The Romney plan that provides tax cuts for the top 1 percent doesn’t square with the math, and it doesn’t square with history.

The 1.35 million households in the top 1 percent have estimated tax cuts ranging between $83,000 and $105,000, according to recent estimates. Under the best circumstances, the Romney plan would provide $135 billion each year to the top 1 percent.

If all that money were invested in new ventures, 600,000 jobs might be added to our economy.

The Romney plan could take more than 35 years to find jobs for the 23 million currently unemployed, because the wealthy 1 percent do not all reinvest their tax savings in American jobs.

Some invest in offshore properties. Some invest in offshore businesses. Some invest in outsourced foreign workers. And many are waiting for the economy to turn around.

Recent history agrees with my numbers. Over the last 10 years, the top 1 percent has benefited with more than $1 trillion in accumulated Bush tax cuts. That $1 trillion did not stave off the collapse of the financial markets that exposed our unsustainable job market nor did it create replacement jobs that were lost during the great recession.

The $1 trillion did make the top 1 percent wealthier, however, with wealth consolidation levels not seen since the 1929 stock market crash.

Republican politicians are not stupid. They know that it will take a major shift in our business infrastructure to restore those lost jobs. It will take major investments in space exploration, energy, housing, bridge repairs, etc.

The big question is: Who is willing to step up to the plate and make the investments we need to get this country moving in the right direction? It does not appear to be the top 1 percent.

Peter Konieczko, Augusta