Donald Trump: "The hedge fund guys are getting away with murder"

CBS News ^ | August 23, 2015 | Rebecca Kaplan

[Ann Archy]

I think Hillary thinks she is UNTOUCHABLE!!! She probably isn’t worried at all......she’s gotten by with murder for decades because she knows everything about everybody......she knows where ALL the bodies are.

[Ann Archy]

FLAT TAX is the ONLY answer. EVERYONE should pay the Same Percentage.....everyone!

[LeoWindhorse]

David Rocker

[mythenjoseph]

Nathanbedford... The simple fact that he will beholden to no one because of donations is HUGE....what values does he have that are not in OUR REPUBLICS interest?....Ted Cruz ( who I like) HAS TO beg for cash ....The man has everything and I think he honestly wants to purge washington ...something every conservative wants I would think.

[nathanbedford]

We are reassured that Donald Trump is incorruptible because he doesn't need anyone's money. This even though he admits he paid money to politicians to corrupt them, that is to get favors and cooperation.

Now we are expected to believe that when Donald Trump changes sides in this equation and becomes a politician he would not be corrupt even though he was corrupt on the other side of the same equation.

Granted, Trump does not need anyone's money but he has needed favors and cooperation and he has demonstrated that he was willing to go to corrupt lengths to get it. Should he gain the highest office in the land just like every other president he will need favors and cooperation from Congressman, bureaucrats, governors, judges, media personalities, and foreign players.

Now the admittedly corrupt player will no longer be corrupt when he becomes a politician. Are we to believe that Trump will change his stripes he changes sides in the equation?

The Art of the Deal is about more than money, it is about power, it is about manipulation. Politicians are not corrupt only when they are venal, they are corrupt because they are God players. They seek political power because they seek power and government offers the greatest scope for that ambition. They seek power because they are God players. It is an ego trip. The obvious example is Hillary Clinton but Hillary Clinton's ego is no bigger than Donald Trump's; both are classic narcissists.

To believe that Donald Trump will put aside corrupt practices when he is playing for power instead of for money is naïve in the extreme.

It's easy to look the other way when Trump is doing things we like (or promises-or seems to be promising- that he will do the things we like) to get elected but what happens when the man is elected and starts doing things his ego persuades him to do that are utterly repugnant to conservative constitutional values? Do we call that corruption? Do we call that tyranny?

[sunrise_sunset]

Flat tax people, there are reasons for deductions. Or have none of you ever run a business ?

[exnavy]

Taxes on persons income is unconstitutional. Eliminate income taxes to return to the founders intent.

[exnavy]

I am tired of listening to blowhard politicians tell me how they are going to make life better by raising someone’s taxes. Let us return to the framers intent on income taxes.

[DoodleDawg]

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he would change the tax laws to force people who work at hedge funds to pay more in taxes, because "the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder."

Under Trump's tax plan those guys would pay a max of 15%. That's a cut from the 20% capital gains tax. Or he can leave the current regulations in place and they'll pay nothing since he wants to do away with capital gains taxes.

[DoodleDawg]

So he wants to impose higher taxes

But only on the lower and middle class.

[corkoman]

Three informative NathanBedford posts this morning - thank you for taking the time and effort to represent your insights.

I pause with the premise that ..."Granted, Trump does not need anyone's money but he has needed favors and cooperation and he has demonstrated that he was willing to go to corrupt lengths to get it.

Giving assets to politicians is not illegal and does not represent corruption. It is the receiver of these assets that does not 1) adequately communicate these contributions and then 2) allows this gratuity to affect their voting behavior that is participating in corruption

Methinks DTrump has greased a lot of skids and knows how pervasive and destructive this system is to the 99%.

Conservatives such as myself hope, yes hope, that somehow a knight in armor will arrive and smote the corrupt and allow the engine of prosperity to run in top gear.

As of this moment his blue Blazer has fended off most arrows and stones. Few know exactly his principles - he does not espouse formal Conservatism and might be another RINO if given a chance. But I do believe he may harbor a deep disregard of the buying and selling of politicians and certainly is going about calling out Jeb and others for their associations.

Lastly, I was impressed last week with the publication of his immigration paper: bold, specific. If he releases a tax reform paper with similar qualities this will help those of us leery of his stand on this critical function.

[proxy_user]

Actually, the correct capital gains rates are:

Income under $200K: 15%
Income over $200K but under $400K: 18.3%
Income over $400K: 23.8%

Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012.

[LS]

I agree. Elsewhere he has talked about lower rates, though still progressive---but he called for some very low taxes on everyone. I think that is key. Every citizen needs to pay something.

While I'm guessing he supports this, I haven't yet seen him call for reductions in capital gains taxes to reduce the exodus of money offshore.

Moreover we know that he spent time with Steve Forbes and Art Laffer, both flat tax guys. This doesn't reflect that at all.

[nathanbedford]

You are right, thanks for reminding me about his discussions with Forbes and Art Laffer. Since the progressive era the font of much leftist evil can be associated with the never-ending flow of money, real, borrowed, printed or simply created with the stroke of a computer which is enabled by the federal progressive income tax.

The evil is not just in overspending and the creation of crushing debt, the evil is in the choices the spending makes, the cronies it favors in the marketplace, the political interests it subsidizes only to have them come back at us on election day the enemies it seeks to punish, the startups it aborts, the savings it sucks away, the distortions it creates everywhere in the economy.

So when Donald Trump tacitly endorses the manipulation of the system, albeit in the name of fairness but also in service of the punishment of the unworthy, he is ratifying a century-old corrupt practice which is bringing the country down. For people of conservative bent who try to identify a conservative candidate this is terribly important because the power to tax is the power to destroy and the power to subsidize is the power to nurture, combined the power to tax is the power of tyranny. Will Donald Trump simply continue playing the game against enemies that strike his fancy this week, or will he attempt to tear out the corruption at root?

Who will win the battle for Donald Trump's Soul, his ego or our better angels of our conservative nature?

[Liz]

Trump's idea to eliminate carried interest will hit leftist billionaires hard....such as Tom Steyer, Warren Buffett, Soros, Jon Corzine, and the boys at Goldman Sachs. “So many hedge fund managers are Democrats who advocate higher taxes on others, but not themselves” Trump observed.

The Hillary-Goldman Sachs connection.

Then-US Sens Clinton and Corzine. Corzine was fresh out of Goldman Sachs executive suite, buying his NJ Senate seat office for $65 million; then buying the NJ governorship. Out of office, Corzine ran a hedge fund where $1.5 B went missing.

===================================================

Chelsea's husband, Mark Mezvinsky, runs a hedge fund that gained access to bigtime Wall Street investors w/ ties to the Clintons and the Clinton Foundation.

Back in 2011, Mezvinsky, now 37, and two former Goldman Sachs colleagues — Bennett Grau and Mark Mallon — began raising money for Mezvinsky's Eaglevale Partners LP hedge fund.

Some of Hillary's SIL's investors included Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. Blankfein, a slavish Democrat supporter, said he had "always been a fan of Hillary Clinton."

The WSJ reports extensively on Eaglevale's underperformance since its inception and Mezvinsky's mediocre investing and strategizing.

[Liz]

Shortly after Hillary exited state, officials there announced $6 BILLION went missing from the untraceable contractors' account.

Ever wonder, how to make $6 billion disappear?

Easy....Wall Street can make money disappear faster than a cream puff at a Weight Watchers weigh-in.

Then-US Sen Clinton w/ her pal.....then-US Sen Jon
Corzine (fresh out of Goldman Sachs executive suite).

[nhwingut]

I know a couple of hedge fund guys from business. Pure sleaze. Think wolf of wall street. And they’re Dems.

[i_robot73]

You (both) missed a step:

Operating within the legal confines of the Constitution....

Unless/until, one is just rearranging the deckchairs

[LS]

Yes, a question. So far, he has met with Jeff Sessions and turned out a perfect immigration plan.

He has met and hired Ed Rollins and has developed an effective plan for the campaign.

He has met with Forbes and Laffer. I have to think this is just rhetoric---which is absolutely the wrong thing to say---but that his actions, as his other actions have, will reflect those he brings in to advise him. He has repeatedly talked about getting the money back from overseas via reductions in the taxes companies pay. So we'll see.

[Soul of the South]

“The Hillary-Goldman Sachs connection.”

Mrs. Cruz was an executive for Goldman Sachs.

George W. Bush put Henry Paulson, ex CEO of Goldman Sachs into the Secretary of Treasury position just before the 2008 financial crash. Paulson promptly bailed out his Wall Street cronies at the expense of the taxpayer.

Goldman has its tentacles deep in both political parties. We need a president who will use anti-trust law to break up the Wall Street banking cartel. Disbursing capital to regional banks throughout the USA will help fund a resurgence of US manufacturing. Allowing a few “too big to fail” New York banks to control most of the financial capital of the nation will ensure the savings of the American people is destroyed via speculation and foreign investments (ie. loans to countries like Greece).