Willard, International Man of Mystery

Today's must read is Paul Krugman's piece in the New York Times. Krugman focuses on what the Beltway media are ducking: Willard "Corporations Are People, My Friend" Romney's strange secretiveness about his personal wealth and investments. Here's a snippet:

"Put it this way: Has there ever before been a major presidential candidate who had a multimillion-dollar Swiss bank account, plus tens of millions invested in the Cayman Islands, famed as a tax haven? And then there’s his Individual Retirement Account. I.R.A.’s are supposed to be a tax-advantaged vehicle for middle-class savers, with annual contributions limited to a few thousand dollars a year. Yet somehow Mr. Romney ended up with an account worth between $20 million and $101 million."

Krugman contrasts Willard's fear of disclosure to his father's, who ran for President in 1968 and who was noted for his openness about his finances and taxes. As Krugman concludes,

"Surely a man advocating [tax cuts for the wealthy] has a special obligation to level with voters about the extent to which he would personally benefit from the policies he advocates. Yet obviously that’s something Mr. Romney doesn’t want to do. And unless he does reveal the truth about his investments, we can only assume that he’s hiding something seriously damaging."