Posted on 11/11/2015 4:31:11 AM PST by Kaslin
Sometimes I like Donald Trump. He makes me laugh when he mocks reporters' stupid questions.
Sometimes he's smart. When Maryland's lefty governor said a tax on rich people would "raise revenue," Trump told me why it wouldn't. The taxpayers would just flee: "I know these people! They're international people! Whether they live here or in a place like Switzerland, it doesn't really matter to them!"
Perfect TV sound bite. And accurate. Maryland's tax on the rich brought in less revenue.
When Trump makes billions by giving people things they want in voluntary exchanges -- via casinos or real estate or the chance to watch him "fire" people on TV shows -- I applaud him. Free trade is mutually beneficial. Everybody wins.
That's why it's appalling when Trump calls trade agreements a "disaster" and says he'd "punish" Mexico with higher tariffs (tariffs really punish Americans).
And it's appalling when Trump uses connections with government to take things from others. I confronted him about that once.
In Atlantic City, an elderly woman named Vera Coking owned a home near Trump's casino. Trump wanted to take down her house so he could expand his casino parking lot.
People had offered to buy Vera's house, but she said no. In America, property rights mean you get to tell people, "You can't use my things without my permission."
But Trump wouldn't take no for an answer. He got some New Jersey politicians to grant him the right to take Vera's house. Politicians can do that under a law called "eminent domain." Trump recently called eminent domain "wonderful!"
Eminent domain can be wonderful if it's put to important public use, say, claiming land for highways, railroads or a pipeline. But Trump got New Jersey pols to use it so he'd have a better space for limousines to park.
Also, under eminent domain, the state is supposed to pay the property owner "just compensation." But Vera had turned down a million-dollar offer. Instead of raising the bid, Trump got politicians to force Vera to sell for even less. Trump would have to pay just $251,000, a fourth what she'd been offered.
That made Trump a manipulative bully. So I told him that.
"In the old days, developers came in with thugs with clubs. Now you use lawyers!"
"Excuse me! Other people maybe use thugs today. I don't!" was Trump's angry answer. "For you to use the word 'bully,' John, is very unfair. ... It's a pretty sick assumption, and I think it's pretty jaded for you to make it."
Vintage Trump.
He is right. I'm pretty jaded. Watching big shots violate people's property rights tends to do that.
Fortunately, after a long legal battle, an appeals court ruled that Trump could not take Vera's property. That worked best for everyone since it turned out that Trump didn't need a bigger parking lot. Trump and New Jersey pols hadn't predicted the future. His casino, like others in Atlantic City, went bankrupt.
Bankruptcy happens in business all the time, and only investors lose. But when business "partners" with government, innocent people get trampled.
Trump also tried to use his "get politicians to grab someone's land" scheme in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he promised a "world-class" development that never happened.
This is "a powerful, politically influential person using his power to steal, essentially, somebody else's private property for his own private profit," says Tim Sandefur of the Pacific Legal Foundation.
But Trump said that his development might bring the city extra tax money, making it "public" use.
"By that logic," says Sandefur, "you can use the power of eminent domain to kick all poor people out of your city. ... The whole purpose of protections against eminent domain in our Constitution -- in fact, the very purpose of a Constitution -- is to protect people who don't have political influence and can't persuade politicians to do their bidding."
I wish Trump understood that. He isn't the only one whose ego is huge. So is government's -- always thinking it knows best.
Let property owners decide, not the bullies.
I am so over the TDS I keep encountering here. It is ridiculous. Sure the man has functioned as an entertainer and made a hell of a lot of money at it. He gave contribution to grease the wheels for his business. Shows he understands business.
He has made a yuuge commitment to America by running on his own money to change the trajectory of America’s descent. I don’t see anyone else stepping up to the plate with real changes.
I like & respect Ted Cruz but I think the situation is too dire for him to go it alone right now. He doesn’t have the same ability to stand tough, needs donors. He is hobnobbing with the Koch brothers who have some conservative positions but are on the free labor/big business express. What I would dearly love to see is Trump followed by Cruz. That way we clean the stables first and then set up a better plan.
I am so sick of the whining about Trump having some less conservative positions. Firstly by working against him you are working for Rubio or Hillary and with that choice I’ll stay home in Nov 2016. Trump is the guy who can bring disparate groups to the booths pulling the “R” lever. He has already shown it with yuuge crowds everywhere he goes.
Trump is pragmatic and he is used to selecting allies and delegating on the basis of good ideas and abilities not on paying off cronyies. He is not afraid to listen to them and form his positions after new input as we saw with Sessions on immigration. Trump was busy in the business world and he is a very focused man. Some things he said like his early support of Planned Parenthood related to his peripheral knowledge of them; he was just being superficial. To his credit when there was blowback he looked into the facts and spoke against their practices. To me the point is that he takes responsibility seriously, he likes to win, has the intelligence and mental agility to do so and he has the character of a bulldog. He also cares about the Vets and everyone having a chance to succeed. I want him fighting in America’s corner.
Of course he will flip. He is a deal maker, not an ideologue. I'd just like to see illegal immigration stopped, and America made great with less federal power, lower corporate taxes, etc. Is that too much to ask? Sure, I would rather have Cruz but Cruz is not leading for a couple of reasons. I would take my chances with Trump because he is solid on the 2nd and he is independent of the party elite.
It's one thing to "stand up for American jobs" by giving lip service to an issue during a presidential campaign, but delivering on silly campaign platitudes is a whole other matter.
Trump's "American jobs" act was badly exposed when he hammered Ford over their new plant in Mexico. It's one thing to complain about jobs in some industries moving overseas, but when he decided to target one of the few industries that can -- and does -- operate major manufacturing plants profitably right here in the U.S., he looked terribly ignorant in the process.
I've heard Trump stand up and claim that he'd impose massive tariffs on imported products. I have never heard him say a single word about the real issues that drive American industry overseas: taxes, excessive government regulation, labor costs, demographics, etc.
Cringing has been saying the same thing forever. Literally, the same exact thing over and over. You’ll never get through to him. His worldview is set in stone.
People like Cringing see a static world economy, for every job gained in X place one must be lost in Y place. People like him don’t see that we can grow the pie with the right polices, that our economy is dynamic and that world trade can be a win win for every one (again, with the right policies).
On trade Cringing is with the unions and people like Bernie Sanders. We’d still be stuck choosing from trash the big 3 auto makers were churning out if it were up to him.
People that believe like this can’t understand that lower taxes, weakened unions, less regulation, etc, etc, is what will make us competitive and attract more jobs here to the US. The world economy is global now, there is no way to protect every single job - nor would we want to. The 1950’s -1960’s are done and gone, and we are never going to go back to a time where a chunk of the world chose to intentionally hobble their economy with failed communist systems and the other big chunk saw their nations in ruins which left America able to produce with almost no competition.
I found some pictures of the inside. It was a sty.
Her son got her to come and live with him and put it on the market for 5 mil. No buyers. It finally was auctioned for back taxes and sold for half a mil. That was the gross...not net.
He should have got mom to take the original mil and then move in with him. The son though he would make a killing since everything would eventually go to him. Tough luck bud.
That is all well and good.
But I haven’t heard Cruz take a stand on the issue.
At least Trump is talking about American jobs, and trade. Loudly in fact.
Nobody else is. Not even Cruz.
Nobody.
She did not keep the house. She moved in with her son and he put it on the market for 5 mil. It didn’t sell and finally went to auction and it grossed half a mil. Probably nothing left after paying the bills on it.
They should also point out that before the casinos came in her house wouldn't sell for $10,000. Atlantic City was a cess pool. The place was overrun with wino's, heroin addicts and prostitutes. It was absolutely awful. I lived right up the Black Horse Pike from there and you couldn't have paid me to visit.
Pro American Nationalism is what we need to get our country back, but the elites continually try to push an agenda that such beliefs represent a harmful or even terrorist threat. Propaganda is a powerful force being used against us by the owners of our country.
Cruz seems to be backed by a lot of realists who can be hopeful if he were to win the election -- because he never made promises he couldn't keep.
Trump seems to be backed by a lot of people who will be sorely disappointed with him if he were to win the election -- because he simply can't deliver on what he promises.
Outstanding post!
I hated Atlantic City even when it “came back” although as a child, in the Steel Pier days, I loved it. If I recall correctly, didn’t the house eventually sell for $50,000? Don’t quote me!
China can sign on to the deal.
I do not even believe he will make it too Iowa.
I got a Benjamin right here that says Trump makes it to Iowa.
Game on?
5.56mm
Of course....her conniving was so apparent.
Stossel’s desire to put-down Trump is such that he contrived a scenario of a “poor put-upon woman victimized by Trump.”
Balderdash.
Thanks for the input.
Since less than 10% of manufacturing is done by union members the issue of unionism is moot.
Having said that I would pick American union workers over ChiCom rice burning gooks to make my products. For the most part it's not like I, as a consumer, see any cost reduction or quality control coming from the third world by utilizing suicidal slave labor.
She kept the house. Her son would not have been able to sell it if she hadn’t kept it. My mother, when she was elderly, kept her house but moved into a nursing home. The house at this point is worth about $300,000.
The woman wanted to keep her house and she thwarted a lot of people. It is newsworthy because she thwarted some powerful people - if she hadn’t, it would just be another sad, eminent domain debacle. I salute her although I would have grabbed Trump’s cash.
I think we can get companies to come back. Lower the damn corporate tax and get rid of the bazillion regulations.
I saw an old Oprah interview of (a much younger) Trump on YouTube and he was saying much of what he says now concerning the country. I’m hoping the rug won’t be pulled out from under us, but I can’t see anyone else possibly cutting through the fog of Hillary “inevitability”. Also, while I understand conservative purity wants a Cruz, the left has been able to cast him as a sanctimonious troublemaker. Who else but Trump can say so many taboo things that NEED to be said and get away with it (and actually appeal to minorities and Dems)?
I think it sold for a half a million. When I was a kid we took a field trip to the Steel Pier every year. It was great...I loved the diving horse and loved when we got to go down in the diving bell. I remember seeing a concert on the Steel Pier every year...saw the Grass Roots for a couple of years in a row. But even then you could see the place decaying. My grandparents used to tell me about how in the 40’s and early 50’s people would get dressed in their finest to promenade on the boardwalk. That was a far cry from the Atlantic City of my early youth and another planet from the AC of my early adult years.
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