George Will’s ‘dead weight’ defense

George F. Will’s Dec. 14 op-ed column, “A capital crime,” castigated Newt Gingrich for suggesting that Mitt Romney return all the money he earned “by bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years at Bain Capital” (quoting Mr. Gingrich).

Mr. Will defended Mr. Romney, pointing out that companies like Bain are essential for wealth creation, which “often involves taking over badly run companies, shedding dead weight and thereby liberating remaining elements that add value.” All well and good, I suppose, if it weren’t for the fact that Republicans proudly (and tediously) portray themselves as “job creators.” Wealth creators, perhaps, but job creators, not so much.

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After all, the “dead weight” that Mr. Will referred to are real people who once held jobs now lost in the name of “creative destruction.” And while many people would cheer the creation of wealth, perhaps even at the expense of all that “dead weight,” should we not ask ourselves if it’s such a good thing for society to find so much of the resultant wealth concentrated in the hands of the top 1 percent (people such as Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Romney) rather than blindly accept the results as a given?

Maybe the unfettered capitalism so admired by Mr. Will and the “job creators” in the GOP ought to be tempered with a little judgment and common sense.

Ed Rader, Alexandria