Is It Fair to Call Romney a ‘Silver Spoon?’ |
| Is It Fair to Call Romney a ‘Silver Spoon?’ Posted: 19 Apr 2012 11:45 AM PDT There's only one insult worse for the rich than being called “rich.” That's being called “silver-spoon rich.”
So when President Obama mentioned in a speech yesterday that he wasn't born with a “silver spoon in my mouth,” the Romney campaign was quick to take offense and offer a counter-attack. “I'm not going to apologize for my dad and his success in his life,” Romney told Fox. “He was born poor and he worked his way to become very successful despite the fact that he didn't have a college degree.” This defense is slightly beside the point. The silver spoon remark doesn't refer to George Romney's self-made rise – it refers to Mitt's privileged birth. The argument is a bit like heiress Petra Ecclestone saying “I'm not a silver spoon. My dad earned the money he's giving me.” Yet the Obama comment strikes at the heart of a sensitive issue for the wealthy: How much of their success is truly self-made or how much was inherited? Did Romney start on second or third base and claim to have hit a home run? Or did he simply make best use of an education, values and work ethic to reach a level of success that was far beyond anything transferred by his family? Donald Trump, for instance, could well be considered self-made even though his empire started with his dad's real-estate business. So could David and Charles Koch, since their multi-billion-dollar business started with their father's company but grew under their management by quantum leaps. As for the Walton offspring, or the Mars family or the Johnson family, well they would be more purely silver spooners. Surveys show that more 75% of today's millionaires didn't inherit a material amount of money – thus defining themselves as “self-made.” It's unclear how much money Romney actually inherited. Given the fact that Mitt was already hugely wealthy by the time George Romney passed away in 1995, it's unfair to say that Mitt's financial success came from an inheritance. Being the son of a rich governor clearly bestows vast advantages and guarantees against failure. Yet Mitt attained a level of financial and political success that went well beyond the privileges of his birth. If he had truly followed the mold of the mid-West blue-blood, he might have become just another semi-rich banker, lawyer or real-estate owner instead of a governor and presidential candidate worth more than $200 million. Perhaps the term “silver spoon” is subjective – since it's virtually impossible to say how much of a person's success is owed to birth or character. How would you define “silver spoon”? Is it someone who inherits their money? Or is it someone who uses the advantages of their birth to achieve even greater success?
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