For a party that prides itself on representing big business, Republicans' last two leaders seem to have had little business acumen when it comes close to home.
Former Governor Mitt Romney does not know where his investments are. Former presidential candidate Senator John McCain did not know how many houses he owned.
Romney's responses to questions about his 'unusual' (for a presidential wannabe) financial behavior are rather curious. On the one hand, he claims with all righteousness that he pays all his U.S. taxes "as appropriate" and that everything is legal and proper. On the other hand, he alleges he knows nothing about his investments at all.
How, exactly, is Romney so certain that he pays all his U.S. taxes if he does not even know where his funds are located? For that matter, how can he not know where they are located if he signs his tax returns that detail all of his holdings?
And what does the qualifier "as appropriate" mean?
Romney's trusts may, indeed, be "blind." But, they are certainly not deaf.
Romney's Swiss bank account, closed in 2010, raises troubling questions. Had this been the only overseas account he had, one might have concluded that the trustee, Romney's personal lawyer, had some inkling that Romney might run for president, and that a Swiss bank account might not be the greatest idea.
But having other secret accounts in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, also very well-known tax dodges, is no great shakes for a presidential candidate either. So, why did they just close the Swiss account?
Under President Obama, the stock market has grown by more than 50%, and profits for many firms are at all-time highs, yet he is constantly vilified by those who have prospered. Although he has taken a few swipes at Wall Street behavior, so did President George W. Bush, yet they still love him despite the economic collapse.
One reason that Wall Street does not show the president much love is that his administration and Senator Carl Levin have successfully pressed Switzerland to open its secretive banking. It would not be surprising if many of the "vilifiers" were those who can no longer hide their funds in a numbered (no-name) account in Switzerland.
President George W. Bush, on the other hand, served them well. President Clinton was close to concluding an international agreement to prevent tax havens from hiding income and wealth. When the Supreme Court installed Bush as president, he withdrew the US from that agreement.
Thanks to Bush, his wealthy friends were able to enjoy another nine years of hiding their income and forcing the rest of us to make up what they were hiding.
Many of those accounts, and the income from them, are now subject to U.S. taxation. Those who had hidden, undeclared accounts first were given until October 15, 2010, to reveal their accounts' existence, pay the taxes they owed and a modest penalty, but are not subject to criminal prosecution.
That is, they received an amnesty.
If Romney's tax returns revealed that he were one of those who received amnesty, he could still properly claim that "all taxes were paid, and that he complied with U.S. laws" on the basis of his not having been charged with a crime after he revealed his prior wrongdoing.
But, if it ever became known that he received amnesty, the American people would utterly reject him for two reasons: amnesty means he had been breaking the law for many years and putting extra tax burdens on honest Americans and that he was accorded special treatment only the wealthy receive.
Even the Kochs could not save his hide. It would be as if Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama had not run in 2008, John Edwards had thus won the primaries and then his Rielle affair became public.
It is very clear that Romney is willing to lose rather than make several years of his tax returns public. One can only wonder how the Republicans -- who do not much like Romney anyhow -- feel about him putting himself in front of the interests of the party.
That raises a provocative question for Republicans.
No one, except the Romney family, his trustee and the IRS, knows whether Romney received amnesty. Are Republicans willing to risk that enterprising investigative reporters or WikiLeaks, which appears be able to get almost anything, may discover this prior to the election, dooming not only his candidacy but, likely, taking the party down with him?
Or are they just stuck with him, no matter what happens?
Follow Paul Abrams on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pabrams2001
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 |
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| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
I wonder who the Republican Presidential nominee will turn out to be. Next month's Republican Convention should be VERY interesting...
I tend to be pretty open minded, but entirely insulted when someone asks me to believe that as a uber rich dude, he has no clue where the offshore accounts are or how much is in there? I know about the blind trust, as I HAD one for some time, and I always knew how much was in them and where the money was. I just didn't know WHAT was being invested in my name.
I also tend to be a little weary about this Tax return thing. I make a really good salary but my accountant does get my little return done on time. Is it that Mitt can't get his paperwork together, but I would think he would have people to do this? Or is it something else?
We have lived through 5 years of people slamming Obama as a non-American and yet he released his short form and long form birth certificates to squelch the issue. Not good enough. The Sec Of State of AZ, recently weighed in and certified that the received the documentation required to say Obama is a citizen. And Obama has released taxes back to 2000. FAR more than any other candidate.
Mitt's father, who was born in Mexico, was NEVER asked for his birth certificate, his college records or his circumcision records like the RIGHT Is asking from Obama.
Mitt's father, released his taxes GLADLY. Why NOT YOU MITT?
I want to see investments with that kind of return year in and year out!
Will he know where that money is?
you know, laying wreaths, greeting foreign dignitaries, going to big important parties and flying in Air Force One
but imo, he would treat the US Presidency like he did his last 3 years at Bain
in charge on paper -- but not really there, somebody else would be runnng everything
he would put other corporate raiders in there and they would take everything that was not nailed down for themselves
and if something happened he would say he wasn't there, he doesn't know about it
and, imo, Romney would use the powers of the president to cover everything up
he has been keeping all the voters in the dark so far -- why would he stop?
he lies all the time now -- why would he stop?
If he can be the President, Romney would be able to say that all his constant lying and not telling voters his plans or anything else
and not being straight about his business dealings paid off
the 'other people's money' are the super-pacs and they are the investors.
Then of course is the matter of "just forgetting" where all his millions are stashed off shore, as in his long lost BERMUDA account? How many of you have so much money in so many accounts you just forget you have MILLIONS in Bermuda?
Right.
Not to mention...
Romney's unbelievable stupidity and cruelty for actually thinking putting your family dog in a cage on the roof of your car to travel for hours to Canada, was a swell idea.
Passing a Health Care Plan in Mass. that he now demonizes President Obama for. Calling it a Penality in Mass, while insisting it's a TAX because Obama passed it for the entire Country...passed the SAME dang Plan!
Every time Romney opens his mouth the ONLY things you can believe in are, he will totally change his mind soon, he will lie, or conveniently FORGET, or he will weirdly sing the darn National Anthem like some dork.
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republicans put party above country
why should they care if Willard puts himself above the party?
who's to say -- in Willard mind, he's entitled
so he might already think that it's the natural order ...
jus' sayin'
No politician is a scientist, an economic genius, a logician; occasionally, one pops up who plays a musical instrument, but that does not necessarily make him or her a great leader.
Politicians are politicians; the mad hatter is mad. Both are true by definition. Politicians will do anything to get elected, or they wouldn't be politicians. If they were politicians and didn't do anything it takes to get elected, you wouldn't even know they existed.
Who can we trust to be a great leader? No candidate is the sole decision maker. Parties make decisions; leaders are the puppets of parties.
Why get so steamed over Bush, Romney, Obama, Clinton ... ? They all have agendas when they start out, then end up "winging" it in response to situations such as war, economic changes, gay rights, gun ownership ... . The list goes on.
One thing's for certain, no matter who leads, I would personally rather live out of the back seat of my car than in any other country in this world, since there's still opportunity around the corner offering me a chance to get out of the back seat in the U.S.
I challenge anyone to deny it.