich-daddy gift of stock to sell off, but you know what? We did NOT, as apparently Mitt and Ann did, feel sorry for ourselves. We did not feel like we were "less than." While we always worked for more, we did not feel like our home, our neighborhood and our neighbors were below us.

Thanks to Presidents Clinton and Obama, at mid-life I found I was able to go back to school and move my family forward.

Forward. Yes, I like that word. Let's keep moving that way.

You go ahead and eat that cake Ann. I'm voting for Obama, and I'm PROUD of it, because he understands that poor people are lovely too. He understands that rising tides lift all boats and when you shore up the foundation, the whole house sits a little taller and most certainly stronger.

[A HERETIC I AM]

33. You know what? That is a PARTICULARLY charming post. Thanks. n/t

[Avalux]

37. The Romney's think those without a lot of money can't be happy.

Or maybe they think we don't deserve to be happy....your post is evidence that money has nothing to do with it. As Mitt said in that clip from several years ago: "When I was a kid I used to wonder if being rich and famous would make me happy....I can say that it has" (or something to that effect).

They equate money, power and 'stuff' with happiness. What a sad way to live.

[PatSeg]

8. "Stop it!"

Don't you know how hard it was? You must be part of the ungrateful 47% who can't see how wonderful the Romneys are.

[HopeHoops]

9. I had a summer job in college changing shit tanks (among other pleasant tasks) on RVs.

It also involved climbing around on their roofs at KOA campgrounds to re-seal the seams with what I remember being called "parlastic", but it was basically just clear rubber-like caulking. I got blisters from the burns caused by the heat of the metal. I'd have to repack wheel bearings, spray paint the propane tanks and wheels, work on the electrical systems, bust my hands up trying to get rusted bolts off to replace various things, and other stuff you could call "blue collar" work.

No, the rMoneys don't understand. They don't have a clue what the word "work" actually means.

[hello larry]

10. Wow, the venom is palpable.

Not good, Cupcake. Karma is a female dog. Don't speak like that of others. No matter one's income, everyone is worthy of respect. You make all so-called progressives look mean-spirited.

[WinkyDink]

11. Respect THIS, larry old salt.

[hello larry]

12. Can't see it.

[mac56]

41. Hello Larry

Been here since yesterday?!

Scolding us already?!

Dude, you waste no time.

[msanthrope]

18. "Everyone is worthy of respect?" No. No they are not. nt

[closeupready]

25. In my world, respect is earned.

Maybe you live in the twilight zone...?

[tavalon]

35. goodbye larry

[Blue Belle]

19. Geeze, Larry...

Calling us DUuuush Bags? Everyone is worthy of respect. B-Bye.

[Bozita]

14. You people just don't understand her!

[Enrique]

15. I hear she had only one horse

during those hard years.

[dkf]

16. And that's why most are screwed.

Those are the ones who will have nothing but social security. Or if they are lucky they have a pension which invested in stocks so they can stay completely disassociated from understanding the realm of investing.

If they kept their funds in the bank they didn't even keep up with inflation.

Celebrating not owning stocks is messed up.

[Gormy Cuss]

20. It's not celebrating, it's just noting a fact.

Many people don't own stock and will never own stock. In 2011 54% of Americans reported owning stock but that included stock in mutual funds and IRAs. (Gallup) So 46% don't own stock in any way.

Many people also don't have savings for retirement either, not because they're fiscally irresponsible but because they can't make ends meet. Social Security WILL be their only income.

[dkf]

30. I honestly do not understand this mentality.

If people treated investing ithe same way they treat putting money into social security they could do it. The secret is to treat it like funds you never had access to and had to make do without.

That's how I did it. I'm on track to replace 95% of my income and I've never noticed it.

I wonder how people think they can have any decent retired life if they don't save anything.

[riderinthestorm]

36. You've never been poor, that's obvious. You've also never had a life tragedy,

catastrophic injury or illness, or a child with a catastrophic injury, illness or mental illness, that took everything you own.

That's why you don't understand "this mentality" (fyi, poverty isn't a "mentality" nor is it something ANYONE chooses).

[dkf]

39. So that is everyone's situation? They have had a catastrophic event? All of them?

They were saving well on their way to a decent retirement and then they were wiped out?

[riderinthestorm]

48. Did I say everyone? No. I just re-checked, no I did not. I said SOME people

perhaps even MANY people have life events that throw them into poverty. Right now something like 50 million Americans live below the poverty line.

Some (many) people just have crappy jobs that force them to live paycheck to paycheck without any ability to fund a savings account let alone a 401k. IIRC from a recent article, something like 130 million Americans are one paycheck away from financial disaster (the working poor). That means a layoff or medical emergency like 2 weeks off with pneumonia or flu will throw them into poverty within weeks.

You've already said you don't understand this stuff. Why do you keep posting on these threads? Many smarter people than I have tried to explain this to you.

[smokey nj]

38. Since you admit you don't understand, it's probably best that you stay out of these discussions.

You clearly have no clue about what it's like for people who don't make a lot of money. You've never had a low-wage job and you don't know what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck. People in that situation CAN'T invest because everything they earn is wrapped up in survival. You should consider yourself fortunate that you don't know what it's like to live every day waiting for the other shoe to drop and stop judging folks who do.

[dkf]

43. My grandparents came to work on the plantations so I do not come from money

My parents survived on a single government worker's salary.

I've worked minimum wage summer jobs and saved it to survive during college.

I started at $16,000 a year and immediately funded my 401k.

Saving is part of who I am and where I come from.

[smokey nj]

44. Well bully for you. Again, some people barely make enough to survive in the present.

[smokey nj]

45. You said you never had a minimum wage job in another thread. So one of your posts is a lie.

http://sync.democraticunderground.com/10021258781#post12

[dkf]

46. Okay $5 bucks an hour which was $0.50 over the minimum wage.

I think that qualifies as close enough.

[smokey nj]

47. "Me neither...not even my summer job out of high school."

Doesn't seem like you considered it close enough when you wrote it.

[Gormy Cuss]

42. It's not a mentality, it's an economic reality.

If you don't earn enough money to save any of it, you don't have money to invest in stocks. That's the reality for many, many people.

Here's another reality: for people who have spent most of their earning years as working poor, retirement means a higher standard of living because of guaranteed health insurance via Medicare.

[dkf]

17. Does no one on this thread own stocks? Seriously?

[riderinthestorm]

21. Better question: how many 18 year olds entering college own a couple hundred thousand $$ of stock?

Did you dkf?

Regardless of what one owns NOW, that isn't what Dear Ann's referring to, she's referencing the stocks that Mitt was gifted by his dad as a teenager.

[dkf]

22. No I didn't. But from my first day I was eligible for my 401k I started investing.

My nieces and nephew have had stocks from their 1st year for their college fund.

We are not rich but we save, invest and plan. None of us ever made six figures, not even close.

[DevonRex]

24. Are you sure you're in the right place? Nt

[riderinthestorm]

26. Well then you, your nieces and nephew, and the Rmoneys have some things in common, stock

And most likely never have experienced the uncomfortable position of real poverty (and not the fake "poverty" of the Rmoneys). Have you ever eaten out of a dumpster for 1 or more meal/day? Scavenged uneaten food off your customer's plate to save and eat later? Stolen toilet paper out of public restroom? Lived in your car or on someone's floor because you had no other money for shelter? Worked 3 jobs to try to stay one step ahead of the $200k medical bills that were racked up when your child came down with leukemia? Had your 15 year old bike stolen that was the sole transportation to your job 5 miles away?

Many folks don't have access to a pension, 401 or enough $$ to save anything at the end of a paycheck despite working like dogs.

I'm glad you and yours rode the lucky train. I don't begrudge anyone their good fortune but I do resent when Ann Rmoney tries to portray her life as "tough" living on a couple hundred thousand $$$. Furthermore, it makes me a bit cranky when others try to imply that if a person just "saved, invested and planned", they too would have "stocks". For many folks life's tragedies intervene in the best laid plans.

[cr8tvlde]

27. Gifting is a way to transfer wealth. They say they didn't take any inheritance money

from their parents probably because most of the money was in stocks, bonds, trusts and such. And, I don't believe them anyway.

Ha! Prove they did...kind of like income tax returns.

[Retrograde]

29. It's all a matter of perspective

We're currently living off investments, just like the Romneys! (although our yearly averages don't even put us in their "middle class" bracket, it's enough to be comfortable). But we both attribute that to a lot of good luck along the way. We both put ourselves through college with a combination of scholarships, loans and jobs: we had about $100 between us when we graduated. But we were lucky enough to get jobs that paid well enough that we could put aside money for savings and investments - not something everybody can do.

Somehow I never felt as deprived or struggling or living on the edge as Ann Romney seems to have: maybe it was because I had the psychological safety net of (what seemed to me) a good job with a decent boss (it started at minimum wage, but the boss gave his student employees a $0.05 an hour raise every term. The paychecks would occasionally bounce but he always made good.)

[ieoeja]

40. Do you believe that most people play the market? Seriously?

You know what? I think you actually do.

Some people have a problem with that sort of thing. They see a person entering a bar at 7:00 in the morning, and can not possibly imagine that this person just got off work. I had a coworker express surprise when I mentioned this was my first 9-5 job. She actually thought that almost everyone had jobs that were officially 9a to 5p!

[LynneSin]

23. She makes Sarah Palin look likable

At least Sarah Palin knows about raising family on a budget although not much else.

[raouldukelives]

32. Some people consciously choose not to own stock, Ann.

Not to give a helping hand to the corporate takeover of our government (as much as that must displease your owners). Not to profit from increasing climate change or assist in the passing of Citizens United. To actually work to the leave the world a better place, Ann. Something you obviously care little about and something that is thrown out the window when you shake hands with a 401k.

[Honeycombe8]

34. What are you mad about? Did she say something about stock? nt