Mitt Romney Sort Of Promises To Bank In U.S. If Elected President

[trailmonkee]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2012/08/25/mitt-romney-bank_n_1830307.html


WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney might repatriate his vast overseas holdings if he is elected president, the GOP candidate said in an interview with Parade magazine.

The family-friendly periodical asked readers what questions the Romneys should be asked during the interview, which led to the question on Romney's offshore funds.

"There were a number of questions about your financial wealth," Parade noted. "New Jersey resident Harry H. asked if you would make this pledge: If elected, do you promise to bank in the United States?"

Romney first replied by claiming that the decision was out of his hands. "My investments have been managed for almost the last 10 years by a blind trust. A trustee decides where to put our money. If I'm president, my understanding is the same principle applies, that I may not direct any of my investments. I can't tell you what my investments might be because I won't make them," he said. "But I'm happy to have every investment in the United States."

[fleur-de-lisa]

1. He's a lying puke!

[11 Bravo]

2. Redundant (but oh-so-true).

[Viva_Daddy]

3. Mr. Romney: Bring your money home. Liberate it from those foreigners.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

4. Cue the video where he mocks the blind trust excuse when

someone used it.

[jsmirman]

6. When did this happen?

Did he actually do that?

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

13. Unfuckingbelievable right? nt

[jsmirman]

14. Yes, but also pretty awesome

I'm planning on collecting a bunch of these - I think I'm going to get in on some youtube production for this election.

[thelordofhell]

8. Okay

[jsmirman]

10. Ah, right - many thanks!

[Laf.La.Dem.]

5. "might repatriate his vast overseas holdings if he is elected president"

AND - this is a reason to vote for him??

[lunatica]

7. I'm sure he promised his wife he'd pull out at least four out of the five times

they had sex.

You know they can't have any other kind of sex other than for procreating. That would be a sin.

[justabob]

9. out of his hands?

I understand his loot is in a "blind trust", but surely there are parameters the trustee works within set by Romney... designated industries, countries, investment vehicles that are off limits? Or no? I can't imagine that he has NO control over his vast wealth. Surely he can tell his trustee that everything needs to be American, even if he can't say which company or fund to invest in? Can someone explain?

[BadgerKid]

11. How blind? I found this:

Second, look at what went into the trust at the very beginning. Rich people get rich in specific fields or by starting specific companies, Gross says. "And just because it becomes part of a blind trust doesn't erase it from your memory."

The third way to evaluate a trust is to look at what kind of reporting the trust makes back to the politician. If the candidate gets fairly detailed reports about how much he has made in capital gains, dividends or interest, he may be able to figure out what's going on inside the trust.

But Wallace says that once you get up to the presidential level, with federal laws, this can't happen easily.

So what does it all mean for Mitt Romney?

His blind trust is run by a longtime financial adviser, who might know his likes and dislikes. If Romney were elected president, the campaign has already conceded that he would need to have a stricter blind trust with an outside firm running the money, instead of a close adviser.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/07/20/157119003/just-how-blind-are-blind-trusts-anyway

The article further describes that politician could invest in index funds and make that information public, as President Obama has done.

[justabob]

12. thank you

I have to run out right now but will read through and see what else I can learn. Thanks again for the link.

This blind trust business is such a big cop out. I get it in theory, but I don't see how these uber wealthy people can tolerate handing over their fortunes to a person/entity that can willy nilly do whatever they want with it without any kind of boundaries save legality (though Romney doesn't much care about the legality of things from what I can tell).

[Ruby the Liberal]

15. How much longer is the "media" going to dance around the obvious?

"Did you take Amnesty in 2009 to repatriate your offshore holdings? Yes or no."

Crimeny, a 5th grader could ask that question.