Guest Post by Onan Coca
I want to begin here by stating that I have no problem with American citizens using their money in any (legal) way that they see fit. It’s their money after all, and as a conservative I don’t believe that the government or I should have any say in how that money is spent.
All of that being said, I despise liberal hypocrisy — and this story is all about liberal hypocrisy.
The Daily Caller News Foundation recently completed an investigation into the finances of Secretary of State John Kerry, and what they found was shocking. Apparently, Secretary Kerry, who has long sided with liberals against the way that wealthy save and invest their money, often demagoguing the wealthy for using offshore tax havens to protect their money from the government, has hypocritically been making use of these same tactics.
A DCNF investigation has confirmed that the former Massachusetts Democratic senator and his billionaire wife, using an elaborate set of Heinz family trusts, have invested “more than $1 million” each into 11 separate offshore accounts — mainly hedge funds in the Cayman Islands.
The investments were made during both Kerry’s tenure in the Senate and in his present position as the nation’s chief diplomat…
The trusts funneled millions of dollars over the years into various offshore investment vehicles through a Heinz trust called the “Heinz Family Commingled Alternative Investment Fund.”
Two other trusts appear to have been set up by the Heinz family since Kerry was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2013 to succeed Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. One is called “HFI Intermediate Fund II” and the other called “HFI Dividend Investments.” HFI stands for the Heinz Family Investments.
Another Heinz trust, called “HP Imperial,” invests in companies throughout Asia, including state-run companies within the People’s Republic of China. It is an interesting decision by the Heinz family, given Kerry’s present duties.
Overall, the Heinz fortune operates six different trusts.
Even liberal watchdogs are upset by these revelations, Susan Harley of the liberal Congress Watch said:
“Well I say it doesn’t look good by any means. There’s always a question of whether it’s tax avoidance or tax evasion. We would expect our government servants to uphold the law. Those folks need to be held to the same standards as everyone else… Given what the president has said, it doesn’t sound like he would be in favor of that kind of behavior as far as people in his cabinet.”
Presumably Kerry’s behavior would upset even the President himself. Obama recently decried the practice of using tax havens to protect their money.
On April 5, a few days after the Panama Papers were released, the president said the rich “have enough lawyers and enough accountants to wiggle out of responsibilities that ordinary citizens are having to abide by.” He said they were “gaming the system.”
This is simply another in an extensive line of examples of liberal hypocrisy that proves the point that conservatives have long been trying to make. When it comes to the liberal elitists they love to make laws for the hoi polloi but despise abiding by their own legislation. (Remember, they don’t even abide by their own Obamacare laws.)
Their laws are for the little people to follow, not for big, important politicians like Kerry, Clinton, or Obama.
Cross posted from Eagle Rising
