Three dangerous words for Mitt Romney
January 27, 2012, 7 Comments
Swiss bank account. Three words that could de-rail the campaign of the richest man ever to try and buy the Presidency of the USA. If Mitt Romney though that releasing his 2010 tax records would make the story go away, then he was very wrong. It wasn’t so much that he only paid 15% tax on his millions but that until recently he had $3 million in a UBS account. That was enough for those three little words to become headlines in America and spell trouble for the Romney campaign. In Switzerland it led to one national paper asking “What’s up with the image of our banks?” A very good question.
Once upon a time, Swiss bank accounts meant wealth and excitement, with maybe a hint of conspiracy and lashings of secrecy. In thrillers of page and screen, from James Bond to Dan Brown, such accounts usually held millions that eventually went to the right person or a crucial piece of evidence that would unlock the mystery. In real life, they were even almost a sort of status symbol: he’s rich enough to have something stashed away in Switzerland, something us mere mortals can only dream of. How times change.
Now a Swiss bank account is seen as such a political liability for a Presidential candidate that he closed it. Too late. Even though the account was part of a blind trust in Mrs Romney’s name and was declared (ie they did everything by the rules), the fact that it existed at all has been enough to do the damage. The ink had barely dried on the Romney’s tax statement and already the Democrats had produced the video above, and Newt Gingrich was randomly saying ‘Swiss bank account’ as much as possible, even when answering a question about immigration.
But surely Mitt Romney is the epitome of Republican policies and politics: he made his millions doing something with investments that no normal person understands, he pays as little tax as is legally possible, he does the Christian thing and donates to charity, and he doesn’t even have to work but can live off his wealth. Isn’t that the Republican dream? OK, so he’s a Mormon, was Governor of wishy-washy liberal Massachusetts and his real name is Willard, but you can’t have everything. And I’m certain he’s not the only American millionaire with an offshore account somewhere. Funny how much of the media attention was on the Swiss bank account and less on the Cayman Islands’ one. Maybe that was literally too close to home for some?
I find having a Swiss bank account rather useful, even if it is missing all those zeros that appeared on Mr Romney’s statement. The sad thing for Switzerland is that after decades of being prized and eulogised, a Swiss bank account is no longer something to boast about, at least not for anyone living outside Switzerland. Instead of symbolising wealth and prestige, for some it has an image of corruption and decadence, dodging taxes and hiding ill-gotten gains. And the only people to blame for that are the Swiss themselves – for turning a blind eye and dragging their heels, for making secrecy a national industry and accepting money from any dictator who had it.
At last things are changing for the better, with new tax agreements, more openness and stricter rules on evasion. But mud sticks and reputations are a very hard thing to rebuild – just ask any disgraced politican, or even the former chairman of the Swiss National Bank.
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7 Comments on "Three dangerous words for Mitt Romney"
I’m not a fan of MR but just because an American has a Swiss bank account does not automatically make them a criminal…so tired of this sentiment. Imagine…some of us even LIVE here.
I agree Chantal but unfortunately Swiss banks are not getting a good press in the States at the moment. But there is the fact that if you live here, it’s normal to have a Swiss bank account. If you’re a millionaire living in the US, it does beg the question why not have your money in an American bank account? Even if it is above board and declared, why ship it over here?
“Even if it is above board and declared, why ship it over here?”
Come on Diccon, you would seriously have your money in a US bank with the whole corrupt payramid system of banking and investment they have over there? It is going to topple any time soon.
The Swiss are pussycats compared to the trillions going through US and UK banks from misrepresentation and other tricks. Even MFGlobal did the unthinkeable, illegal thing of emptying out 600 million from US client accounts via London, and the CEO goes to Congress and says he does not know where those funds aere now….and he is not even charged!!! Farmers who need to hedge their crop prices have been left with empty accounts!!!
It suits these US “banksters” to point fingers at the Swiss because it helps distract attention from their own problems, including all the dodgy companies and banks in Deleware – they don’t even need to choose to go offshore!
Romney was smart and put his money somewhere safer, but unfortunately the vultures got to know and now they are eating him alive and distracting everyone from the problems they created at home.
It’s time the Swiss developed a strategy to focus on quality of product, safety of banking system (if UBS and Credit Suisse ensure they completely disconnect from the US that is) and Market like crazy.
I also respectfully suggest you should read a little wider Diccon. I highly recommend the experienced US Wall Street trader / journalist Max Keiser who produces a video show 3 times weekly in his site and syndicated to various stations also. He is not only informative but can be very entertaining, very funny, but absolutely spot on.
America is the worlds only hope of lasting peace and the continued reduction of industrial violence. Much of the world is home to uncouth-ed savages and, worse, elitist pacifists, who somehow believe they’ll be part of the new world communist proletariat. Social progressiveness and eat the rich attitudes make the world only a more dangerous and barbarous place. I only wish I had my own Swiss bank account – with millions in it.
Assuming that this isn’t irony, I suggest you read The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein, unless you don’t want your simplistic monetarist boat rocked. Reading makes you smarter. Hopefully.
Since Republicans don’t think it worthwile to get to know other countries anyway, let alone to speak another language (if they even know that there are other countries and other languages), that will be the case with pretty much every Republican candiadate.
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