George Bush is in Cayman Islands talking about tax haven investments
- GEORGE BUSH
- NOVEMBER 1, 2012
- BY: ROBERT BOWEN
While the last Democratic president, Bill Clinton, is on the campaign trail speaking at rallies on behalf of Barack Obama, the last Republican president, George W. Bush, has been missing in action totally this election. He surfaced today, however, in the Cayman Islands where he is delivering the keynote address at a private “investment” conference.
The press is locked out. A spokesman for the Cayman Alternative Investment Summit says the speech is totally closedto all journalists. Spokesman Dan Kneipp says he is not even permitted to discuss the subject of Bush's speech scheduled for Thursday evening at the Ritz-Carlton. Attendees are paying $4,000 each to get advice at this “investment” seminar. Sponsors include KPMG, a company that provides tax advisory services, and Deutsche Bank.
What is the conference about? It is about the benefits of using the Cayman Islands to shelter income in order to avoid paying U.S. taxes. How did George Bush become an expert on the subject? Perhaps Mitt Romney gave him some tips.
Just when Romney thought that whole business about his avoiding taxes in offshore accounts was forgotten, George Bush put it all front and center again.
Romney knows all about Cayman tax shelters. According to MSNBC, he has invested over $8 million of is money in at least 12 funds listed on the Cayman Islands Registry. He has another fund there with between $5 million and $25 million invested in that one.
Romney’s old company Bain Capital has over 138 investments in the Cayman Islands, and they have over 40 secret off show accounts in the Caymans. The Cayman Islands tourism video touts the advantages to investing in the island.
Mitt Romney only released tax returns for two years. They showed that he paid an average of 14% of his income in federal taxes. That is lower than most Americans. Why is his rate so low? In large part because of off-shore accounts in tax havens like the Caymans. The fact that he refuses to release more returns shows that he is hiding something. Oh if we would just hear what George Bush is saying.
Romney has had a hard time relating to the average American because they do not have Swiss Bank accounts and investments in the Cayman Islands. He has been on a make-over since the debates trying to act like a common guy. Bush’s speech today will bring the subject of off shore tax shelters up again just before the election. Democrats are thanking Mr. Bush.
Hard to believe no one in there will pull out their cell and record it. And can we assume the conference if 99% male?
ReplyDeleteI hope someone will do that Sue. Have you ever noticed that republicans always do things behind closed doors. I'm sure it's mostly males (with some pole dancers)
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