Why Ordinary People Bear Economic Risks and Donald Trump Doesn’t

[Crewleader]

Sunday, September 21, 2014

by Robert Reich

Thirty years ago, on its opening day in 1984, Donald Trump stood in a dark topcoat on the casino floor at Atlantic City’s Trump Plaza, celebrating his new investment as the finest building in Atlantic City and possibly the nation.

Last week, the Trump Plaza folded and the Trump Taj Mahal filed for bankruptcy, leaving some 1,000 employees without jobs.

Trump, meanwhile, was on twitter claiming he had “nothing to do with Atlantic City,” and praising himself for his “great timing” in getting out of the investment.

In America, people with lots of money can easily avoid the consequences of bad bets and big losses by cashing out at the first sign of trouble.

http://robertreich.org/post/98079430765

[NaturalHigh]

1. I have ranted for years wondering...

why some people think Trump is some sort of financial genius. How many times has Trump or one of his companies filed for bankruptcy? Yet if an ordinary person with overwhelming medical bills files for bankruptcy, he or she is treated like a pariah. It never made sense to me.

[sabbat hunter]

4. Trump himself

has never personally declared bankruptcy. It was always his corporations, who were loaded down with debt via junk bonds, etc that went belly up.

[golfguru]

5. Trump is an absolute genius

because he is living a life I can only dream of.
The fucker owns the finest golf courses and resorts.
I have worked my ass off all my life and can only
play on 3rd rate municipal courses.

[drray23]

2. many of the buildings with the trump name

On it do not belong to donald Trump. One of the things he does is license the use of his brand. Pretty similar to the franchise model utilized by many big corporations.

[sabbat hunter]

3. well that is not quite what happened

in Atlantic City. He did at one point own the corporations that owned the casinos. But after several bouts of bankruptcy due to being swamped with junk bonds, the creditors forced him out, but in exchange for forgiving debt, they were allowed to keep using the name on the casinos.