Turning The Ballot Box Against Republicans

It might be Sally. Current favor is that Bob and Sally share an account.

Currant flavor is you have your nose impacted up Hawkshite's colon.

Wrong, baldino, as facts have evaded you once again: What a 1970's million dollars worth today? $6.25 million in 2015 dollars.

Seriously. The Donald tRump has proven he's not been a very good businessman:

From the official propaganda organ of the Communist Party©

Fourth Time's A Charm: How Donald Trump Made Bankruptcy Work For Him

Clare O'Connor ,

Forbes Staff

Here at FORBES, we’ve been tracking Donald Trump‘s wealth since the inaugural Forbes 400 rich list in 1982. Today, we value him at $2.7 billion, although he claims he’s worth far more. One question we’re often asked when talk turns to Trump’s fortune: how can a man who has been bankrupt so many times remain a multi-billionaire? How is he worth more now, post-bankruptcies? We spoke to bankruptcy lawyers and casino industry experts — some of whom have had firsthand involvement in Chapter 11 cases connected to Trump — in an attempt to explain how he has survived corporate bankruptcies and thrived in the aftermath.

1. It’s nothing personal…

First things first: Donald Trump has filed for corporate bankruptcy four times, in 1991, 1992, 2004 and 2009. All of these bankruptcies were connected to over-leveraged casino and hotel properties in Atlantic City, all of which are now operated under the banner of Trump Entertainment Resorts. He has never filed for personal bankruptcy — an important distinction when considering his ability to emerge relatively unscathed, at least financially.

“Corporations, limited partnerships, and LLCs in which he had an ownership interest or companies that had his name attached have filed for bankruptcy,” said Michael Viscount of Atlantic City law firm Fox Rothschild LLP, who represented unsecured creditors when Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, as it was then called, filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2004. “Therein lies the big distinction.”

(See: Trump Exaggerating His Net Worth (By 100%) In Presidential Bid)

He did take a personal hit the first time around: he’d financed the construction of the Trump Taj Mahal with junk bonds and was unable to pay the high interest. His business was in the red, and so was he, to the tune of about $900 million in personal debt. By the mid-90s, he’d reduced most of that debt, selling his Trump Princess yacht, his Trump Shuttle airline, and his stake in a handful of other businesses. More importantly, he stopped guaranteeing debt with his own wealth. “The first bankruptcy was the only time his personal fortune was at stake,” said Ted Connolly, a Boston bankruptcy lawyer who used Trump as model for getting out of debt in his book The Road Out Of Debt: Bankruptcy and Other Solutions to Your Financial Problems. “He learned from it. He’s insulated.”
Recommended by Forbes

2. …it’s just business.

Trump has never apologized for using Chapter 11 as a business tool — indeed, when he spoke to my FORBES colleague Keren Blankfeld recently, he noted that many “great entrepreneurs” have used bankruptcy to restructure debt, free up capital and improve their businesses.

“I’ve cut debt — by the way, this isn’t me personally, it’s a company,” Trump said. “Basically I’ve used the laws of the country to my advantage and to other people’s advantage just as Leon Black has, Carl Icahn, Henry Kravis has, just as many, many others on top of the business world have.”

But to those uninitiated in bankruptcy laws, four instances of corporate bankruptcy in a row can seem staggering. “To the ordinary person in the street, it may seem surprising, but certainly not to me,” said Reed Smith partner Michael Venditto, who has represented clients in high profile Chapter 11 cases, including bankrupt airline TWA. “Chapter 11 is how you reshape and restructure a company that has problems. It doesn’t indicate anything nefarious or even bad management.”

3. It’s better than the alternative.

More important, said Venditto, are the repercussions Chapter 11 might have for creditors versus, say, liquidation. “You can have a visceral reaction to the fact that this company has gone through Chapter 11 multiple times, but the bondholders look at it and the alternatives are much, much worse. What is an empty casino sitting on the Atlantic City boardwalk worth? If it’s operating and it’s got cash flow and income, it may not be able to pay back every cent on the dollar, but the creditors are better off in the long run.”

4. He’s leveraged his persona.

Trump’s name and image have undoubtedly helped him survive each bankruptcy and come out on top. He’s able to demand a high percentage of reorganization equity based on the value his brand brings to a casino or hotel operation. So says Edward Weisfelner, a partner at New York firm Brown Rudnick who was involved in two of the three casino bankruptcies, first representing bondholders, then as counsel to Carl Icahn’s firm Icahn Partners, who tried to buy most of the debt in Trump Entertainment Resorts. “The leverage he had was that his name was on the side of his casinos,” said Weisfelner. “The cost of throwing him out, rebranding and changing his name everywhere would be very high. ”

Added Joseph Weinert, senior vice president at Atlantic City casino consultancy Spectrum Gaming Group, who has produced research for Trump: “
The stakeholders decided they were better off with Trump’s name than they were without it.”

5. He has less and less interest in the bankrupt companies.

With each bankruptcy proceeding, Donald Trump’s stake in the casinos and hotels in Atlantic city that bear his name has decreased. In the first Trump Taj Mahal bankruptcy, he handed over 50% equity to bondholders in return for favorable interest rates. In 2004′s Chapter 11 filing, his stake was reduced to 25%. During wranglings with bondholders immediately before the 2009 bankruptcy, Trump resigned from the board of Trump Entertainment Resorts; his equity stake is now 5%, with another 5% in warrants.

6. He’s not the one to blame.

Atlantic City lawyer Viscount doesn’t believe Donald Trump himself should be held accountable for any of his company’s bankruptcies — his creditors, he said, knew what they were getting themselves into when they lent Trump money over and over again. “They’re all big boys and girls,” he said. “They’ve all played this game before, in the insolvency space. The company that possessed his name filed bankruptcy because it was overleveraged. What does that tell you? People want to lend him money. He does grandiose things with it.”

What I actually said vs what you think I said:



What facts did I get wrong when I didn't talk about facts. I said a $1,000,000 loan was relative. I then asked if he is the only business man to file for bankruptcy? What about either of those statements is getting the facts wrong?

Chris Christie Vetoes Legislation Making It Easier To Vote In New Jersey
Source: thinkprogress.org



BREAKING: Chris Christie Vetoes Legislation Making It Easier To Vote In New Jersey

by Kira Lerner Nov 9, 2015 12:37pm Updated: Nov 9, 2015 1:19pm

CREDIT: AP Photo/Jim Cole

Republican presidential candidate, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, with wife Mary Pat, gets ready to sign papers to be on the nation's earliest presidential primary ballot, Friday, Nov. 6, 2015, at The Secretary of State's office in Concord, N.H.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) vetoed legislation Monday that would have added 1.6 million new voters to the state’s rolls and made New Jersey the third state in the country to adopt automatic voter registration.

After sitting on the “Democracy Act” for almost five months, the governor and Republican presidential candidate vetoed his second voting rights-related bill in three years, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Christie has previously said that he does not support making it easier for residents of his state to vote.........

“In New Jersey, we have early voting that are available to people,” he said in June. “I don’t want to expand it and increase the opportunities for fraud.”

But Analilia Mejia, the director of New Jersey Working Families, which spearheaded the initiative to have lawmakers introduce the legislation, told ThinkProgress earlier this year that the bill would not be “reinventing the wheel.”

“Most of these things have been moved and adopted in other states successfully,” she said. “It’s just mind-bending that a governor of a state would be against every single one of his citizens having full ease and access to participate in the voting process.”

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/11/09/3720574/christie-veto-democracy-act/

Even those trying to lowball his wealth admit that Trump is probably worth a couple of billion dollars, 1 million is small. Also, that his critics feel the need to try to create controversy on his statement that a $1 million loan is small just goes to show how well Trump does with his clean living program. He is far too much the prude for me, but that lifestyle is helpful in politics.

What's the matter Sally? Menstruating? I know women get cranky sometimes during "that time of the month."

You talk like facts would even bother Sally or she would make any attempt to understand what you've said.

Using the menstrual cycle as an insult, how very 19th Century. Are you going to have a go at the abolitionists next?

You're quick with the insults but bad with responding to posts where you actually have to answer anything.

really

<blinks>

Better directed at BOB

You're entirely blind to McG's and H10's entirely nasty talk aimed at me. Tough **** if you don't like mine towards them.

You do notice you and don't talk very much like that to each other, don't you? Keep it civil, and I'll keep it civil.

Which came from this:

Mon 9 Nov, 2015 12:20 pm
@Baldimo,
It might be Sally. Current favor is that Bob and Sally share an account.

http://able2know.org/topic/267070-130

I won't even bring up the menstruating stuff. No misogyny sub-context there, right?

Was trying my Trump impressions so I am good the next 8 years... Bob/Sally are big people, they can handle it.

You said it, McGenitals.

The undercard debate was the best one yet, we got queries for substance over entertainment mostly. If the main debate goes this way it will be a huge test for Trump, it has long been assumed that he does not have the policy chops to talk policy that long. Maybe he does a Christie, who I just watched turn nearly every question into the answer "I can beat Hillary".