How did trump ever do business?

[canetoad]

Imagine being an architect, an building engineer, a surveyor or a cost consultant trying to get your job done, the reports and permits lodged. Then, after far too many billable hours spent arguing with a pig-headed, ill-informed despot, you may or may not be paid for your efforts.

I live in a small town where all the builders know each other, as do the plumbers, electricians and concreters. Word gets around quickly if someone is a difficult client or doesn't pay their bills. This client will find in future it's hard to engage a tradesman to carry out any work.

So, NYC is a around 1,500 times larger than my little town, but similar rules would apply; difficult, unfair, demanding clients (especially those who don't pay) will eventually find that no decent, reputable contractor will carry out work for them.

All I can assume is that given his history, the contractors who worked for trump were as crooked as he is. Favourable reports were given on a quid pro quo basis, meaning that the corruption goes right into the administration of NYC.

This is all apropos nothing - I've been musing about why Rudy would display such insane loyalty to trump when sources have said they were not obviously in each other's orbits during Giulliani's tenure as mayor.

It makes me wonder how deep trump and Rudy's corruption runs and, as far as the building industry is concerned, will it eventually become a public safety issue?

[Me.]

1. One Born Every Minute

and ego, he won't do that to me

[randr]

2. His businesses failed

His name has been the kiss of death from day one.

[Irish_Dem]

3. Trump, the mob, city hall, the mayor, Russian oligarchs. Recipe for success.

A well oiled machine.

[Karadeniz]

4. He lied, cheated and sued his way the whole time. Have you read some of the reputable

Biographies written about him prior to his election? No one who read them would've voted for such a stupid incompetent.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Not very well. He lost money running a casino, FFS.

He was bailed out by his old man and by banks that had already loaned him so much money that they couldn't afford to stop. Probably some mob help as well. And even so, he did file bankruptcy on some of his business (five or six times).

[ProfessorGAC]

29. Until Moody's

By law, lenders have to contract 3rd party analysts to determine creditworthiness of privately held corporations because they don't have to publish public financial information.
The 2014 reports was damning. It's why US banks pulled the plug.
The 2018 reports were worse.
They lent on top of lending, as you say. But, at some point, it was so bad, they had to quit.
So of course, he goes to Germany, Russia, China, & the middle east. They inflate asset value & disguise debt.
Got more money and the scam continued.
Becoming POTUS made them bulletproof which is why the loss is taken so badly.
The force field of the presidency is about to run out of energy.

[Upthevibe]

6. I have a friend who has a high-level position

for a famous and prominent architect here in Los Angeles.

One of the things she was told was that their firm NEVER did business with Trump under any circumstance.

As we've since learned, he has had a horrible reputation in his business dealings for many, many years.

[canetoad]

9. Interesting

Thank you.

[Mr.Bill]

7. Another angle I have heard

is that in past decades in New York, if you had concrete poured, you dealt with the Mafia, period. They completely controlled that industry.

[canetoad]

11. From things I've read and watched

I believe that is true.

I guess the point of my post is that the safety of building projects and compliance with rules and regulations was not the priority of either trump or the mob.

Someone was signing off on these dodgy, unsafe projects.

[moonscape]

16. Nothing could happen in NYC without

the mafia. I managed a sales office there in the 70’s and we were considering a move. I learned then that I wouldn’t be able to do any of the moving myself.

[Thomas Hurt]

8. Trump isn't a businessman, he is a grifter and a money launderer.

[JI7]

10. He failed in all of his businesses . He kept getting bailed out by his dad and then by Russian

Oligarchs .

[canetoad]

14. Neither his dad

Nor Russian oligarchs could issue a building permit, or an engineers certificate.

Sorry if my OP was unclear, I'm focussing on the integrity of the buildings for which he is responsible.

[tanyev]

12. Mary mentioned in her book that she never saw him do any work.

She spent some time at the office ostensibly doing research for a book he wanted written and she said he made phone calls and read magazine and newspaper clippings about himself, and that was about it. Anything that did get done was done by people working for him. He wouldn’t have had anything if Fred hadn’t built the company first.

[canetoad]

17. So, pretty much what he does now as President

And expects his 'best people' to take up the slack. Not a comforting thought.

[brush]

13. After burning so many banks, vendors and trades people, he had to turn to...

the Russians to get money. And that comes with a whole lot of vig. Thus trump's continual kowtowing to Putin.

He has to be scared as shit because he owes big time and will no longer have any leverage with the oligarchs once out of office.

[GP6971]

15. One word...failure. n/t

[canetoad]

18. Oi you!

Good to see you back posting.

Will write soon.

[GP6971]

21. Yep...back slowly

after the eye procedure last week.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

19. He's a trust fund baby playing office with his daddy's money. That's it.

He would be far wealthier had he invested his inheritance in index funds - according to some analysts.

Trump just wants to play big shot.

My neighbor works, as CFO, for a guy who trades his inherited money and pretends to be a hedge fund. Both he and his brother inherited $100s of millions.

The dude plays office and hires college and high school buddies. Their company is named some douche bag name - I won’t say the name but think Japanese warrior.


The other brother smokes lots of pot and travels the world. The office playing brother hates the pot smoking brother because he thinks the pot smoker is lazy.

[canetoad]

22. Nope, I don't agree with that

You can't understand Donald without understanding his father.

If Donald worked with the mob, it's because he learned it from his dad.

This, I believe, is the key to trump.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

23. I don't disagree.

The old man made his money defrauding HUD and FHA/VA - building government funded housing, over valuing the properties to refinance cash out and then over charging on rents. Also discriminating against minorities.

[marble falls]

20. He's made people think he was successful. He used his debt to club banks ...

... he laundered money and "investested" money for Russians.

[Hekate]

24. He was mobbed up. When he was building his tower, the Mob controlled concrete...

...and when no one else in NYC could get concrete, he could. At some point he started using real estate to launder other people’s money.

[canetoad]

25. True, Hekate

But there are dozens, maybe scores of others involved in a large scale building project besides the concreters. I can only speak to the process here in Aust. but it wouldn't be that much different in NYC.

Mob concreters would be easy to fix - just pay them. Professionals who provide permits - engineers, geotech & soil, conservation & heritage, to name only a few, can be either honest or bought. This is where I think Giuliani comes in.

I hope it all comes out in coming years, when he thinks he gamed the system and won...



-

[Hekate]

28. Honest to god, I don't know how he did it. But there is plenty of testimony by now...

...that his father set up the business empire, made the money, and taught all his kids (that is, Donald Trump and his siblings) how to game the system. There’s only so much I can read about them without gagging.

The odd man out was Mary Trump’s father Fred, and he and his family were culled from the herd. So despite getting some of the proceeds and attending family events, she saw with the eyes of an outsider. I’m sure that had a lot to do with why Mary T became a psychologist.

Everybody related to Donald is a Trump in his image, and in their minds the rest of us are suckers who deserve what we get. The more I read about them, the more disgusted I get. They are entitled to do anything they want, as long as they don’t get caught. For instance, I wondered if Melania was trapped in that marriage and wanted out — I suspended judgment right up until she went to visit the children in cages and wore that abominable jacket. I wondered about the wives of Eric and Junior, but no more. There’s a family culture, and if they are still there, they are in it and of it. Someone who knew Ivanka said she’s nothing more than her father in a dress.

He sold his brand. He’s a huckster who creates illusions and sells them. He is second to none in that talent.

I hope to live to see that entire family financially ruined and hounded by the law for the rest of their lives. But then, so do we all, and good luck to us.

Regarding building projects & all they entail — Before I retired one of the places I worked was the Public Works Department of my local County. I was the director’s secretary, so eventually everything crossed my desk. It was very interesting to see all of it — and my boss was a genuinely good and honest man.

I know there are few angels out there in the work world, but it’s hard to fathom the level of corruption that spawned Trump. Maybe it’s the case that the bigger the city, the bigger the sewer system, and the larger the population of rats.

[moondust]

26. Why didn't his hometown paper

report on his reputed "business" practices? There must have been all kinds of NYers who had stories to tell. Some voters might have been interested.

Did somebody in NY decide that a Trump campaign and possible election would be good for NY/NYSE? Was NYT pressured into silence? Did NYT choose to remain silent? Fear of some Russian mob?

NYT? Hello NYT?

[canetoad]

27. Very good questions

Thank you.