Krugman: Off and Out, Accounts Edition
Off and Out, Accounts Edition
Sort of related to my point about how although offshoring gets all the attention, domestic outsourcing is far from innocuous: theres a lot of well-justified buzz about Romneys accounts in the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, etc
But as Brian Beutler points out, an arguably much bigger issue is Romneys domestic individual retirement account. IRAs are designed as a middle-class vehicle, with annual contributions limited to $6000; yet somehow the Romneys have an IRA worth more than $100 million. No, thats not a misprint.
How did that happen? Presumably there was heavy exploitation of some kind of loophole. But which one? And is it one of the loopholes Romney proposes closing to pay for his massive tax cuts? (He hasnt actually said anything specific).
As Beutler says, there may or may not be a Cayman Islands connection here. But thats not crucial. Surely the existence of this huge account, which may well be legal but clearly flies in the face of the spirit of the law, poses questions that voters should have answered.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/06/off-and-out-accounts-edition/