The myth and the reality of Donald Trump’s business empire
Trump describes these bankruptcies as if no one was hurt in the process, except high rollers and sharks.
“But there were many people who weren’t wealthy who lost money on those bankruptcies,” he said. “Anyone who invested in a bond fund or who bought individual securities that were linked to his casinos lost money.”
And those people will be coming out of the woodwork.
“He tried to run an airline and failed at that. He tried to run casinos and failed four times. That’s not evidence of brilliance when it comes to operating a complex business.”
Wait till he runs a country.
“When he wanted to go into business on his own, his father’s credit was available to him, and that was worth tens of millions of dollars.”
Trump claimed that he took a loan of $1 million from his father and he turned it into a fortune of $10 billion.
The $1 million loan doesn’t include any of the benefits Trump received from his family’s connections and joining his father’s real estate business after he graduated from college, and it doesn’t count an estimated $40 million inheritance in 1974. The $10 billion figure, which is what Trump claims as his current net worth, is also disputed. Bloomberg News
has estimated Trump's net worth at only $2.9 billion, while Forbes put it at $4.1 billion.
Business Week estimated Trump’s net worth at $100 million in 1978. If Trump had merely put that money in an index fund based on the Standard & Poor's 500 index — the kind many Americans use to save for retirement — he would be worth $6 billion today.
So he actually lost billions.
And that is only the tip of the iceberg. And Republicans call Hillary a liar about whether she heard sniper fire. And Trump in standing right up in front of the Republican Party and lying again and again about everything. But for him, it's OK.