# Mitt's Moolah **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 3, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitts-moolah/627116 "2012-07-03T16:57:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitts-moolah/627116/1 "2012-07-03T16:57:16Z")
New Vanit Fair article on Mitt and his money here: [Investigation: Mitt Romney’s Offshore Accounts, Tax Loopholes, and Mysterious I.R.A. | Vanity Fair](http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts) I think that if Mitt is running on his ability to make money, then it’s fair that he be more candid about where he got it an what he did with it. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitts-moolah/627116/2 "2012-07-03T17:42:02Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > New Vanit Fair article on Mitt and his money here: [http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts](http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts) > > I think that if Mitt is running on his ability to make money, then it’s fair that he be more candid about where he got it an what he did with it. I think he’s running more on “not Obama”. It’s all he’s got- not even his fellow Republicans want him. He was just the least freak-of-naturish of all the Rs running. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitts-moolah/627116/3 "2012-07-03T19:48:48Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > New Vanit[y] Fair article on Mitt and his money here: [http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts](http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts) > > I think that if Mitt is running on his ability to make money, then it’s fair that he be more candid about where he got it an what he did with it. A once and future P.M. of Thailand cheated the Thai Treasury out of a huge sum during the financial crisis of 1997. (He exchanged billions of Thai baht for dollars in the hours just before a massive devaluation.) I pointed this out to one of the man’s supporters, but he saw it as a _positive_ point, proving the man was smart. :smack: When I first started paying attention to Thai politics circa 1990, I thought, jingoistically, about how much better and less corrupt the U.S. was. Now I see the two countries’ politics as _very_ similar. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitts-moolah/627116/4 "2012-07-03T20:02:51Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > New Vanit Fair article on Mitt and his money here: [http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts](http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts) > > I think that if Mitt is running on his ability to make money, then it’s fair that he be more candid about where he got it an what he did with it. As much as a hate defending Mitt Romney I always find demands that candidates expose every detail of their finances to be more on the side of witch hunts rather then requests for honest transparency. So I think telling people to go pound sand when they want to read your check book is an appropriate response. I really don’t care what they do with their own money. I want to know what they intend to do with mine. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitts-moolah/627116/5 "2012-07-03T20:19:32Z")
> [@](#): > > I think that if Mitt is running on his ability to make money, then it’s fair that he be more candid about where he got it an what he did with it. Since Obama and the Dems currently have [more](http://news.yahoo.com/obamas-air-force-one-call-donors-reveals-money-151549168--abc-news-politics.html) money in the kitty for the election (last I heard Obama is worried that this might change), what are your thoughts on what Obama is running on? 😛 And should Obama be more candid about what where it comes from and what he does with it too? In exactly the same measure? > [@](#): > > President Obama has spent more time raising money than any of his predecessors in recent history, crisscrossing the country on Air Force One to 175 re-election fundraisers so far in his first term. > > His campaign, the Democratic National Committee and their joint accounts reported more than $173 million cash on hand at the end of May, $61 million more than rival Mitt Romney and Republicans. > > And after smashing fundraising records in 2008, tapping $746 million from a historic donor roll of 3 million names, Team Obama has appeared on pace to do it again. Just curious. -XT ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitts-moolah/627116/6 "2012-07-03T20:35:42Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > As much as a hate defending Mitt Romney I always find demands that candidates expose every detail of their finances to be more on the side of witch hunts rather then requests for honest transparency… I strongly suspect that neither **boytyperanma** nor **XT** read the Vanity Fair article linked in OP. The article discusses “mistakes” in disclosures, “blind” trusts that invest in family businesses, exploitation of fuzzy tax loopholes, many tricks that appear to violate IRS rules, etc., and … get this! … an IRA with annual contributions limited to $2k or $30k which is now worth $100 million! (Hint: taxpayer gets to state the value of securities not traded publicly.) Perhaps Romney did nothing prosecutable. But some of us are repelled by the focus on greed and eagerness to bilk the U.S. Treasury. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitts-moolah/627116/7 "2012-07-03T21:43:07Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Since Obama and the Dems currently have [more](http://news.yahoo.com/obamas-air-force-one-call-donors-reveals-money-151549168--abc-news-politics.html) money in the kitty for the election (last I heard Obama is worried that this might change), what are your thoughts on what Obama is running on? 😛 And should Obama be more candid about what where it comes from and what he does with it too? In exactly the same measure? > > Just curious. > > -XT The article is talking about Romney’s personal fortune, not the money he’s fund-raised for politics. So your comment really doesn’t make any sense in this context. If Romney is running on his business expertise, it does seem fair to ask whether all his dealing were ethical and whether he has flouted any regulations in managing his fortune. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2012, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitts-moolah/627116/8 "2012-07-03T23:43:30Z")
Yes, I was referring to Romney’s personal financial situation, as the linked article would suggest. I am not terribly financially astute, but even I can understand that it would take some mighty magic to have (just one) of his IRAs reach a value of over 100 million when contributions are capped at $2000.00 a year- magic not available to us mere mortals. Romney asks us to trust that everything he did financially is legal. Is it too much to ask him to prove it? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mitts-moolah/627116/9 "2012-07-04T00:03:12Z")
[QUOTE=septimus] I strongly suspect that neither boytyperanma nor XT read the Vanity Fair article linked in OP. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Finagle] The article is talking about Romney’s personal fortune, not the money he’s fund-raised for politics. So your comment really doesn’t make any sense in this context. [/QUOTE] :smack: Nope, I didn’t…it was just a drive by post while I was on the run. My apologies, as I assumed this was about the recent disclosure that Obama and his team is worried that Mitt and the Republicans are closing the gap in campaign funding, and I saw a lot of indignation from Dems over this. Just skimming the article it seems light on facts and heavy on innuendo. Basically, if there is any REAL dirt on Mitt then my guess it will come out before the election, as I’m sure there are folks scrutinizing it under a microscope for anything they can find. > [@](#): > > The media soon noticed Romney’s familiarity with foreign tax havens. A $3 million Swiss bank account appeared in the 2010 returns, then winked out of existence in 2011 after the trustee closed it, as if to remind us of George Romney’s warning that one or two tax returns can provide a misleading picture. Ed Kleinbard, a professor of tax law at the University of Southern California, says the Swiss account “has political but not tax-policy resonance,” since it—like many other Romney investments—constituted a bet against the U.S. dollar, an odd thing for a presidential candidate to do. The Obama campaign provided a helpful world map pointing to the tax havens Bermuda, Luxembourg, and the Cayman Islands, where Romney and his family have assets, each with the tagline “Value: not disclosed in tax returns.” This is a media event, not a real issue. It’s going to resonate with folks who don’t want to vote for Mitt anyway…sort of on par with the cries of Obama being a socialist or an ivory tower liberal (or whatever). He’s got offshore investments and a Swiss bank account…oh MY! :eek: _yawn_ I’m not planning to vote for the man regardless, but it’s not because he’s super rich or has overseas or offshore investments. I’m neutral about that, as it doesn’t seem all that odd to me…it seems like something that many people who are very rich and attempting to defray their taxes do. -XT