My Dad and Mitt Romney Are Alike: Both Like To Save Money

Yesterday, Josh Romney made a statement about his family that has a lot of people talking: 

"My dad has more energy than anyone I've ever seen," Josh Romney said. "He is also tremendously cheap."

As children in Belmont, Massachusetts, the boys said they learned not to leave the tap water running too long, or they would get a rebuke from their father, who was in the process of building the venture capital powerhouse Bain Capital.

"Congress would learn pretty quickly that they're not going to get money from my dad either," Josh Romney said.

My father, who is an attorney,  is the same way.  My Dad's idea of going out to get lunch or dinner is to get one of those cheap 99 cent hamburgers that most fast food chains offer.  Every now and then, we'll go to a nice restaurant and eat good food.  Just as Mitt Romney rebuked his kids if he left the tap water running too long,  whenever I've come home to visit my parents, my Dad will rebuke me if I've let the clothes dryer run longer than he thinks is necessary and he will turn off the machine in mid cycle if he thinks the clothes are sufficiently dry. 

Mitt Romney and My Dad are children of parents who lived through the Depression and World War II. In fact, my grandparents  and my father were Dutch immigrants who came to America after World War II  As a result, those who lived through these tough years in America's history scrimped and saved on everything they could. They also grew up in households where they didn't have a lot of money growing up and became affluent only after years of hard work. 

A few years ago, my Dad bought me two books for me to read. He wanted me to read The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy and Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth. One of the most important and fascinating facts about wealthy people is that they became rich not by living lavishly but by living prudently in which they save money when they can and buy items cheaply whenever possible. As a result, the real secret to financial success isn't having a high power paying job or a business that rakes in millions in cash but living within your means or well below your means.

I think Mitt Romney and My Dad are trying to instill in their children the value of not wasting time, resources and money because that's what they learned from their parents. These are good lessons that people need to learn regardless if they are rich or poor. But more importantly, these are lessons that our elected officials need to learn and I think Mitt Romney would be just the man to help Congress become better stewards of the People's money.

The 53% of America Are Responding To The 99% Protesters

The Blaze had an article up that I want to repost in its entirety. Read it below: 

Meet The 53%. Who are they?  The term 53% refers to the people who are actually paying taxes for themselves and the rest of the country.

The 53% is a group of responsible young people organizing across the country. However, this group is not camping out in parks around the country and demanding the entire capitalist system be destroyed. These men and women have jobs (most of them work at more than one job in order to make ends meet), but they are talking about attending the Minneapolis Occupy Wall St. protest scheduled for today – Friday, October 7th.

Here’s a statement from their web page;

So, like, when you’re, like, community organizing for solidarity and stuff, it’s totally cool to have this little hashtaggy thingy when you’re on twitter, so other people, like, totally know what you’re talking about and stuff. So if you’re, like, totally gonna spread the word about being one of the 53% of people who actually, like, pay taxes in America and don’t just, like, hang out protesting stuff all day… like, here’s the hashtaggy thingy. See you at the protest!   #iamthe53

Filmmaker Mike Wilson (the man who gave us “Michael Moore Hates America“) maintains the page. We spoke with Wilson this morning and he explained that the 53% tumblr page came from his brain and the clever minds of his pals, Erick Erickson of Red State and Josh Trevino.

Reports out of Minneapolis say that a protest is expected today in front of the Government Plaza in downtown Minneapolis. The movement states they are going to try and reclaim and rename this area “The People’s Plaza.” Members of the 53% have mentioned that they will be in attendance to offer a counter opinion to the protest.

As we were talking, Wilson explained that he was loading up his camera and headed to the Minneapolis protest to capture it on video. The Blaze will link to Wilson’s coverage as it comes in.

Mike Wilson told us the group was in the very early stages of organizing, but it is happening online – mostly because they have jobs, families, and a sense of personal responsibility. And the 53% have responded to the people alleging to represent 99% of the country. Based on these photo messages, the 99% is patently wrong in their claim.

While the 99% protesters are angry at the 1% of Americans who have accumulated a lot of wealth through their own hard work, they forget about the 53% Americans (which includes the 1%) who pay taxes that pays for the government services that the 47% of Americans enjoy yet pay no taxes for. 

If there is any unfairness or inequality, its the fact that 47% feel that they have no obligation to pay taxes and feel that they are entitled to the benefits that the government provides that is paid for by the majority of people. 

What's worse is that they want more government services despite the fact that we can't afford it. And they want the 53% to pay more taxes to somehow cover up for the debt that is accumulating at the local, state and federal level. Not only that, but they want an increase in government control in every aspect of our lives and that the 53% happily accept the burden of more taxes in exchange for a reduction in our personal freedoms. 

The colonialist protested against England because they were getting taxed without having any voice in Parliament. Thus, the famous rallying cry, "no taxation without representation" helped launch the American Revolution. Yet, the "99% protesters" want representation without taxation. However, The 99% is really the 45% of America who do not pay taxes. Yet, they expect their demands to be heard and granted. 

This is unacceptable. It it is a perversion of the American way of governance.

The 53% expressed their anger and disgust in our government who have mismanaged the taxpayer's money to such an extent that we are massively in debt. That's what the TEA party was all about.

However, we need to make our voices heard again to remind the 45% that they do not represent America. Instead of occupying a plaza or park, lets liberate it this November 12th. 

Mitt Romney In The Lead In Online Advertising

Mitt Romney is investing more than his Republican presidential rivals in online ad and digital media spending.

With Barack Obama’s re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee hitting the $5 million mark in online ad related spending alone, Romney has spent more than twice as much as Michele Bachmann on online advertising and other digital efforts, and several hundred thousand dollars more than Herman Cain.

Through September, Romney spent more than $895,000 with digital consulting firm Targeted Victory, much of which most likely went towards online advertising such as display, search, and video ads.

Look below to see a break down of how various Republican 2012 candidates are spending for online advertising: 

GOP Presidential Candidates Online Ad/Marketing Spending April-September 2011
Candidate	Amount Spent on Online Ad/Marketing Related Buys
Mitt Romney	$895,229
Michele Bachmann	$394,508
Jon Huntsman	$100,971
Ron Paul	$95,436
Rick Santorum	$68,466
Buddy Roemer	$41,114
Herman Cain	$24,935 (not including video production spending)

You can go HERE to read the entire story.

Vindicated: Money Doesn't Buy You A Political Office

Its hard to remain humble when I'm right.

About a month ago, I wrote an article debunking the popular myth that rich political candidates can buy their way into office. David Brooks, writing an op-ed article for the New York Times explains how money in general has very little effect on political campaigns: 

Over the past few months, there’s been a torrent of commentary about political donations and campaign spending. This lavish coverage is based on the premise that campaign spending has an important influence on elections.

I can see why media consultants would believe money is vitally important: the more money there is the more they make. I can see why partisans would want to believe money is important: they tend to blame their party’s defeats on the nefarious spending of the other side. But I can’t see why the rest of us should believe this. The evidence to support it is so slight.

The evidence is clear. Money doesn't do much in politics. David Brooks points out that in this election cycle, Democrats have raised more money and spent more money than Republicans; yet, Republicans are expected to make the biggest political gains this November. According to the columnist, it doesn't matter if the money comes from campaign donations or from outside groups. 

One such outside group, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is often vilified by the President and is mentioned in David Brook's column, despite the fact that there is no evidence that they have donated any money to this political campaign. Yet, even if the claim was true, they only contribute to 10% of the overall money used for political campaigns according to Mr. Brooks.  Moreover, the jury is still out among Political Scientists on whether or not the cash spent by independent groups are any more effective than money spent by a political campaign.

The New York Times columnist explains that the reason why there is so much money in political campaign is not for the candidate's benefit but for the benefit of political strategist's bank account and the donor's ego:

So why is there so much money in politics? Well, every consultant has an incentive to tell every client to raise more money. The donors give money because it makes them feel as if they are doing good and because they get to hang out at exclusive parties. The candidates are horribly insecure and grasp at any straw that gives them a sense of advantage.

In the end, however, money is a talisman. It makes people feel good because they think it has magical properties. It probably helps in local legislative races where name recognition is low. It probably helps challengers get established. But these days, federal races are oversaturated. Every federal candidate in a close race has plenty of money and the marginal utility of each new dollar is zero.

In this day and age, money is almost never the difference between victory and defeat. It’s just the primitive mythology of the political class.

The claim that there's too much money in politics might be true. But the claim that money actually has an influence in political campaigns to such extent that a rich politician can buy a political office, win elections or influence voters is simply not true. However, that myth will never die. Politicians will continue to use this myth for political purposes. 

However, that doesn't mean you, the voter, have to believe the myth.