By: Jim Hoover
In his braggadocio, pouty-lips way, Donald Trump boasts of eliciting tax breaks and garnering other favorable treatment from the government (us) in a constant game of manipulating government agencies and government officials, according to a LA Times article on May 11th.
The article notes that he was the first developer to receive public subsidies for commercial projects under programs initially reserved for improving slum neighborhoods. If you are an exploiter such as Trump, it is something for which you can be proud. If you are impoverished, it is like being stripped and flogged by a billionaire. And for the taxpayer, it is like giving welfare to the rich, which does occur on a regular basis.
Craving attention and seeking the love he seems to bestow on himself, he thrived on the fawning media when he trumpeted presidential aspirations, finding that latching onto the birther scam drew media attention and conservative acclaim.
Now that his “denigration of Obama” exercise has grown boring and limp and the public can no longer participate in his program of self-love, the air seems to have seeped out of his presidential campaign bubble, if not out of his vanity.
Recently Forbes valued him at $2.7 billion. Thoroughly insulted, he claims he’s worth far more. If you know anything about Trump’s business history, you might well ask how a man who has declared bankruptcy four times can be a multi-billionaire.
Is there a similar path to riches for struggling common folk?
Trump has filed for corporate bankruptcy in 1991, 1992, 2004, and 2009. Except for the first, he used the corporate bankruptcy laws and Chapter 11 to shield himself from personal liability. The rules of Chapter 11 protect a corporate bankruptcy, in that it insulates owners, restructures debt and reorganizes the company. GM, for example, did it successfully.
It is within the law, but it is a law that often favors business. In contrast to the leniency shown corporations, the Bush years saw conservative lawmakers work to place much hurt and many hurdles in the way of declaring personal bankruptcy.
When asked about his bankruptcies by Forbes, Trump said:
“I’ve cut debt — by the way, this isn’t me personally, it’s a company, 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 others on top of the business world have.”
So individuals must suffer the slings and arrows of blameworthy bankruptcies, while corporations, which the Supreme Court calls individuals, at least in roles that allow them to control others, can declare chapter 11 – in effect, declare timeout to debtors and creditors — and come back unblemished and flush with cash. Supposedly, it is bankruptcy at the expense of others.
Thus, Mr. Trump has been left to be the celebrity he craves to be, quoted daily pontificating his business acumen, and bigger than life, starring in his own reality show. In his authoritarian CEO voice, he can say, “You’re fired” to poor slobs on a tiresome reality TV show. He can discard and acquire wives, and, above all, he can make money.
We’re all entertained, including Donald, and perhaps only a few thousand get hurt.
Isn’t that the American Way?
