Iowa AFL-CIO President Ken Sagar on the Mitt Romney Campaign Visit to Des Moines:
(Des Moines IA.) As Mitt Romney visits Iowa and cities across the Midwest working people, retirees, jobless workers and other members of the 99% are speaking up, fed up with a campaign disconnected from realities. He and his investors made millions shipping U.S. jobs overseas and handing out pink slips to working people.
In advance of Mitt Romney’s speech tomorrow, Iowa AFL-CIO President Ken Sagar, Midge Slater with Iowa Alliance for Retired Americans, and Morgan Miller, a recent University of Iowa graduate will hold a press conference to welcome Mitt back to Iowa by taking a look at his business philosophy and what it would mean for our economy.
Mitt Romney has repeatedly cited his business experience as his chief qualification to be President, claiming he would use it to boost the economy, create jobs, and reduce the deficit. Romney’s business strategy wasn’t about strengthening companies and creating jobs for long-term economic growth. It wasn’t about investors and workers playing by the same set of rules, and it certainly wasn’t about creating an economy built to last by rewarding hard work and responsibility and strengthening the security of middle-class families.
In a career of buying and selling companies, Romney’s pattern was to reap quick profits for himself and his investors at the expense of workers and communities. Sometimes it meant sending American jobs overseas. Other times, it meant cutting wages and benefits. In Romney’s economic philosophy, CEOs and wealthy investors prosper by any means necessary, even when it meant companies failed and workers were left behind. Romney believes in two sets of rules – one for people like him, another for everyone else.
Mitt Romney wants to go back to the philosophy that created the economic crisis. Iowans want to move America forward – to an economy built to last, where hard work pays off, responsibility is rewarded, and everyone has a fair shot, does their fair share, and plays by the same rules.
“The more Iowans Meet Mr. 1%, the more we see the real Romney,” said Iowa AFL-CIO President Ken Sagar. “Romney’s support of the Ryan budget is proof that he does not care about the working class here in Iowa and across the country. Romney was a bully in high school and he was a bully in business raking in millions by slashing jobs, shuttering factories and devastating communities. American does not need more bullies; we need leaders who will work for good jobs, quality education and a stable economy. Mr. 1% and h is failed policies don’t work for 99% of us. Iowans demand better.”
In Iowa and across the state, working people are learning more about the choice we face this November and sharing this information in our unions, community groups and with friends and families. This video shows just a few of the glaring examples of how out-of-touch Mitt Romney is with working people. Watch the Meet Mr. 1% video here.
