Conquer Club

Woodruff wrote:

Juan_Bottom wrote:Things his wife shouldn't have said.

http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/5 ... ann-romney

That was a pretty biased hit-piece, in my view. However, I did find #4 to be absolutely hilarious. Egad!

Harry Reid wrote:There is a controversy because the Republican presidential nominee, Governor Mitt Romney, refuses to release his tax returns. As I said before, I was told by an extremely credible source that Romney has not paid taxes for ten years. People who make as much money as Mitt Romney have many tricks at their disposal to avoid paying taxes. We already know that Romney has exploited many of these loopholes, stashing his money in secret, overseas accounts in places like Switzerland and the Cayman Islands.

Last weekend, Governor Romney promised that he would check his tax returns and let the American people know whether he ever paid a rate lower than 13.9 percent. One day later, his campaign raced to say he had no intention of putting out any further information.

When it comes to answering the legitimate questions the American people have about whether he avoided paying his fair share in taxes or why he opened a Swiss bank account, Romney has shut up. But as a presidential candidate, it’s his obligation to put up, and release several years’ worth of tax returns just like nominees of both parties have done for decades.

It’s clear Romney is hiding something, and the American people deserve to know what it is. Whatever Romney’s hiding probably speaks volumes about how he would approach issues that directly impact middle-class families, like tax reform and the economy. When you are running for president, you should be an open book.

I understand Romney is concerned that many people, Democrats and Republicans, have been calling on him to release his tax returns. He has so far refused. There is only one thing he can do to clear this up, and that’s release his tax returns.

Whatever the level of exaggeration from the Senator or his source, there is probably at least some level of truth to the statement. Unfortunately, Romney is stonewalling the American public by not releasing his records so we’ll never know the truth.

But the source coming to Harry Reid for these revelations adds a level of intrigue. Reid just happens to be the highest-ranking member of the Mormon Church in the history of this nation.

It is likely that Senator Reid’s source shares the Mormon religion with Reid and Romney.

That message will not be lost on Romney. If the Bain fortress is not a fortress; if people are talking, Romney knows that trouble lies ahead.

And the motivation for this leak may not be political. It is likely personal and tied to the Mormon Church.

Specifically, if Romney was hiding money from the IRS he may have hidden money from his church.

BigBallinStalin wrote:Bumped by the same person for the past three days, and still no one cares.

Take some tips from JuanScotty, Phat_Bottom.

BigBallinStalin wrote:Bumped by the same person for the past three days, and still no one cares.

Take some tips from JuanScotty, Phat_Bottom.

“I would describe it as a palace”.

Tearful as he described the house, Mr Anderson, 70, of Kaysville, Utah, said Romney aides had asked him not to speak publicly about their time together there.

Mitt Romney was a notorious high school prankster whose antics may have verged on gay bashing, according to a blockbuster report.

Romney, while a student at an elite Michigan prep school in 1965, tormented a flamboyant fellow student for his dyed hair, the Washington Post reported.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee then gathered his prep school posse and pinned the student, John Lauber, to the ground.

Romney pulled out a pair of scissors and forcibly cut Lauber’s hair, the paper said.

Lauber, who later came out as gay, lived a nomadic life, moving frequently throughout the Midwest before being drawn to combat zones in the last two decades.

Juan_Bottom wrote:Did Mitt Romney lie about his time hiding from Vietnam as a Missionary in poor old France?

Mitt Romney's life as a poor Mormon missionary in France questioned

“I would describe it as a palace”.

Tearful as he described the house, Mr Anderson, 70, of Kaysville, Utah, said Romney aides had asked him not to speak publicly about their time together there.

Of course again, European News is ahead of US news.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) fired back at Republicans accusing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) of lying about a Bain Capital investor telling him that Mitt Romney hadn't paid taxes in 10 years. They don’t know what they're talking about, Pelosi says.

"Harry Reid made a statement that is true. Somebody told him. It is a fact," Pelosi told The Huffington Post in a Sunday interview. "Whether he did or not can easily be disposed of: Mitt Romney can release his tax returns and show whether he paid taxes."

Both Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus came out swinging against Reid on Sunday over his claims about Romney potentially not paying taxes. Asked to respond to Priebus calling Reid "a dirty liar" over the situation, Pelosi initially responded, "Who?" She went on to say that Priebus doesn't know what he's talking about since he wasn't part of Reid's conversations.

"Well he doesn't know that," Pelosi said. "Harry Reid is a person who is, as we know, A, is a fighter, B, he wouldn't say this unless it was true that somebody told him that."

Bain Capital, under Romney as chief executive officer, made about $1 billion in a leveraged buyout 12 years ago that remains controversial in Italy to this day. Bain was part of a group that bought a telephone-directory company from the Italian government and then sold it about two years later, at the peak of the technology bubble, for about 25 times what it paid.

Bain funneled profits through subsidiaries in Luxembourg, a common corporate strategy for avoiding income taxes in other European countries, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg News. The buyer, Italy’s biggest telephone company, now has a total market value less than what it paid Bain and other investors for the directory business.

In Italy, the deals have spurred at least three books, separate legal and regulatory probes and newspaper columns alleging investors made a fortune at the expense of Italian taxpayers. Boston-based Bain wasn’t a subject of the inquiries, which didn’t result in any charges.

Romney himself probably earned more than $50 million, and possibly as much as $60 million from the Italian directory sale of Seat Pagine Gialle SpA, according to a person familiar with the matter. The deal turned into one of the biggest windfalls of his tenure.

Juan_Bottom wrote:Bloomberg: Bain Capital “Ripped Off” Italian Taxpayers When Romney Was CEO

Bain Capital, under Romney as chief executive officer, made about $1 billion in a leveraged buyout 12 years ago that remains controversial in Italy to this day. Bain was part of a group that bought a telephone-directory company from the Italian government and then sold it about two years later, at the peak of the technology bubble, for about 25 times what it paid.

Bain funneled profits through subsidiaries in Luxembourg, a common corporate strategy for avoiding income taxes in other European countries, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg News. The buyer, Italy’s biggest telephone company, now has a total market value less than what it paid Bain and other investors for the directory business.

In Italy, the deals have spurred at least three books, separate legal and regulatory probes and newspaper columns alleging investors made a fortune at the expense of Italian taxpayers. Boston-based Bain wasn’t a subject of the inquiries, which didn’t result in any charges.

Romney himself probably earned more than $50 million, and possibly as much as $60 million from the Italian directory sale of Seat Pagine Gialle SpA, according to a person familiar with the matter. The deal turned into one of the biggest windfalls of his tenure.

Juan_Bottom wrote:It was all legal, just highly immoral.

Bain leveraged the government to sell them the company under value, then they used loopholes to funnel the money out of Italy without paying taxes on it. Then they sold the company for it's peak value just before it went bust. It was a huge - though completely legal - swindle on the Italians.

Remember this when some government goofball talks about "privatization."

kentington wrote:

Juan_Bottom wrote:It was all legal, just highly immoral.

Bain leveraged the government to sell them the company under value, then they used loopholes to funnel the money out of Italy without paying taxes on it. Then they sold the company for it's peak value just before it went bust. It was a huge - though completely legal - swindle on the Italians.

Remember this when some government goofball talks about "privatization."

Oh, I thought at least some of that would be illegal.
I don't like Romney or Obama, I don't think either of them will provide a good solution. All they will do is drive more hate between groups of people.

Nola_Lifer wrote:I agree. Neither of them are good choices. I am just very afraid of what would happen if Romney wins.

Juan_Bottom wrote:Mitt Romney's budget plan raises taxes on the average middle class household by $2,000, while lowering taxes on the rich. Let them eat cake indeed.

Night Strike wrote:

Nola_Lifer wrote:I agree. Neither of them are good choices. I am just very afraid of what would happen if Romney wins.

Why? We've already seen Obama add over $4 trillion in new debt to our country, add roughly 16,000 pages of new regulations, manipulate bankruptcy to reward unions, and completely ignore written laws on immigration and welfare. What would Romney do that's any worse?

Juan_Bottom wrote:Mitt Romney's budget plan raises taxes on the average middle class household by $2,000, while lowering taxes on the rich. Let them eat cake indeed.

Proof?

There seems to be a Democratic mole inside Mitt Romney’s campaign. Could it be Romney himself? Well, of course not. But considering the campaign’s behavior, it might just as well be. President Obama and his allies have cast Romney as a wealthy fat cat who’s out of touch with everyday Americans and who would use his presidency to enrich the already rich. To counter this damning image, the last thing you’d expect Romney to do is embrace a tax plan favoring the super-rich.

Which is exactly what he has done.

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Toles draws Mitt Romney: A collection of cartoons about the former Massachusetts governor.
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Ann Telnaes animation: Mitt Romney still won’t release more tax returns.

After examining Romney’s proposal, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center concluded that households with incomes exceeding $200,000 would receive tax cuts; meanwhile, taxes would rise for the other 95 percent of the population. Taxpayers making more than $1 million would receive an average cut of $87,000; those making less than $200,000 would pay an average of $500 more. Romney denies that he would raise taxes on the middle class but has provided no evidence that the Tax Policy Center’s analysis is wrong.

Night Strike wrote:

Nola_Lifer wrote:I agree. Neither of them are good choices. I am just very afraid of what would happen if Romney wins.

Why? We've already seen Obama add over $4 trillion in new debt to our country, add roughly 16,000 pages of new regulations, manipulate bankruptcy to reward unions, and completely ignore written laws on immigration and welfare. What would Romney do that's any worse?