Behind the Gold Curtain of Donald Trump’s Résumé

[ABX]

.....Trump’s primary claim to fame is as a Manhattan real-estate developer. He inherited this profession (and his economic worldview) from his father. But it’s worth stressing that within the world of Manhattan real estate, Trump is a relatively minor player. Yes, there are about a dozen buildings in New York City that bear his name, but nearly all are branding relationships, not actual ownership. He sits so far down the pecking order of Manhattan real estate that Adam Pincus, head of research at the industry publication The Real Deal, doesn’t recall ever including Trump or his companies in their major rankings of developers, owners or property managers. Likewise, Trump’s importance in the industry of casinos and luxury resorts is far below what his public reputation might suggest. After multiple bankruptcies, Trump no longer owns any casinos; he owns only nine hotels, with three more said to be “coming soon.”......

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/magazine/behind-the-gold-curtain-of-donald-trumps-resume.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

[ABX]

...Based on his read of Trump’s election filings, which showed only $165 million in liquid assets, Cuban harbors doubts about whether Trump is even a billionaire as he claims....

....When you try to weigh Trump’s record as a businessman, you quickly find that there’s nothing of substance. Think of the characteristics you might find noteworthy in a business leader: A vision of the future? A single-minded focus on excellence? Discrimination and judgment? He’s no visionary, no Steve Jobs who forges new things. Trump’s accomplishments have come from replicating the products and services of others. He seems to lack any instinct for righting a sinking ship. Despite the declarations of his backers that he’ll “get the best people,” his organizations have hardly been magnets for talent — as evidenced by the fact that his leadership teams so often consist of people whose last names are Trump or whose sole accomplishment is having worked for him....

[Mechanicos]

How to tell a BS article where the author thinks its readers are stupid: "$165 million in liquid assets." That means ready cash on hand. Its not his wealth, its not what he owns. Its his cash laying around. No Smart businessman keeps the bulk of their wealth liquid. Its out there working for them to make more money.

This is part of the Democrat Meme to lie about why Trump is running for office. People like hes not doing it for money or power. So we get this garbage anybody who has taken a business class can see is total BS.

[RedHead]

How to tell a BS article where the author thinks its readers are stupid: "$165 million in liquid assets." That means ready cash on hand. Its not his wealth, its not what he owns. Its his cash laying around. No Smart businessman keeps the bulk of their wealth liquid. Its out there working for them to make more money.

This is part of the Democrat Meme to lie about why Trump is running for office. People like hes not doing it for money or power. So we get this garbage anybody who has taken a business class can see is total BS.

And the easiest way to tell when an article is NOT stupid or BS is when the Trump minions attack it.  Because you can never refute the claims, you just attack the messenger.

[Sanguine]

And the easiest way to tell when an article is NOT stupid or BS is when the Trump minions attack it.  Because you can never refute the claims, you just attack the messenger.

It's the NYT so it's got to be true!

(Just seeing if you're really a redhead or not.  )

[thatcher]

LOL.  Liquid assets != just cash.  Yes, he's such a brilliant business man that he values his brand at $4 billion (or not) based on how he feels that day:

From an interview with a Trump biographer, Timothy O'Brien:

My lawyers deposed Donald for two days during the litigation, and we covered a range of interesting subjects. Among the documents discussed was a Deutsche Bank assessment that pegged Donald’s net worth at $788 million in 2005. At the time, Donald was telling his bankers and casino regulators that he was worth $3.6 billion; he was telling me he was worth $5 billion to $6 billion.

Have you “always been completely truthful in your public statements about your net worth,” my attorneys asked Donald. “I try,” was his reply. When they asked him about how he calculated his net worth, he noted that the figure “goes up and down with markets and with attitudes and with feelings, even my own feelings.” Later he added that “even my own feelings affect my value to myself.”

[Oceander]

How to tell a BS article where the author thinks its readers are stupid: "$165 million in liquid assets." That means ready cash on hand. Its not his wealth, its not what he owns. Its his cash laying around. No Smart businessman keeps the bulk of their wealth liquid. Its out there working for them to make more money.

This is part of the Democrat Meme to lie about why Trump is running for office. People like hes not doing it for money or power. So we get this garbage anybody who has taken a business class can see is total BS.

Liquid assets are not just cash.  Liquid assets are assets that can be readily liquidated to provide cash, like publicly traded stocks and bonds. 

[Mechanicos]

And the easiest way to tell when an article is NOT stupid or BS is when the Trump minions attack it.  Because you can never refute the claims, you just attack the messenger.

So you a so-called conservative are defending the NYT....

[Wingnut]

  Are you pretending to be this stupid, or are you really this stupid?

No not stupid. But He really is that pig headed... dug in like a tick gorged with blood on Trumps A$$.

[Mechanicos]

Liquid assets are not just cash.  Liquid assets are assets that can be readily liquidated to provide cash, like publicly traded stocks and bonds.  Are you pretending to be this stupid, or are you really this stupid?

Liquid is liquid. And you of all people should know they are not the measure of his wealth. I was not the so called conservative who said gun control was constitutional... 

[sitetest]

LOL.  Liquid assets != just cash.  Yes, he's such a brilliant business man that he values his brand at $4 billion (or not) based on how he feels that day:

From an interview with a Trump biographer, Timothy O'Brien:

"10 billion dollar don" is really "demonic lying don," as your quote relates.  So taken is this critter with lies, that it thinks it gets to create reality as it spews the bullshit.

It is not only the Greatest, Yugest liar, it is the great deceiver.   It has deceived millions, and may deceive millions more before it all plays out.

[Oceander]

Liquid is liquid. And you of all people should know they are not the measure of his wealth. I was not the so called conservative who said gun control was constitutional... 

Duh.  A is A, B is B, ....  Shall we continue with tautologies?   You said liquid was just cash.  That was flatly wrong, which you would have known if you ever bothered to fact-check, or even think about, your posts.  And you're no conservative. 

[ABX]

Liquid assets are not just cash.  Liquid assets are assets that can be readily liquidated to provide cash, like publicly traded stocks and bonds.  Are you pretending to be this stupid, or are you really this stupid?

You really don't want that question answered. Most of what people think Trump's value is in, his real estate, isn't really his. It belongs to Trump International or Trump Properties. He is the CEO of those businesses but he can't just go 'sell a building' like some say. He would have to get board and shareholder approval > approval from any banks that hold notes or leans against those (which I am sure he is leveraged neck deep) > IF any profit is left over, that still isn't his money, it is money that belongs to the corporation. As someone posted above, most of is net worth is tied in with speculated value of his name/brand.

[Oceander]

You really don't want that question answered. Most of what people think Trump's value is in, his real estate, isn't really his. It belongs to Trump International or Trump Properties. He is the CEO of those businesses but he can't just go 'sell a building' like some say. He would have to get board and shareholder approval > approval from any banks that hold notes or leans against those (which I am sure he is leveraged neck deep) > IF any profit is left over, that still isn't his money, it is money that belongs to the corporation. As someone posted above, most of is net worth is tied in with speculated value of his name/brand.

Which question do I not want answered?  The answer to the only question I asked is blatantly obvious, as wingnut pointed out. 

[ABX]

Which question do I not want answered?  The answer to the only question I asked is blatantly obvious, as wingnut pointed out.

This one:  Are you pretending to be this stupid, or are you really this stupid? 

[Oceander]

This one:  Are you pretending to be this stupid, or are you really this stupid? 

Like I said, wingnut pointed out the obvious answer. 

[RedHead]

It's the NYT so it's got to be true!

(Just seeing if you're really a redhead or not.  )

Red headed and Irish.  A dangerous combination.

The easiest way to discredit the messenger is to tell people where the message is wrong, and nobody seems to be able to do that.  Trump's organization is privately held.  It isn't audited.  He refuses to release his tax returns.  All we have for support on his net worth is his own claims and his own estimates.  If stories like this are true then Trump has been lying about his wealth all along.  And he he'll lie about that then what else will he lie about.  Trump himself could put all this speculation and all this analysis to rest but he won't.  And probably for good reason.

[Mechanicos]

Duh.  A is A, B is B, ....  Shall we continue with tautologies?   You said liquid was just cash.  That was flatly wrong, which you would have known if you ever bothered to fact-check, or even think about, your posts.  And you're no conservative.

Keep skipping over the issue, The article LIED about his wealth by trying to trick people with liquid assets as the wealth. attacking me will not change 2 facts, You are defending NYT, You are dodging the issue.

[RedHead]

His point was that business doesn’t run this way: If you’re hiring someone to be a chief executive, you don’t ask them to lay out every decision they’ll make, years ahead of when they’ll make it. You hire someone whom you trust, and you let them run things. Beal says he knows that Trump will do the right things to make the economy perform better. “You’re going to say, ‘How?’ ” he told me. “I don’t know how. I know that sounds crazy. That’s how the real world operates.”

You need to look at it a different way.  If we were investors looking to put our faith and trust and capital into Trump then we would expect to see a business plan.  We would expect to see where he expected to be in two years or four years, and how he planned to get there.  We would expect to see details and would not be satisfied with "I don't know but trust me" as a response to our questions.  That might work for Beal but that isn't how rational people would do business.  Hope is not a strategy.

[Oceander]

His point was that business doesn’t run this way: If you’re hiring someone to be a chief executive, you don’t ask them to lay out every decision they’ll make, years ahead of when they’ll make it. You hire someone whom you trust, and you let them run things. Beal says he knows that Trump will do the right things to make the economy perform better. “You’re going to say, ‘How?’ ” he told me. “I don’t know how. I know that sounds crazy. That’s how the real world operates.”

You need to look at it a different way.  If we were investors looking to put our faith and trust and capital into Trump then we would expect to see a business plan.  We would expect to see where he expected to be in two years or four years, and how he planned to get there.  We would expect to see details and would not be satisfied with "I don't know but trust me" as a response to our questions.  That might work for Beal but that isn't how rational people would do business.  Hope is not a strategy.

Well put. 

[RedHead]

Keep skipping over the issue, The article LIED about his wealth by trying to trick people with liquid assets as the wealth. attacking me will not change 2 facts, You are defending NYT, You are dodging the issue.

How did the article lie about Trump's wealth?  The $165 million figure came from Trump's own filings with the FEC.  The estimate on total wealth came from Mark Cuban, another billionaire, who no doubt based it on his experience with running profitable businesses (none of which have gone bankrupt) and his analysis of Trump's actions.  Where is any of this a lie?

[Mechanicos]

You really don't want that question answered. Most of what people think Trump's value is in, his real estate, isn't really his. It belongs to Trump International or Trump Properties. He is the CEO of those businesses but he can't just go 'sell a building' like some say. He would have to get board and shareholder approval > approval from any banks that hold notes or leans against those (which I am sure he is leveraged neck deep) > IF any profit is left over, that still isn't his money, it is money that belongs to the corporation. As someone posted above, most of is net worth is tied in with speculated value of his name/brand.

barer bonds and other such are considered cash. Much of what you list is not readily converted so is not listed as "liquid" unless its of the type that is easy to transfer. If its easy to transfer is falls under cash. Not who is the one with egg on their face. "Cash" has a broader definition then dollar bills. It can be any money equivalent used to pay for something. That includes many stocks and bonds, checks credit cards, money orders, diamonds gold, etc. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cash

The issue was the article lying. Not about you #neverTrumpers not knowing what the hell you are talking about.

[Oceander]

barer bonds and other such are considered cash. Much of what you list is not readily converted so is not listed as "liquid" unless its of the type that is easy to transfer. If its easy to transfer is falls under cash. Not who is the one with egg on their face. "Cash" has a broader definition then dollar bills. It can be any money equivalent used to pay for something. That includes many stocks and bonds, checks credit cards, money orders, diamonds gold, etc. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cash

The issue was the article lying. Not about you #neverTrumpers not knowing what the hell you are talking about.

What are "barer bonds"?  Is that something you have to put up when you exercise your constitutional right to "bare arms"?

[RedHead]

This is another valid point:

But the more striking question is Cuban’s: why a man with as much money as Trump claims to have, presiding over as many successful ventures as Trump claims to own, would stoop to start up a boiler-room business like Trump University, squeezing out revenues from would-be students a few thousand dollars at a time. The fact that he did — even if that decision doesn’t point, as Cuban suggests, to an outright desperation for cash — speaks volumes about Trump’s utter inability to calibrate risk and reward.

Do we want the leader of our country, and the supposed leader of the Free World, to be a man who cannot calculate if a risk is worth taking or not?  Who makes decisions on a whim and ego - as witnessed by his overpaying for Eastern Airlines solely so he could have an airline to name after himself - rather than in a thoughtful and deliberate manner?  Everything in Trump's background and known history screams unfit for the position of president. 

[RedHead]

The issue was the article lying. Not about you #neverTrumpers not knowing what the hell you are talking about.

How.  Did.  It.  Lie?