How the American freak out over Clinton’s emails buried definitive proof of Trump’s awful business record
The possible discovery of more Hillary Clinton emails may be the “October surprise” that Donald Trump has been waiting for. “This changes everything,” he said.
But it does not change the disastrous performance of his Atlantic City casinos: the Plaza, Marina, and Taj Mahal. All have now closed—the Taj most recently, on October 10. And, under his management, all lost more jobs and money than others in Atlantic City.
We should not, therefore, let Clinton’s October surprise overshadow the Trump casinos’ October demise.
The possible discovery of more Hillary Clinton emails may be the “October surprise” that Donald Trump has been waiting for. “This changes everything,” he said.
But it does not change the disastrous performance of his Atlantic City casinos: the Plaza, Marina, and Taj Mahal. All have now closed—the Taj most recently, on October 10. And, under his management, all lost more jobs and money than others in Atlantic City.
We should not, therefore, let Clinton’s October surprise overshadow the Trump casinos’ October demise.
Why did his casinos perform so badly? The two leading explanations speak volumes about Trump’s performance in business—and perhaps as president.
First, Trump’s casinos borrowed extravagantly. Rather than repaying their debts, however, they went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy—not once, but four times. Trump admits this, but ignores the fact that this is “huge,” in fact a record: According to CNN, no large business has gone through more bankruptcy proceedings than Trump did in the past 30 years.
Congress created Chapter 11 to help troubled companies renegotiate debt so that they could return to financial viability. But although the Trump casinos went into bankruptcy, they ultimately failed to become profitable in the long-term. The “king of debt” could not get deals good enough to save his casinos.
Debt is key to Trump’s economic plans. Although he has criticized the ballooning national deficit, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that Trump’s tax proposal could add $20 trillion to it.
Why did his casinos perform so badly? The two leading explanations speak volumes about Trump’s performance in business—and perhaps as president.
First, Trump’s casinos borrowed extravagantly. Rather than repaying their debts, however, they went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy—not once, but four times. Trump admits this, but ignores the fact that this is “huge,” in fact a record: According to CNN, no large business has gone through more bankruptcy proceedings than Trump did in the past 30 years.
Congress created Chapter 11 to help troubled companies renegotiate debt so that they could return to financial viability. But although the Trump casinos went into bankruptcy, they ultimately failed to become profitable in the long-term. The “king of debt” could not get deals good enough to save his casinos.
Debt is key to Trump’s economic plans. Although he has criticized the ballooning national deficit, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that Trump’s tax proposal could add $20 trillion to it.
Although Trump has not disputed my findings, a spokeswoman defended Trump’s record, saying that having three casinos in the same market “turned out to be a disadvantage.” This is ridiculous. If anything, being under common control should have been an advantage. His casinos could have consolidated operations and purchasing, for example, reducing costs in ways that others could not.
Whatever the reason, Trump’s casinos lost more jobs and revenue than his rivals. In the end, his casinos cost investors about $1.5 billion and eliminated nearly 15,000 jobs.
As we think about the “October surprise” of alleged new Clinton emails, we should not forget the “October demise” of the Trump Taj Mahal and his other casinos, the only Trump companies we actually know much about.
No comments:
Post a Comment