Thursday, July 12, 2012

Blind Trusts and Tax Returns

I have been letting this blog go quiet for quite some time as I've been very involved in numerous other projects, but there is a current issue that I feel compelled to write about, so here goes...

The Republican nominee for the presidency...whom I call Mint (R)money...has recently made much of the fact that his MASSIVE wealth is currently being held in a "blind trust", as if that means he has absolutely no control over it.
"With regard to any foreign investments, I understand, and you understand of course, that my investments have been held by a blind trust, have been managed by a trustee.  I don't manage them.  I don't even know where they are."

Well...that's all well and good, but the FACT is that back in 1994, when he was running in Massachusetts against Senator Kennedy, he said THIS about blind trusts:
"The blind trust is an age old ruse, if you will, which is to say you can always tell the blind trust what it can and cannot do.  You give a blind trust rules."  
So...obviously back then, he was able to tell the TRUTH about the supposed "blind trusts"...but clearly we cannot expect that same truth from him now.  

On the other hand, President Obama is also a very wealthy man, although his wealth came primarily from book sales, not from raiding and destroying companies like Mint (R)money did with his vulture capitalist buddies at Bain. 

President Obama also initially put his wealth into a "blind trust" as well, but quickly realized that there was still potential conflicts of interest, so he removed the funds from that "blind trust" and put the bulk of his money into U.S. Treasury bonds and diversified funds.  That way what is good for the COUNTRY is good for him, and vice-versa.  I have to say that, personally I think that is what should always be done with the investments of ALL elected officials.  But, of course, (R)money and the other GOPers wouldn't like THAT one bit...because right now they really do WANT the country to do badly because it suits their political interests, so they wouldn't want THEIR precious lucre invested in it...because THAT really would be a TRUE "conflict of interests" for them...'I really, really  WANT the country to fail so that we can trick the people into blaming the hated Obama so that he loses the election, but then I'd lose my own MONEY...I can't have that...oh dear...what to do?  What do do??"  

I found this Vanity Fair article on the subject of "blind trusts" to be very informative on this matter.

And then there is Mr. (R)money's refusal to submit more than one year of his tax returns (link), which also completely infuriates me...especially since his own FATHER (who I understand was actually a man of true integrity, unlike his son, apparently) released 12 years of tax returns when he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination back in 1968 admitting that "one year could be a fluke, perhaps done for show," 

Yes, Mr. Romney...it can be "for show", like what your monstrous son is likely doing.  I don't know how a man who supposedly was truly decent, like George supposedly was, could raise a son that would wind up like Willard "Mitt" Romney is...someone with absolutely no honor who just hides the filthy lucre (that he received by destroying the lives of regular people in order to help the already rich become even richer) and invests it in foreign countries while his party of dangerous, dishonest, misogynistic, oligarchic, theocratic, bigoted, environment-hating, selfish, greedy, hateful Koch-whore BA$TURDS work as hard as possible to keep the economy of OUR country in shambles because it is politically expedient for them.  

Well, I do want those tax returns released...and the more determined he seems to NOT want them released (link), the more I want them...and I don't find it at ALL likely that I'm going to "get over it" (link). I am FAR more interested in seeing the tax returns for this multimillionaire vulture capitalist with substantial holdings in foreign tax havens than I EVER was in mistrusting the word of the state of Hawaii and demanding to see a "long form birth certificate" for our President, and it seems to me that the folks who demanded THAT should be demanding these returns just as loudly...but they're not.  In fact, SENATOR Lindsey Graham even had the nerve to say that "it's really American to avoid paying taxes, legally" (link).  See...and here I thought it was really American to PAY YOUR TAXES, not try to find any way possible (including foreign tax havens) to get out of your obligations to your country.  And these BA$TURDS have the nerve to call themselves "patriotic".  Hypocrisy...it's what the modern GOP is best at.