Newsweek Cover Story: Donald Trump's Many Business Failures, Explained

[Hissyspit]

http://www.newsweek.com/2016/08/12/donald-trumps-business-failures-election-2016-486091.html

DONALD TRUMP'S MANY BUSINESS FAILURES, EXPLAINED

BY KURT EICHENWALD
ON 8/2/16 AT 6:10 AM

COVER STORY

- snip -

Lost contracts, bankruptcies, defaults, deceptions and indifference to investors—Trump’s business career is a long, long list of such troubles, according to regulatory, corporate and court records, as well as sworn testimony and government investigative reports. Call it the art of the bad deal, one created by the arrogance and recklessness of a businessman whose main talent is self-promotion.

He is also pretty good at self-deception, and plain old deception. Trump is willing to claim success even when it is not there, according to his own statements. “I’m just telling you, you wouldn’t say that you're failing,” he said in a 2007 deposition when asked to explain why he would give an upbeat assessment of his business even if it was in trouble. “If somebody said, ‘How you doing?’ you're going to say you're doing good.” Perhaps such dissembling is fine in polite cocktail party conversation, but in the business world it’s called lying.

And while Trump is quick to boast that his purported billions prove his business acumen, his net worth is almost unknowable given the loose standards and numerous outright misrepresentations he has made over the years. In that 2007 deposition, Trump said he based estimates of his net worth at times on “psychology” and “my own feelings.” But those feelings are often wrong—in 2004, he presented unaudited financials to Deutsche Bank while seeking a loan, claiming he was worth $3.5 billion. The bank concluded Trump was, to say the least, puffing; it put his net worth at $788 million, records show. (Trump personally guaranteed $40 million of the loan to his company, so Deutsche coughed up the money. He later defaulted on that commitment.)

Trump’s many misrepresentations of his successes and his failures matter—a lot. As a man who has never held so much as a city council seat, there is little voters can examine to determine if he is competent to hold office. He has no voting record and presents few details about specific policies. Instead, he sells himself as qualified to run the country because he is a businessman who knows how to get things done, and his financial dealings are the only part of his background available to assess his competence to lead the country. And while Trump has had a few successes in business, most of his ventures have been disasters.

MORE AT LINK

[progressoid]

1. This is a perfect image to represent his "business".

Jim Williams, of Calvi Electric, lowers the 'M' letter from the signage of Trump Plaza Casino to his co-workers Tony Demidio and Steven Nordaby in Atlantic City, New Jersey October 6, 2014.

Mark Makela/Reuters

[Qutzupalotl]

2. Wish they'd started at the other end. n/t

[volstork]

6. LOL!

n/t

[Angry Dragon]

3. Let him open his books so we can see how successful he really is

[For Freddie]

10. What If?

Trump's job is to loose and loose big,so global betting and gambling "friends" clean up and recoup all the money he took from them by betting "against" him? Look at the odds globally on this election with Trump against Hillary. Great money could be made.

Also they enforce a deep humiliation on him and his family globally.
It is more excruciating than whacking him like Big Pussy on the Sopranos. This is a global public shaming and humiliation for the Big Ego that got in too deep with the wrong people.

He behaves like people used to behave in the 80's when they were putting all their profits up their noses.
Rich white boy that is overly arrogant brought down hard.
Attracting the most violent fringes. Brought out of the woodwork.

What if it is all a big show so he looses and profits can be made back from him loosing the election and totally destroying his extremely compromised credibility?
Somewhat like the 1919 World Series...
Gatsby, The Wolf of Wall Street, Sopranos and Good Fellas all in one.

What worries me is this giant distraction and hoopla?
And very little of the real events in our changing planet on all levels. All angst and fear is focused on Donald.

The question is who owns him and who is promoting this show?
Where are Woodward and Bernstein? Or some Millennial version of them? There is a Pulitzer out there for someone who opens this up. I now feel Donald is going to be taken down and a more "acceptable" Republican put in.

I was raised in a Sicilian neighborhood. Somebody BIG owns Donald's ass and is making him do the chicken.
This is an organized crime model, not a traditional political one.
I am watching global odds on the election and betting.
No one puts their family and kids through this kind of hell
unless they are in deep to some one and have to.
We are observing a big heaping pile of "pay back is a bitch".
Nothing Donald does or says surprises me.
He is a paid clown.

[Stuart G]

4. k abnd r..nt

[smirkymonkey]

5. No wonder one of his favorite ways to insult other people and institutions is to

call them a "failure" or "failing". It's pure projection on his part. He is a massively insecure man who knows he's a failure and a loser in his heart of hearts and now the entire world is seeing the truth - the little emperor has no clothes.

[63splitwindow]

7. Everything else aside, He I S hiding his tax returns, the ONLY question is...

[Beartracks]

8. The notion of "qualified to run country because businessman"...

... is itself bogus. Sure, sound business principles may be important for running certain agencies and whatnot, but success* at business -- a private, for-profit way of doing things -- is not really good prep for a position in government -- a public, service-oriented undertaking.

* Not saying Trump is a success at business. His career history is littered with bankruptcies, defaults, and bad ethics. But he *claims* to be successful, and, in America, success is way too often measured in dollars -- real dollars and made-up dollars.

===========

[napkinz]

9. the results ...

[Skittles]

11. he is a con man

high stakes con man

[spanone]

12. how is it that this turd of a person appeals to any human being?

i'm honestly gobsmacked

[raven mad]

13. I really like "purported billions"..........

when everyone with any modicum of financial smarts knows exactly what "purported" signifies...........

[patricia92243]

14. "God help us" is what Bloomburg said about Trump running the USA like he does his business.