It looks like Mitt Romney’s strong suit isn’t pubic speaking. If you haven’t heard by now, you certainly will soon, about the video in which Mitt Romney is seen downplaying the importance of the 47% of Americans who he thinks are dependent on entitlements and will never vote for him. The video is reminiscent of the “you didn’t build that” video and I am sure the media will portray this one however they like – just as they did with the Obama comments.
I think there’s a deeper underlying battle brewing here. It’s a poisonous and deeply destructive form of class warfare that attempts to attribute a higher degree of importance to some people than to others. It has been seen throughout the campaigns in the form of the “job creator” debate. And I think both sides lack balance in these discussions. The idea of trying to attribute more importance to the labor class over the capitalist class (or however you want to describe the different classes) skews the balance and tends to result in extremist views where one side claims the “job creators” are more important than anyone else and therefore deserve the policy focus (or vice versa). The result of this sort of ideology is misguided policy.
The reality is that consumers and producers are two sides of the same coin. They do not live independently of one another. And they do not survive without one another’s help. In these debates we have to better understand the balance here and the important interconnectedness of this economic relationship. These are two sides of the same coin and most people are intent on trying to prove how one side of the coin is more valuable than the other side. I won’t regurgitate the conversation from a few weeks ago about the “real job creators” (see here), but where’s the balance in politics these days? Oh, right. centrists like myself are part of the “cult of balance” and we‘re destroying the country. If you’re not an extremist on one side I guess you’re not contributing to the ideological discussions. And after all, who needs balance when extremism is doing such a fine job destroying this great nation?
Mr. Roche is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Discipline Funds.Discipline Funds is a low fee financial advisory firm with a focus on helping people be more disciplined with their finances.
He is also the author of Pragmatic Capitalism: What Every Investor Needs to Understand About Money and Finance, Understanding the Modern Monetary System and Understanding Modern Portfolio Construction.
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