"Mr. Romney’s Financial Black Hole" The New York Times

[applegrove]

Mr. Romney’s Financial Black Hole

The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/11/opinion/mitt-romneys-financial-black-hole.html?_r=1

"SNIP........................................

Though the Romney campaign has often distanced itself from Bain’s recent corporate takeover work, voters have no way of knowing how much the candidate has received from Bain since he left, or how much is coming.

Firms like Bain park money in the Caymans because the islands have no taxes on capital gains, profits or income for foreigners. But just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.

The campaign says Mr. Romney has received no tax benefits from his offshore shelters, a dubious assertion but one impossible to check without more disclosure. Mr. Romney said this week that he had no idea where the blind trust had put his money, and he dismissed the issue of the offshore investments, saying they were no more consequential than investing in a foreign car company.

A foreign investment, however, is not the same as an offshore tax shelter. A more conscientious politician would have urged his blind trusts to have nothing to do with shelters not available to the general public. And Mr. Romney is tarnishing an important political tradition — one set by his father, George Romney, who released 12 years of tax returns in 1967 — by continuing to keep the sources of his income in the shadows.

...........................................SNIP"

[DCBob]

1. Its the mysterious "dark matter" that is the most troublesome.

Thats the unseen but largest part of the Romney financial universe.

[PSPS]

2. "A foreign investment, however, is not the same as an offshore tax shelter."

This is the thing. An secret "offshore tax shelter" is where freeloaders and criminals go. A secret "foreign investment" is a euphemism for engaging in and profiting from human trafficking, drug running, arms smuggling and corrupt dictators.