Trump's Business Acumen

I can be quite tolerant towards those with different positions who make honest arguments. We can work together with them to test and hone our own ideas and, perhaps, both wind up closer to the truth. But the patently dishonest trolling is a complete waste of space. I don't believe for a minute he thought it sounded like I'd caved and backed away from the facts I'd presented, since nothing I wrote could remotely be seen that way. So, why say it? Is the point merely to avoid touching on the substance of the argument, by simply pretending the other has surrendered, even when anyone who reads the thread will see otherwise? It seems like an awful lot of wasted effort.

You provided no facts. At all. Nothing. Just keep implying that you did. Lets try this again shall we? When and where has Trump himself been charged or connected by Mueller for Russian collaboration or collusion? In your own terms, please be specific. For once would be nice.
 
the Email says the docs were Russian gov't -but does not say the meeting would be with Russian agents

The meeting was with people who were delivering documents from the Russian government as part of Russia's support for the Trump campaign. That makes them Russian agents. Maybe you are reading that as if I said "KGB Agents," or something like that.... as if I were claiming they were direct employees of the Russian government who routinely worked for Putin. Although that's the case for some of the people involved, like Natalia Veselnitskaya -- she had a history of working for key Russian officials -- that's not what I mean by "agent." I mean it in the standard sense of someone who acts on behalf of another person or group. Trump Jr. knew that these people were acting as agents to transfer documents from the Russian government to his father's campaign. That makes them Russian agents.

I've already said there is no legal term for collusion.

Do you imagine that I claimed there was such a legal term? Try to focus. I asked what you think the word means. Saying "it's not a legal term" isn't a definition. "Windy" and "horny" are each not a legal term, but that doesn't mean they have the same definition. So, how do you define "collusion"? I define it the way the dictionary does. And, by that definition, the Trump Tower meeting was collusion.

I'm glad you finally get the GDP going into Trumps term was awful, and Obama's general GDP averages were bad

What makes you think I "get" that? Be specific, please.
 
You provided no facts. At all. Nothing. Just keep implying that you did. Lets try this again shall we? When and where has Trump himself been charged or connected by Mueller for Russian collaboration or collusion? In your own terms, please be specific. For once would be nice.
As you know, I did provide facts -- for example, I cited the FACT of the Justice Department's stance on the indictability of a sitting president. But let's stay focused here, rather than spinning off to a new topic. The question is what part of what I said did you imagine sounded like I'd caved and backed away from the facts I'd presented? Be specific, please. Once you can find the courage to answer that, we can move on to your question.
 
As you know, I did provide facts -- for example, I cited the FACT of the Justice Department's stance on the indictability of a sitting president. But let's stay focused here, rather than spinning off to a new topic. The question is what part of what I said did you imagine sounded like I'd caved and backed away from the facts I'd presented? Be specific, please. Once you can find the courage to answer that, we can move on to your question.

Here you are spinning again. Where is the answer to this question? "When and where has Trump himself been charged or connected by Mueller for Russian collaboration or collusion? Apparently that is way to hard for you to answer. Once again, your bullshit and faux intelligence is biting you in your partisan ass. It always does.
 
The meeting was with people who were delivering documents from the Russian government as part of Russia's support for the Trump campaign. That makes them Russian agents. Maybe you are reading that as if I said "KGB Agents," or something like that.... as if I were claiming they were direct employees of the Russian government who routinely worked for Putin. Although that's the case for some of the people involved, like Natalia Veselnitskaya -- she had a history of working for key Russian officials -- that's not what I mean by "agent." I mean it in the standard sense of someone who acts on behalf of another person or group. Trump Jr. knew that these people were acting as agents to transfer documents from the Russian government to his father's campaign. That makes them Russian agents.
"Russian agent" is a specific charge -now you are saying they were just general "agents?" but non-Russian agents?..OK

so that would make them leakers....OK



Do you imagine that I claimed there was such a legal term? Try to focus. I asked what you think the word means. Saying "it's not a legal term" isn't a definition. "Windy" and "horny" are each not a legal term, but that doesn't mean they have the same definition. So, how do you define "collusion"? I define it the way the dictionary does. And, by that definition, the Trump Tower meeting was collusion.
What makes you think I "get" that? Be specific, please.
you could be a little less snarky. I "focus"
and I've explained over and over that this was not a conspiracy.

Collusion is a nebulous term. if you want to see collusions..ok fine
 
"Russian agent" is a specific charge -now you are saying they were just general "agents?" but non-Russian agents?..OK

so that would make them leakers....OK



you could be a little less snarky. I "focus"
and I've explained over and over that this was not a conspiracy.

Collusion is a nebulous term. if you want to see collusions..ok fine

They do tend to see things that are not there to make their "case.
 
there's no law specifying 'collusion' as a crime

so does your stupid ass know why that term is being used?

well?

Do you have tourettes? That seems to be a common problem with the lower intellectual levels of the Democrat party. You are right up there with Domer and Evince.
 
Here you are spinning again. Where is the answer to this question? "When and where has Trump himself been charged or connected by Mueller for Russian collaboration or collusion?

I'll happily answer, once you've answered my question. I'm not going to enable your attempt to dodge my question by moving on to new matters before that. When you find the courage to answer, we can move on. Good luck!
 
I'll happily answer, once you've answered my question. I'm not going to enable your attempt to dodge my question by moving on to new matters before that. When you find the courage to answer, we can move on. Good luck!

This is what I am talking about. You make claims, cannot back them up, then try and move the discussion into different directions. The only person with no "courage" to answer for their bullshit here is you. You and people like you are the reason no one takes Democrats seriously anymore. Nothing of substance at all.
 
In the wake of the New York Times's revelations about just how much of his father's money Trump got, I think it's worth revisiting the issue of how much business skill Trump actually had.

The myth of Trump is fairly simple: he took a loan from his father of $1 million, and grew it into a business worth many billions of dollars, thanks to his brilliant investments.

Even before the extent of Fred's handouts to his son were clear, the legend of Donald's business sense never added up, mathematically. For example, between 1982 and 2018, Forbes says his net worth grew from $100 million to $3.1 billion:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/02/trump-forbes-400-spot-tumbles-as-net-worth-declines.html
https://books.google.com/books?id=axK-7t8kolQC&pg=PT103&lpg=PT103&dq=forbes+1982+donald+trump+%22estimated+at+over+$200+million%22+++%22$500+million%22&source=bl&ots=hjx0KOH1FK&sig=uOeUSFijHsEnX50eQWEatW9_cso&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAGoVChMI2KHPtL7YxgIV1BGSCh2NvADr#v=onepage&q=forbes%201982%20donald%20trump%20%22estimated%20at%20over%20%24200%20million%22%20%20%20%22%24500%20million%22&f=false

That would be an annualized return on his fortune, in that timeframe, of 10.0%. Over the same period, any moron with a passively managed index fund would have gotten 11.827%:

https://dqydj.com/sp-500-return-calculator/

So, a completely mediocre investor, starting where Trump did in 1982, should be worth about $5.6 billion today, which is 81% higher than Donald Trump.

Now that we realize just how much Trump got in hand-outs from his father, it looks even worse. According to the NYT article, these contributions from his mega-rich father's business added up at least $413 million in value, in today's money. There are lots of questions about the legality of these transfers, which were done by way of shifty schemes of giving deliberately under-valued gifts, to avoid paying taxes. But I'd like to set those aside and just look at it in terms of how this reflects on Trump's investing skill.

According to the NYT article, Trump was being transferred $200,000 per year from his father's fortune starting as a toddler, such that by age 8 he was a worth at least $1 million.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-wealth-fred-trump.html

Projecting forward $200k per year in transfers from age 3 to 18 and a reasonable return on the trust fund investments, Trump should have been worth well over $10 million at age 18. Yet, that would "only" involve a transfer of $26.4 million from daddy to Donnie, in today's dollars ($200k per year, each adjusted by inflation to 2018 dollars). The NYT says he eventually got a total of $413 million in today's money from his father. So, he'd have had to average a transfer of $3.054 million per year, in nominal dollars, if distributed evenly, from age 18 until his father's death in 1999, to hit that lifetime total of $413 million in today's dollars.

So, based on an assumption of $200k per year from his father from age 3 to 18, followed by $3.054 million per year after that, until his father's death, what would Donald Trump be worth today if he'd just put his daddy's financial gifts into a passively managed index fund, and never did a day of active investing or other work in his life? In other words, if Donald Trump has been born severely retarded, and Fred had made all the same wealth transfers to him but without letting him play with the money, what would Donald be worth today?

The answer: $11.725 billion. The real Donald Trump, "brilliant businessman," is worth about 1/4 as much as the hypothetical Donald Trump who'd been born so mentally deficient that he couldn't be trusted make any decisions about the money, or even to get a job. That makes the real Donald Trump a shockingly terrible investor. Yet the mythology about his business skill was (aside from the racism, sexism, etc.) the very core of his sales pitch when he ran for president.

20hvp69.jpg
 
His skill is scamming people and self-promotion.

He is literally too dim-witted, uninformed, and shallow to be a genius businessman.
I don't even think this fat fuck could make it in the corporate world. He is not a team player. It is not 1968 anymore, and pussy grabbing, unearned braggadocio, relentless lying, and lack of mental acuity just don't cut the mustard.

:lolup:Completely triggered by TDS. :rofl2:

l5zghwu5v3e11.jpg
 
Try rereading. I'll give you a hint: the point wasn't to argue there was a problem with him making money. It was to point out that he was a really, really terrible investor, whose wealth is due entirely to his father's hand-outs.
And Russian money laundering.
 
"Russian agent" is a specific charge

Yes. And it's a charge satisfied in the case of someone who is acting as an agent of the Russian government, as these people were.

-now you are saying they were just general "agents?" but non-Russian agents?..OK

No, obviously I'm not saying that. What led you to that mistaken belief?

you could be a little less snarky

I could be a lot less snarky. The hope, though, is that snark will help you to focus.

I "focus"
and I've explained over and over that this was not a conspiracy.

How do you define the word "conspiracy"? The dictionary definition is "a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful." This was definitely a secret plan by a group of people. Working through intermediaries, for purposes of being discrete, they arranged a secret meeting at Trump Tower. Now, was the purpose to do something unlawful or harmful? I'd say both. But "harmful" is in the eye of the beholder, so lets just talk about the law. Under the law, it is illegal for a foreigner to give something of value to a US campaign. The documents and information the foreigners were planning to give were hoped to be valuable by both the Trump campaign and the Russian government. So, this was a secret plan by a group to violate campaign finance law. That's a conspiracy, right?

Collusion is a nebulous term.

.... there are lots of nebulous terms, but they all have definitions. How do you define collusion?
 
This is what I am talking about. You make claims, cannot back them up, then try and move the discussion into different directions. The only person with no "courage" to answer for their bullshit here is you. You and people like you are the reason no one takes Democrats seriously anymore. Nothing of substance at all.

No, you do this sort of thing frequently, and once again, partisanshitheads can always escape through labeling and scape goating in the avoidance of substance.
 
Try rereading. I'll give you a hint: the point wasn't to argue there was a problem with him making money. It was to point out that he was a really, really terrible investor, whose wealth is due entirely to his father's hand-outs.

Can someone shove a cracker in this idiots beak? :rofl2:

Try rereading. I'll give you a hint SQUAWK!

Try rereading. I'll give you a hint SQUAWK!

Try rereading. I'll give you a hint SQUAWK!

Try rereading. I'll give you a hint SQUAWK!
20hvp69.jpg
 
Back
Top