What's worse? Foreign donations to Hillary's charity, or, Jeb profiting from foreign investments?

[bigtree]

from yesterday's 'Jeb Bush Speaks Up on Foreign Policy' article:

During his time as a governor, Florida was largely dependent on foreign trade, and Bush worked as a senior advisor at Barclays PLC, advising various banks from Europe to Asia. Both these factors helped him gain a better understanding of foreign markets. Another advantage is his investment partnership with a Chinese conglomerate, resulting in multiple visits during recent years.

from 'Jeb Bush Has a Mitt Romney Problem' article:

Documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Nov. 27 list Bush as chairman and manager of a new offshore private equity fund, BH Global Aviation, which raised $61 million in September, largely from foreign ­investors. In November the fund ­incorporated in the United Kingdom and Wales­—a ­structure, several independent finance lawyers say, that operates like a tax haven by allowing overseas investors to avoid U.S. taxes and regulations.

BH Global Aviation is one of at least three such funds Bush has launched in less than two years through his Coral Gables, Fla., company, Britton Hill Holdings. He’s also chairman of a $26 million fund, BH Logistics, established in April with backing from a Chinese conglomerate, and a $40 million fund involved in shale oil exploration, according to documents filed in June and first ­reported on by Bloomberg News. His flurry of ventures doesn’t suggest someone preparing to run for president, according to a dozen fund managers, lawyers, and ­private-placement agents who were ­apprised of his recent activities by Bloomberg Businessweek. Most private equity funds have a life span of 10 years. While it isn’t impossible that Bush could bail on his investors so soon after taking their money, “that would be unusual,” says Steven Kaplan, a private equity expert at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. One fundraiser for private equity adds that normally you’d be winding down such businesses, rather than expanding them, if you were going to run.

from 'Inside Jeb Bush's Shady Business Dealings With China' article:

Hainan, China was the site of George W. Bush's first major foreign policy crisis. In 2001, a reconnaissance aircraft collided with a Chinese plane, and U.S. Navy personnel were stranded on Hainan Island. Following a series of diplomatic maneuvers, mutual recognition of the event, and an apology for the death of a Chinese fighter pilot, the crew was freed.

In 2011, Jeb Bush arrived in Hainan not as an official diplomat—it had been four years since he was a public official—but as an informal liaison between Florida corporations and booming Chinese business. He was greeted by the governor, Luo Baoming, and the Hainan government put up a proud press release about how Hainan and Florida were naturally going to engage in economic cooperation:

Luo Baoming said that Hainan Province and Florida shared many similarities; therefore the two parties had wide cooperation space with immense potential. For example, Hainan and Florida are able to cooperate with each other in cruise industry. There are cruise stop ports in Haikou and Sanya in Hainan Province. During the “12th Five-Year Plan”, a world cruise home port will be built in Sanya. Luo expected that the two parties ware able to set up smooth cooperation channel and John Ellis Bush could play a key role in promoting the mutual cooperation. Finally Luo Baoming invited John Ellis Bush to attend the 2011 Annual Conference of Boao Forum for Asia to become the third person (after his father George Bush and elder brother George Walker Bush) in his family to take part in this forum

In 2013, Bush's private equity business Britton Hill Holdings invested in BH Logistics, which last spring raised $26 million from a variety of investors including HNA group, which is based in Hainan. It also operates 500 jets as part of a subsidiary, Hainan Airlines.

"For the Chinese, the Bush name and the Bush connections to energy are a natural marriage,” China business scholar Derek Scissors told BloombergPolitics. “This is a classic example of the way sophisticated Chinese firms work. They don’t want to get involved directly in a U.S. startup that’s involved in shale, so they’ll take a minority stake to keep a lower profile. They’re looking for political protection, and the Bush name legitimizes the investment and makes him a perfect partner.”

[bigtree]

1. »

[bigtree]

2. everyone's supposed to pretend Clinton Foundation = Hillary's campaign bank account

Eric Boehlert ‏@EricBoehlert
ha. i'm just realizing everyone's supposed to pretend Clinton Foundation = Hillary's campaign bank account. (it's not) #carryon

Eric Boehlert @EricBoehlert
"posting its donor data, Clinton foundation goes beyond legal requirements; experts say transparency exceeds that of most philanthropies."

Eric Boehlert @EricBoehlert · 4h 4 hours ago
Clinton Foundation breaks new ground w/ regards to philanthropic transparency (in a good way). can you image a GOP group ever doing that?

[bigtree]

3. »

[Ramses]

4. They both look like tax avoidance money laundering schemes

Both use very vague language where the money actually goes and both have very questionable accounting gimmicks as to where the money comes from and distributed to. A large team of specialized lawyers seem to work on both of these to minimize questions an to as vague as possible, while maximizing money movement to questionable sources.

[bigtree]

5. one goes directly into a bank account

...the other goes to a charitable cause.

Everyone's supposed to pretend Clinton Foundation = Hillary's campaign bank account.

[Ramses]

6. A charity in many cases

is a good way because of tax and reporting laws to have a much bigger influence in raising money and steering political agendas without raising as many eyebrows.

Both Bush and Clinton's finances need to be examined much more closely if they are going to be the candidates. Both are very questionable at this point, and should have had more scrutiny a long time ago. But we live in a country that values money more than anything else, so most ignore it.

[bigtree]

7. all just innuendo without proof

...that's the tactic behind these reports which are coming from, primarily, right-wing sources this week. The appearance of impropriety is an easy target, but it's clearly a deflection meant to insulate the republican's establishment candidate from questions about not only his profiting from foreign investments, but the influence-peddling which isn't at all disguised, is infinitely more consequential than the activities of this non-profit organization.

Btw, this might be a new story to many folks, but the Clinton Foundation has withstood media scrutiny for years -even with the bump in the road about finances they experienced in 2013 - and is actually more accountable than most similar charitable organizations.

I wouldn't allow this rw-generated chatter to divert from actual profit-making and influence peddling described in detail in these recent reports of Jeb's attempt to distance himself from his shady corporate past in advance of a presidential election challenge.

[Ramses]

8. Im not sure why you think Jeb's financial shenanigans are going to be ignored

Jeb's background is hideous and will be exposed for all to see if he is the candidate. There's plenty to expose about Jeb and his family. Its not new information. He has high negatives in most polls and millions of Americans are in on his background.

[bigtree]

9. I'm not sure why you think this non-scandal is more important to highlight

...than more relevant objections to a Clinton candidacy. It has no substance, at all, and it's a clear diversion -equalization - from a clear history of republicans actually selling our country out.

It's a navel-gazing waste of time.

[joshcryer]

10. Clinton will release the tax records.

So that's a non-starter. They went through Whitewater, there won't be any accounting errors.