Monday, August 13, 2007

Blue Shirts – Bring 'Em On

Just like regular folks.


Romney worth as much as $250 million. Republican Mitt Romney, by far the wealthiest presidential hopeful, is worth as much as $250 million, with holdings spread among scores of investments, a document released today shows.

Romney's investments are detailed in a 47-page public financial holdings disclosure. Because of the complexity of his holdings, Romney failed to meet the May 15 deadline for filing the document and obtained two 45-day extensions.

According to his attorney and campaign staff, Romney's holdings are worth between $190 million and $250 million. The figures include holdings for both himself and his wife, as well as a charitable trust the Romneys have established.

When he became governor in 2003, Romney placed his holdings in a blind trust. The federal government, however, required a list of his holdings, forcing him to unveil his investments. The report says his lawyer, R. Bradford Malt, is trustee of the blind trust and oversees all investment decisions.

The report shows Romney has numerous offshore holdings. But in the news conference, Malt said those holdings "don't reduce income taxes."

Clintons Dissolve Blind Financial Trust. Millions in Stock Converted to Cash to Avoid Campaign Conflicts.

The listing of stocks that had been in the Clintons' blind trust provides a glimpse of the type of questions the former first couple might have faced if they decided to remain invested in the stock market - even with a blind-trust adviser making investment choices without their knowledge or input.

For instance, the blind trust managed by Citigroup was heavily invested in overseas companies, including $30,000 to $100,000 in two Asian companies -- Hong Kong and China Gas, and Hutchison Whampoa. The latter was involved in a controversy last year because of it received a U.S. contract to scan some U.S.-bound ships for nuclear material. Some lawmakers worried that the work could allow China to gain access to sensitive U.S. technologies because Hutchison Whampoa executives have business connections to the Chinese government.

The Clintons' broad investment portfolio also included a stake of at least $1.6 million in blue-chip U.S. drugmakers such as GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, Abbott Laboratories and Eli Lilly. Sen. Clinton has long been a proponent of overhauling health care and making drugs less expensive. The couple also had significant investments in large oil companies such as Anadarko Petroleum, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil and chemical makers Dow Chemical and DuPont at a time when questions at Democratic debates focused on gasoline prices, global warming and pollution.

------ Blind trust : So you can't see what rich folks are doing when they pay high-priced advisers to do it for them. Offshore holdings: To completely eliminate or greatly reduce taxes and all with confidentiality. Bubba, ain't it just real upright and honest for Bill and Hillary to cash in all those war4oil chips?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just 30 and 100k of investment on china stock arouses your awareness and bring it to political level??

Kate-A said...

Whoooosh.

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