An Increasingly Confident President Obama
The President set a confidently aggressive tone during his State of the Union address the other night – and why not. The Republicans are doing their best to derail the one candidate with any chance at all at beating him. Newt and Rick – really?
The Grey Peregrinator and I firmly believe the only candidate having a chance at beating the President is Mitt Romney. President Obama did take a poke at the Mittster by mentioning that some people are paying less taxes than Warren Buffet’s personal assistant. Mitt is using the carried interest ploy to achieve a lower tax rate than most Americans – his tax rate was 14%.
The carried interest ploy allows sponsors of partnerships (hedge funds, leveraged buyout groups, etc.) to claim, for tax reporting purposes, the management fees (which are specifically called management fees in the partnership agreements) will be treated as long-term capital gains.
Mitt also uses a Cayman Islands “Blocker Corporation” to allow himself to use IRA funds to shield unrelated business income from taxation. This guy is no slouch! No wonder he is so wealthy – he lives a tax free life. The Obama folks will have a lot of fun with Mitt’s tax returns.
The Republicans will probably do everything they can to assure that Mitt will not get the nomination.
Four more years!
Passing Through . . . . 
Enjoying this presidential race. The Grey Peregrinator are have the times of our lives.
Watching the Republican primaries is like watching that old cartoon “The Wacky Races.” Where did Paul Ryan go, again?