Romney is proof of my suspicion that if you give someone everything, they won't appreciate anything

[MrScorpio]

Someone much smarter than myself called it, "Knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing."

This is how he thinks, he's been handed his life on a platinum platter. This is the only way that he thinks of how other people, the working class, who pay into social contract safety net programs, only to use them later on in life… He thinks that these people are simply GIVEN these things without worth or merit.

Working people, who are the real engine of the economy, don't exist for him. Leveraged capital has the worth of Monopoly money to him. He can't conceive that ordinary people's very survival is in the mix here.

He literally cannot connect the dots.

I have never seen a more obtuse politician before in my entire fifty years on this planet.

[unblock]

1. his talents were uniquely and narrowly suited to extracting wealth through legal, destructive means.

he lacks many, many other skills necessary to be successful in other areas, particularly politics and governance.

[MrScorpio]

3. Exactly…

He has no idea how the Government works and has this idea that his skills at accumulating vast wealth somehow translates into knowing how to run it.

[renate]

6. that is EXACTLY right

I love your description--"legal, destructive means." It's so true. We're supposed to not criticize his wealth because it was gotten legally (well, most of it, except for the overseas tax havens), but it was so destructive. He's like a lawful-evil character in Dungeons and Dragons.

And because his unique and focused talent just so happens to be one that garners him hundreds of millions of dollars, we're supposed to think he must be smart. Luckily, I think his suggestions for making muffins healthier and keeping airplanes ventilated have disabused a few people of that idea.

[99th_Monkey]

2. ...and then Rmoney projects this inner ugliness onto others

less fortunate than him. .. like his demeaning view of "The 47%"

[MrScorpio]

4. Projection, exactly

Last night I was formulating an essay on how his projection is demonstrated throughout that Boca Raton hidden video.

It was thinking about getting a copy of the transcript and analyzing it.

I still may do that.

[99th_Monkey]

7. Projection: perhaps the most under-rated function of the psyche.

Last edited Mon Sep 24, 2012, 11:28 PM - Edit history (1)

You may want to check out this website of a friend of mine who's written a book
called "Dispelling Wetiko: Breaking the curse of evil" , which will be out in Jan. '13.

He's a life-long scholar of Jung, Buddhist practitioner. I was one of his editors
for his new book. He wrote an earlier self-published book called "THE MADNESS
OF GEORGE W. BUSH: A REFLECTION OF OUR COLLECTIVE PSYCHOSIS"

His work is definitely right down your alley, and his website has many articles,
which are available at no charge.
http://www.awakeninthedream.com/wordpress/

PS - don't be confused by the other "Wetiko" book on the website, as that was
an earlier version, condensed & self-published, not to be confused with the one
coming out in Jan under a division of Random House.

[GreenTea]

5. Agreed!

[MariaM83]

8. this is all just a game for him -- a $10,000 bet

He's conquered the business world. What's left?

Absolute power.

[XemaSab]

9. I've had this suspicion about rich people for a while

It's like the "self-esteem" movement in schools. If you tell a kid "You should feel proud just for being you," the kid knows that's bullshit and winds up feeling worse than he did before. But if you tell the kid "You should feel proud because your hard work at batting practice is really helping your little league team this season," then the kid really does have something to feel proud about and his self-esteem will improve.

Similarly, if a member of the idle wealthy goes to Tahiti for a week, they're not going to be as happy about it as a working-class person who saved up for the trip, because they haven't made the same investment in resources.

[Raine]

11. Rich people like the Kennedys were lucky that they had a father like ole Joe

who instilled a social conscience in them and the rest of us were lucky about that too.

[PoliticalBiker]

10. I agree...

it's much like kids...
if you get them a new bike every year, they won't learn to appreciate it
if you make them work for it or take care of it or they won't get another, they will put more value on it.
Rommy has been a silver spoon type his whole life
No appreciation for those that have to work for a living

[Spitfire of ATJ]

12. He acts like people are defined by their job and act like a job is a hobby....

He can't picture somebody grinning and bearing it to do a job they hate to support themselves. He looks at someone like a waitress as if all they think of themselves is to be a servant and they have no ambition to be anything else. And it doesn't matter if they did anyway because they aren't good enough to be anything else. He's the type to be shocked to find out they were a former Vice President at Bank of America before a mass layoff and HAS to do the job to pay the bills.

I mean,...this is America,....people can be whatever they want to be so what they are is what they are and it's their decision be losers.