Look, I know, Mitt Romney is rich. Like, filthy rich. I know he is more wealthy than President Obama (who is still quite rich). But I heard something on NPR a month or so ago that resonated with me. The Romney camp was trying to defend his lack of transparency about his taxes, or about his investments or something. And they said something like "Governor Romney doesn't run his own investments. It is handled by a trust (or some other investment vehicle which I don't remember) and he has very little knowledge of or control over those funds."
It got me thinking... I bet he doesn't really know or care where his money is. He just cares that there is a return. I got thinking further - Do you know where your money is? I have a 401k with one company and a Roth IRA with another. I get quarterly statements reminding me that they aren't growing, but that's the extent of what I know about my piddly retirement. I mean, I guess I can go log in to my account and see what "funds " I have my money in, but after that, I would have to dig in to the prospectus I get every year and figure out what stocks, bonds or other things those funds are invested in. And the makeup of those mutual funds changes ALL THE TIME.
I would wager that unless you are a day trader, or if you are heavily involved in the investments of your retirement fund, you don't know where YOUR money is. What if your 401k mutual fund bought stock in Halliburton? What if it purchased stock in a chinese company taking manufacturing jobs away from the US? Would you cash out and put your money under your mattress instead? And to thenewgreen's point, if you could find a way to save money, wouldn't you? Are you telling me you don't try to maximize the hell out of your deductions before April 15th? You can argue that it's different - but how different is it?
I don't think Romney pays THAT close attention to what stocks are purchased by the funds that are managed by the company that manages his money.I'm not saying he is naive or doesn't understand what's going on with his money - but I would wager he looks at his quarterly accounts to keep a finger on the pulse of his cash, but that is the extent of it.
So what's the real issue here? Is it that he's rich and out of touch? Show me a presidential candidate in the last 30 years that hasn't been. Are people upset because his riches aren't being taxed? If so, then they can't be any more upset at him than at the brokerage firm, or investment company that manages his money - or at themselves for "cheating" on their taxes.
Beat him up on issues. Beat him up on his track record. Beat him up on off-shoring jobs, and killing companies while at Bain Capital. But trying to beat him up on something he likely has little knowledge or control over is a bit... silly? I might be missing something, and that's why I figured I would post this as a separate post. You husbski types have a way of clarifying things I don't understand.