Neither the media nor his rivals may be in the mood to do so, but we should give Mitt Romney a break over his inartful Monday quote: “I like to being able to fire people who provide services to me.” Or at least half a break.
Sure, the line plays into the narrative that Romney, who made his fortune in private equity, takes a Mr. Burns-ish glee in putting people out of work while living high on the hog. But when you take the larger context into consideration, it’s clear Romney was talking about something different and far less sinister. Still, the line is somewhat problematic — largely because it reveals that Romney’s sense of the working of a very important market bears little resemblance to reality. And it’s a market that he knows an awful lot about.
Go back and read (or watch) the whole quote. Romney was talking about health insurance, and why he favored a situation under which individuals — not companies and the government — would be responsible for purchasing and owning health insurance policies. Doing so, he argued, would empower consumers and force insurers to be responsive to them. “I want individuals to have their own
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