Election 2012

Mitt Romney’s “Elite” Investments

As Mitt Romney's tax return and financial disclosure forms continue to be analyzed, new details of his shady financial dealings, the sources of his vast wealth, are coming to light.

Examination conducted by the LA Times has revealed that Romney is personally invested in an "elite" division of Goldman Sachs only open to a who's who list of clients.

Much of Mitt Romney's millions has come from his relationship with the biggest name on Wall Street: Goldman Sachs.

In the personal tax returns released by Romney's presidential campaign Monday, Goldman is revealed as one of the central players involved in managing his family's massive wealth.

A significant proportion of the Romney family fortune is parked with an elite division of Goldman that is open only to clients with more than $10 million to invest. Another chunk of the fortune is invested in Goldman-run hedge funds, which like all hedge funds are open only to millionaires. [...]

"You have to be a favored person to get that kind of thing," said Charles Geisst, a former banker and professor of finance at Manhattan College.

I'm not going to shame Mitt Romney for doing business with Goldman since the bank is so large, however not everyone can say they are invested in an "elite division" -- gasp! Elite! -- only open to those who have $10 million in their pocket to invest. And given that $10 million is only half of Romney's yearly income, it's another sign that he has absolutely nothing in common with average Americans. It's also why he struggles to appear as though he does.

Aside from being invested in an "elite" division of Goldman Sachs, a new report from ThinkProgress also indicates his investments in Goldman may have benefited from the foreclosure crisis and bailout funds.

Along with his investments in Bain Capital funds linked to offshore tax havens, the Romneys have large investments in the Goldman Sachs Strategic Income Fund (institutional class). The firm’s March 2011 annual report for the fund notes that about 8 percent of the fund is invested in banks and 24.5 percent is invested in mortgage-backed obligations. Romney’s form says he has invested between $1,000,001 and $5,000,000 in the fund and his wife Ann has invested an additional $1 million-plus. Since the 2008 economic meltdown and the enactment of the Troubled Asset Relief Fund, this fund has done quite well, growing 7.88 percent between April 2010 and March 2011.

Woops! It just so happens that Florida was hit particularly hard by the recession, however this could also be very damaging to Romney heading into Nevada where the wrath of the foreclosure crisis was greatest.

Question: Why should we Let Detroit Go Bankrupt while investments made by Mitt Romney are rescued? Does Mitt Romney secretly love bail outs?