Trump Is Reality TV, Mueller Is The Wire

[boost]

Look guys, if we're gonna say that businesses can just assume more and more risk, and all it does is make it easier to turn a profit, then you can all just fuck off.

That is literally some of the dumbest, most idiotic bullshit I've ever heard. And as much as I like ranting at stupidity, this one is just too pathetic and sad for me to unleash my wrath.

The key is that it isn't easier to turn a true profit-- it's a game of three card monty when you do this. The two show cards read "PROFITS!" and the third card reveals the truth. The crazy thing is, you can actually be unwittingly running one of these three card monty businesses due to ignorance. Or of course it can be intentional. And further, it's not even necessarily against the rules.

[BananaStand]

The key is that it isn't easier to turn a true profit-- it's a game of three card monty when you do this. The two show cards read "PROFITS!" and the third card reveals the truth. The crazy thing is, you can actually be unwittingly running one of these three card monty businesses due to ignorance. Or of course it can be intentional. And further, it's not even necessarily against the rules.

This just reeks of whiny left-wing uninformed nonsense. Did you hear this at an Occupy protest??

Reading between the lines here, your thought process is obvious. Your jealous rage towards anyone wealthy compels you to level insane accusations of fake profits, 'cooking the books', and something something three card monty.

Just because you don't have an understanding of accounting and corporate finance doesn't mean that profits are an illusion

[boost]

This just reeks of whiny left-wing uninformed nonsense. Did you hear this at an Occupy protest??

Reading between the lines here, your thought process is obvious. Your jealous rage towards anyone wealthy compels you to level insane accusations of fake profits, 'cooking the books', and something something three card monty.

Just because you don't have an understanding of accounting and corporate finance doesn't mean that profits are an illusion

Profits can be an illusion. And there are certain hallmarks of smoke and mirror profits. Why read between the lines when I'm happy to tell you exactly what I mean and what motivates my interests?

My interest here is not based in an attempt to deligitimize capitalism. I want to better understand it so as to not be an unwitting three card monty operator. Am I envious of those wealthier than I am? Sure, in that I would like to have more wealth. That motivates me to try to better understand how to predictably acquire wealth.

While I don't have a comprehensive grasp of accounting and/or corporate finance, it is an established fact that there are ways to structure corporate entities and methods of accounting that result in an illusion of profit. I never once said broadly that this is the case of all corporate entities or all profits and I this cannot be reasonably inferred from my posts ITT.

[BananaStand]

While I don't have a comprehensive grasp of accounting and/or corporate finance, it is an established fact that there are ways to structure corporate entities and methods of accounting that result in an illusion of profit.

Think for a minute....

I mean actually THINK

Why would Trump want to create an illusion of profit? What possible motivation would he have? What the fuck is Trump gonna do with profits? Get yourself an answer to that question before you read on.

Now, whatever answer you came up with...is wrong. The correct answer is that Trump would prefer his companies to NOT be profitable. There is FAR more incentive to create the illusion of losses than there is to create the illusion of profits.

Yes, it's true that companies will *spin* their financial statements in ways that make the company look more successful than it may actually be. But the goal of those companies is to drive up their stock price. Trump's companies are privately held. It's stock isn't traded. The only thing profits do for Trump is drive up his tax bill.

Furthermore, while there are some accounting tricks you can do to manipulate your profits, you can't fake cash flow. It always "comes out in the wash". Either you're bringing in more revenue than you pay in expenses, or you aren't. You can't create an "illusion" of cash flow. Because cash is tangible. Either it's there, or it isn't. And if it isn't, the business will eventually become insolvent, and fail.

And it doesn't take long either. When Jeff Skilling took over Enron, he asked the SEC for permission to use "mark-to-market" accounting. Without getting into the details, it was basically a method that allowed Enron to over-estimate it's future cash flow. In the short term, these optimistic estimates drove up Enron's stock price. Then Enron used its own stock as collateral to get more cash, book another deal, over estimate its value, and drive the stock price up further. Rinse and repeat. Eventually, the cash never materialized, Enron stock dipped. Now it's collateral wasn't worth as much. Loans were called. And Enron didn't have the cash to cover it. Bankrupt.

That whole process took less than 10 years. Enron was the 7th largest corporation in America. Then one day they changed course, stopped being an energy distribution company, and became an energy trading company. A little tweak to the rules -- that the SEC permitted -- allowed them to *spin* their financial results more favorably.....and in under a decade the whole thing came crumbling down.

Trump has been crushing it for half a fucking century. You can't fake that.

[boost]

Trump has been crushing it for half a fucking century.

You, and a lot of other people, seem to believe this is true..

You can't fake that.

...so apparently you can.

[BananaStand]

You, and a lot of other people, seem to believe this is true..

who is "a lot of other people?"

Even a tiny business with a line of credit from a local bank will get two audits a year. Most business owners don't do their own taxes, they hire a CPA. Well that CPA isn't going to sign his name to your tax return without auditing your financial statements. And then the IRS has a go.

That's four audits, for even the tiniest of companies. Trump has FIVE HUNDRED companies, many of which are humongous. And I'm sure he does business with more than just one bank. Each one of them wants to do their own audits. And you can be sure IRS knows who Trump is.

So there are "a lot of other people" giving Trump's finances shitloads of scrutiny. Nothing Enron-esque has happened in the decades that Trump's been in business. At this point it's probably safe to say that the guy is actually making money. It is substantially impossible that he's created the wealth that he has, with smoke and mirrors. It just can't happen. Not this much, and not for this long.

Getting back to the original question..."Does Trump's success prove that he's intelligent?"

HOW THE FUCK CAN IT NOT???

They guy has demonstrated a volume and duration of success that is almost unmatched. He's grown wealth at a rate that the entire rest of the market could only ever dream of. Either that happened because he's a fucking genius who made all the right moves, almost every time. Or, he's a diabolical mastermind who has expertly evaded overwhelming regulatory scrutiny and constant challenges from detractors over the course of decades.

Neither of those is 'dumb'. So to the question "Is Trump smart enough to be President?".....hell fucking yes he is. How could anyone say otherwise??