5/5/09 4:23 AM EDT
With a stiff crackdown on offshore tax dodgers announced Monday, President Barack Obama is trying to stay one step ahead of populist outrage over Wall Street excesses, even as he scrounges for money to fund his extremely ambitious — and expensive — domestic agenda.
Just before the announcement, White House aides distributed statistics that were tailor-made to provoke outrage among Americans hardest hit by the economic downturn.
The White House pointed to a single building in the Cayman Islands that is the official address for more than 18,000 offshore corporations — few of which even have a physical presence on the islands.
The five-story building in the capital city of George Town is known as Ugland House, and it has been the target of withering scorn from American politicians for several years; Obama frequently mentioned it on the 2008 campaign trail....
