America’s workers are existing on the edge of financial disaster: 40 percent say they live paycheck to paycheck, according to a recent CareerBuilder survey. Worse, 37 percent say they sometimes need to rely on the next payday to make ends meet. Although the percentage of those literally living for payday has decreased from 42 percent in 2011 and from 46 percent in 2008, the height of the recession, this is not good news.

In addition, the survey found:

Mitt Romney likes to cite his experience as a businessman as qualifying him to be president.

A new website takes a close look at Romney’s participation in the corporate world—his many years as CEO of the hedge fund Bain Capital. The closer you look, the uglier it gets.

This is a cross-post by Sara Jerving of the Center for Media and Democracy’s PR Watch.

When Dave Schumacher, 51 years old, lost his job in 2009 in U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan’s hometown of Janesville, Wis., he wasn’t alone. Schumacher drove trucks for a supplier company that served the General Motors (GM) SUV plant, the economic heartbeat of this blue-collar town. GM consolidated production in Texas and Mexico.

When the four-million-square-foot GM plant in the southern part of town closed in 2009 after a series of layoffs, it took with it the jobs of some 2,800 employees, the single most significant economic blow inflicted upon any Wisconsin community since the economic collapse of 2008. But it wasn’t just GM workers who lost their jobs, the closure caused a ripple effect of business closings and layoffs in the area, leaving an ill-equipped safety net supporting the workers who remained in the community. 

Captain America wouldn’t take kindly to someone raking in U.S. taxpayers’ dollars and then turning around and shipping American jobs overseas. Neither does the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM). But that’s exactly what Marvel Entertainment did with the musical score for its blockbuster, "The Avengers," and that’s why AFM members today will picket the Wilmington, N.C., location where Marvel (a Walt Disney Co. subsidiary) is shooting "Iron Man 3."

What is it with Republicans in Congress and outsourcing jobs?

We know Mitt Romney loves to outsource jobs (not to mention raise taxes on the middle class).

Now, House Republicans are using bait-and-switch tactics to lure the public into believing that by outsourcing Amtrak jobs, they will reduce government waste. In reality, notes the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department (TTD):

these lawmakers will hurt transportation safety while taking your tax dollars and subsidizing corporations.

The business model on which Mitt Romney built his private-equity, outsourcing career and fortune at  Bain Capital “has made our economy weaker and our society more unequal; it has hollowed out our tax base, and it has wreaked havoc on our communities,” said the AFL-CIO Executive Council in a statement from its August meeting this week in Washington, D.C.

Those of us in the middle and working classes will see our taxes raised big time if Mitt Romney is elected president, according to a new report released today by the Center for America Progress at a day-long event examining Romney’s proposals. Romney is proposing a set of so-called tax reforms that would increase taxes for 18 million working families, meaning an average income couple with two kids would pay $850 per year more in taxes.

In sharp contrast, Romney would gain $4.5 million in tax cuts in just the first year, and rake in more than $100 million in tax breaks over his lifetime (click chart at left to expand).

At a time when creating jobs in this nation is top priority, Mitt Romney is running for president on a record in which Massachusetts under his years as governor was 47th in job creation. Worse, Romney apparently didn’t care—when state customer service call center jobs were outsourced to India, Romney vetoed legislation to stop the practice.

This and more info on the Romney record are available at our new Meet Mr. 1% website.

Given the choice between supporting American workers or the corporations that ship U.S. jobs overseas, Senate Republicans sided with the job exporters today and blocked a vote (56-42) on the Bring Jobs Home Act. That’s not a surprise to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.):

It's no surprise Republicans are on the side of corporations making big bucks sending American jobs to China and India. After all, their presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, made a fortune outsourcing jobs, too.

Some people get rich the old-fashioned way—hard work. Mitt Romney—Mr. 1%—got rich the new-fashioned, wrong way. As head of Bain Capital, he’d swoop down on companies like Ampad and GS Industries, pull out tens of millions of dollars in dividends, declare bankruptcy and kill thousands of jobs.

And that’s just the part of the story of how Romney got rich the wrong way. Check out our new Meet Mr. 1% website for a closer look.