Get familiar with the names BCIP Associates III Cayman and Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors Ltd. If Romney is the Republican nominee they will become a household names. Why? Let me explain.
BCIP Associates III Cayman and Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors Ltd are basically nothing more then P.O. boxes in Bermuda and the Grand Cayman Island. The number of words in the names of these companies is greater then the total sum of employees on the payroll. No secretaries, no janitors, no interns. Just a few lawyers working out of their own offices with a plaque on the wall. In essence these are companies in name only. They are what is more commonly known as off shore accounts. They can and are directly linked to Romney. You know, the same Mitt Romney who is trying to convince everyone he is Mr. Everyman. Starting ring a few bells? Maybe its because we’ve been down this road before and the only thing that has changed for the Obama campaign and the media is the publish dates of the articles written before and will be again. The facts have not changed . The accusations remain the same.
Did Mitt Romney do something illegal? No.
Did Bain Capital do something illegal? Again, no.
So why does any of this matter?
The reason these BCIP Associates III Cayman and Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors Ltd matter is because these companies are going to be used to thump Romney over the head with by the Obama campaign whenever the word “taxes” is uttered.
A Los Angeles Times article from 2007 explains it much better than I can.
“In the Cayman Islands, Romney was listed as a general partner and personally invested in BCIP Associates III Cayman, a private equity fund that is registered at a post office box on Grand Cayman Island and that indirectly buys equity in U.S. companies. The arrangement shields foreign investors from U.S. taxes they would pay for investing in U.S. companies”
And from the same article.
“Investing through what’s known as a blocker corporation in Bermuda protects tax-exempt American institutions, such as pension plans, hospitals and university endowments, from paying a 35% tax on what the Internal Revenue ServiceService calls “unrelated business income” from domestic hedge funds that invest in debt, experts say.”
When trying to engage most conservative pundits, talk radio show hosts, and Romney campaign staffers about these off shore accounts one is accused of being anti-capitalist. A Occupy Wall Street lacky. A Ron Paul supporter. None of which is true for most of us. The problem is that the “Republican Establishment” is in deep, deep, deep dangerous denial if they think the issue of Romney using off shore accounts to shield investors and investments from the United States Tax Code is going to be an easy sell to the precious Jane and John Doe Independent voter in the general election. They just don’t want to hear it, talk about it, or deal with it. Not a good stategery if you ask me. Its as if they asume a Independent voting in the general election will be looking at this information through the same set of eyes as a Conservative voting in the Republican primary. Most Republican primary voters not supporting Ron Paul understand the reasons why companies use off shore accounts. Most see no problem with it. In fact may even incourage it.
Independent voters on the other hand have a much harder time relating to these accounts as it is. Add to this the Obama campaign and the media filtering how the Independent voter will again recieve this information and the problem becomes obvious and predictable. One ad on national T.V. will leave the independent voter thinking and realizing that Jane and John Doe independent don’t have off shore accounts. They are paying their taxes without the use of loopholes. How can Mitt Romney argue cutting taxes when in their mind he isn’t paying his fair share in the first place? How does Romney argue for reducing the deficit by cutting social programs when he is hiding money off shore that could fund them? If Romney isn’t using these companies to subvert the tax code, why do they even exist then? What would be the point? Why go through the hassel? Something doesnt smell right to them.
Republicans and conservatives are just not going to be able to win the Romney off shore account argument with the Independent voters using the same idiotic retorts currently being thrown at conservatives pointing out the fact that this could be a problem. Instead of whining about conservatives bring the issue up, Republicans and Conservatives of all stripes should be figuring out how they are going to deal with the inevitable class warfare that is going to be ramping up as the Novemeber election nears. Pretending Romney’s use of off shore accounts is no big deal is not going to end well for the Republican party.
My Pappy always said when your head is burried in the sand that means your ass is up in the air unprotected and just begging to be kicked.
The Republican Party is about to prove the man right, again.
He is just a fat guy in Maine.