Donald Trump isn’t a Genius

In 1995, a year when the economy was on the uptick, Donald Trump lost $916 million.  That’s about three million dollars a day for everyday of the year.  How can any single person hemorrhage cash at such a rate?   Did his uninsured ocean liner sink with all hands onboard and does this demonstrate Trump’s failing as a business man?  Not at all!  Just the opposite in fact.  According to Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie the nearly one billion dollar annual loss only serves to prove Trump’s financial genius.  As a result Trump would pay no federal income tax for the next eighteen years, a full generation.  By gaming the system Mr. Trump grew even richer! 

So who’s left to pay for the US military, for America’s infrastructure and for government funded science, education and healthcare?    It’s the little guy who pays, those of us who aren’t clever enough to take advantage of the loopholes built into the system for the benefit of the rich.  Those of us who have to work for a paycheck because we didn’t inherit millions.   But really we should be grateful to Donald Trump, or so we are told, for it is his business acumen that keeps the engines of American industry rolling.  Where would we be today if not for Donald Trump’s bankrupt casinos, his failing line of vodka and stakes, his defunct airline, his out of business “University” and of course his dress ties made in China?

But then his surrogates, Giuliani and Christie, will remind us that everything Mr. Trump has done has been legal.  Perhaps so, but for capitalism to work it must inspire ethical behavior.    Capitalism places trust in the individual, that merchants will engage in commerce in good faith.  That any product is as good as the seller’s word, that a buyer will pay for the goods and services he receives at the agreed upon price and that dishonesty is wrong, always wrong.  By not paying taxes Donald Trump didn’t prove himself a genius and he didn’t strengthen capitalism.  He weakened it and he weakened America as well.   A country can’t function without safe roads and bridges, well equipped schools and a well funded police force.   We can do better than Donald Trump.