posted on Aug, 23 2008 @ 03:15 PM
To be fair to McCain, a few things must be said.
1. Nobody ever said McCain was poor.
Is anybody shocked that McCain owns several homes? Did anybody think that McCain was "an ordinary Joe" that lived in a double wide? Of course
McCain is well to do. (So is Obama and anybody else who is involved in high level, national politics.) If anything, I am surprised McCain owns less
than ten homes.
2. What a wealthy person "owns" is not always an easy question to answer.
It is difficult for wealthy people to keep track of their finances. Wealthy people like McCain often hire accountants, attorneys, and other people
with expertise to manage and keep track of their finances. It is difficult for a wealthy person to know exactly what they "own."
First, wealthy people have so many assetts that are constantly being traded, bought, sold, mortgaged, etc. that it is difficult to lose count. McCain
cannot figure out his net worth by hopping online and looking up the balances in his back account like the ordinary person. He probably has several
bank accounts, securities, bonds, trusts, etc. It may take an accountant several hours to compute McCain's net worth. This being said, McCain may
not have been certain whether all the houses he ever purchased were recently sold or otherwise transferred.
Second, ownership is a complicated concept under the law. There are actually several forms of ownership. Wealthy people with sophisticated lawyers
and accountants may utilize the exotic forms of ownership for tax purposes. For example, McCain may be a trustee of a trust that owns a particular
house. McCain may be a majority owner of a corporation that owns a particular house. Whether or not McCain "owns" is not a question that can be
answered truthfully and completely with a yes or no answer, or may it be a question that McCain has the legal expertise to truthfully and completely
answer.