According to a fresh investigation by Vanity Fair, US presidential candidate Mitt Romney has $3 million in a Swiss bank account. This is not his only foreign account: Romney has accounts also in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.
Romney was a successful businessman, so perhaps his actions point to where the dollar is going.
From the article:
Ed Kleinbard, a professor of tax law at the University of Southern California, says the Swiss account “has political but not tax-policy resonance,” since it—like many other Romney investments—constituted a bet against the U.S. dollar, an odd thing for a presidential candidate to do.
While it may be an odd thing to do politically, Romney seems to go with the trend: his long terms investments go well with the long term decline of the US dollar. Romney’s apparent bet against the greenback is therefore not that odd.
Romney often criticizes incumbent President Obama for not having enough business experience. The Obama camp could criticize Romney for not being patriotic, but Romney could certainly show that he is a sound businessman.
Romney and Obama have equal chances of entering the White House. The US President has a significant impact on the US dollar, although this figure’s powers are not that close to those of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Every word that Bernanke says rocks the markets much more than any declarations about a “strong dollar” by politicians, no matter how senior they are.
The US presidential elections matter more for internal social US affairs than the economy. As we’ve seen in the debt ceiling debacle, it doesn’t matter who sits in the White House. What matters more is that the president’s party has control over the House and the Senate. Otherwise, things aren’t really getting done.
Further reading: Spain Limits Cash Transactions – Getting Ready for a Euro Exit?