FLORENCE, South Car. - In a year that has seen a football player's name turned into a verb (to tebow), Mitt Romney has decided to provide a new definition for "not very much" money.
Romney had just revealed that he paid about 15% in income taxes on income generate primarily from investments made over the years when a reporter pointed out that the candidate must receive royalties from his book No Apology.
Romney was quick to respond.
"I got a little bit of income from my book, but I gave that all away. And then I get speakers' fees from time to time, but not very much."
A quick look at disclosure forms showed that the definition for "not very much" money for 12 months is exactly $374,327.
Harold Putnam of Florence, who retired last year after working as a janitor at South Florence High School for 34 years, pondered his own definition of "not very much."
"Hmmm," he said puffing on a cigarette, "not very much to me is $1,209 a month. Yep, 'cause that would be the amount of my Social Security check."
