Potato, Puh-tato, Victims, Redistribution

Much of the campaign talk this week surrounded a leaked video of Mitt Romney at a fundraiser in May in which he said 47 percent of the country will vote for Obama "no matter what," describing the group as “dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it."

The clip was released by liberal magazine “Mother Jones.” Amid the media fire, the Romney camp announced it stands behind the principles of the statements but said the comments were “inelegant.” Meanwhile, 1998 footage of then-Illinois-State-Senator Barack Obama addressing the concept of the redistribution of wealth also showed up on the campaign trail.

“I think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution because I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody's got a shot.  How do we pool resources at the same time as we decentralize delivery systems in ways that both foster competition, can work in the marketplace, and can foster innovation at the local level and can be tailored to particular communities,” Obama said in the video.

The Romney campaign quickly attacked the resurfaced remarks, with the GOP candidate tying the idea of redistribution back to Obama’s now infamous “you didn’t build that,” speech.

“This idea of redistribution follows from the idea that if you have a business you didn’t build it, someone else did that.  It’s the same concept … The government is responsible for everything that’s gone on here.  And therefore government can take and give as it chooses,” Romney said at a fundraiser in Atlanta.

FOX Small Business Center is all ears for the small business news being made on the 2012 campaign trail. Come here each Friday for a weekly recap of the Obama and Romney campaigns’ latest comments and projections regarding your livelihood and American Dream realities.