Surely the benchmark for Oval Office competence ought to be set a little higher than Dubya? That's like saying anyone who is more competent than Gordon Brown is good enough to be PM!
The Americans can only dream of getting someone as competent as Gordon Brown.
I didn't realise Bush ever sold half of Fort Knox's reserves for a fraction of their actual worth. Must have missed that entirely fictional event.
When I was last in DC I had an Ethiopian cab driver who had dual degrees in electronic engineering and network admin. Couldn't get a job because DC firms only work with the Government and the Gov. requires people to be citizens. Wasted potential.
I met up with a couple of tolerably liberal US colleagues over the past week (actually one is a tolerably liberal gun toting hunting shooting type and the other is a marginally liberal but super anti-gay type; both work not far from New York).
I know one is a swing voter, the other I just can't tell.
They both are hoping that the Republican Party gets so shit scared about trump that they get Michael Bloomberg to chick his hat in. They both seem to think it's a realistic possibility.
When I was last in DC I had an Ethiopian cab driver who had dual degrees in electronic engineering and network admin. Couldn't get a job because DC firms only work with the Government and the Gov. requires people to be citizens. Wasted potential.
Trouble is, there are a lot of Americans with degrees who are having to drive cabs.
In heard that if Trump stuck his entire fortune in a bank when he inherited it, he'd be richer than if he never lifted a finger in business. I don't know if it's true or not but it always makes me smile.
Surely the benchmark for Oval Office competence ought to be set a little higher than Dubya? That's like saying anyone who is more competent than Gordon Brown is good enough to be PM!
The Americans can only dream of getting someone as competent as Gordon Brown.
I didn't realise Bush ever sold half of Fort Knox's reserves for a fraction of their actual worth. Must have missed that entirely fictional event.
Inherited a surplus, left a $10t debt, two wars without foreseeable ends, a litany of war crimes, no bid contracts for friends of the administration which robbed the DoD of millions, terrible environmental record, no child left behind left children behind. Um, there's probably more.
They both are hoping that the Republican Party gets so shit scared about trump that they get Michael Bloomberg to chick his hat in. They both seem to think it's a realistic possibility.
It won't happen. Bloomberg is too liberal, too independent minded, too New York, and too Jewish to run under the Republican ticket. If he were to run he'd do a Ross Perrault and run as an independent. Cruz, Bloomberg, Trump, Hillary, and Sanders would make for an interesting general election if we didn't have the two party system.
I think the biggest fear in the event of a Trump win would be US isolationism. Hard to imagine his support or his opponents backing foreign intervention other than Cold War type posturing and a reversal of arms limitation policies. In terms of aid alone that is a huge dent in UNHCR,WHO and World Bank budgets. Trump is not unelectable but he is unlikely to be successful because like Farage the devil is in the detail and as a toxic brand those who would position themselves to be in any Trump administration will be exposed as being too inexperienced, too tainted by past indiscretions and too loopy to be allowed near power.
Wish I was as much of a failure as him and be £100 behind him
You could be @smiffyboy how much of an inheritance have you got coming your way?
Nothing lol, I never realised he inherited it.
his dad was a real estate tycoon, who managed to get his projects backed by government after the depression & again after the war. Various stories put the inheritance at between $40m &$200m in 1974.
Trump jnr had blown it by 1990 when he was $8bn (some stories say $5bn, but what's $3bn between friends) in debt. 70 banks did a deal to get him through it and he was able to take out 2nd & 3rd mortgages on all his properties.
SEC regulations boosted his floating of the Casino & Hotel business a few years later.
Donald though continues to rail against government & regulators while continuing to use them to boost & protect his interests, all the while claiming he is self made and built his fortune himself.
Fair enough. He's played the system he thinks is wrong (wants other countries to pay taxes to the US, wants the Mexicans to pay for Trump Wall) and used his inherited contacts to protect his wealth from his own business ineptitude.
The fools are those who continued to back him...and the US voters if they elect him!
Edit: just a personal opinion...can not see anything at all in Trump that would make me want to vote for him, but I also think this is the weakest presidential race I have seen in many years. Not much to recommend in any candidate.
Wish I was as much of a failure as him and be £100 behind him
You could be @smiffyboy how much of an inheritance have you got coming your way?
Nothing lol, I never realised he inherited it.
his dad was a real estate tycoon, who managed to get his projects backed by government after the depression & again after the war. Various stories put the inheritance at between $40m &$200m in 1974.
Trump jnr had blown it by 1990 when he was $8bn (some stories say $5bn, but what's $3bn between friends) in debt. 70 banks did a deal to get him through it and he was able to take out 2nd & 3rd mortgages on all his properties.
SEC regulations boosted his floating of the Casino & Hotel business a few years later.
Donald though continues to rail against government & regulators while continuing to use them to boost & protect his interests, all the while claiming he is self made and built his fortune himself.
Fair enough. He's played the system he thinks is wrong (wants other countries to pay taxes to the US, wants the Mexicans to pay for Trump Wall) and used his inherited contacts to protect his wealth from his own business ineptitude.
The fools are those who continued to back him...and the US voters if they elect him!
Edit: just a personal opinion...can not see anything at all in Trump that would make me want to vote for him, but I also think this is the weakest presidential race I have seen in many years. Not much to recommend in any candidate.
Completely agree. Republicans don't have hope but on the other side sanders is too old and too loopy to have any realistic chance of winning and Hilary is the definition of a career politician who says whatever who pays the most wants to hear.
Wish I was as much of a failure as him and be £100 behind him
You could be @smiffyboy how much of an inheritance have you got coming your way?
Nothing lol, I never realised he inherited it.
his dad was a real estate tycoon, who managed to get his projects backed by government after the depression & again after the war. Various stories put the inheritance at between $40m &$200m in 1974.
Trump jnr had blown it by 1990 when he was $8bn (some stories say $5bn, but what's $3bn between friends) in debt. 70 banks did a deal to get him through it and he was able to take out 2nd & 3rd mortgages on all his properties.
SEC regulations boosted his floating of the Casino & Hotel business a few years later.
Donald though continues to rail against government & regulators while continuing to use them to boost & protect his interests, all the while claiming he is self made and built his fortune himself.
Fair enough. He's played the system he thinks is wrong (wants other countries to pay taxes to the US, wants the Mexicans to pay for Trump Wall) and used his inherited contacts to protect his wealth from his own business ineptitude.
The fools are those who continued to back him...and the US voters if they elect him!
Edit: just a personal opinion...can not see anything at all in Trump that would make me want to vote for him, but I also think this is the weakest presidential race I have seen in many years. Not much to recommend in any candidate.
Who lends $8bn to someone with $200m? The system is mental.
Wish I was as much of a failure as him and be £100 behind him
You could be @smiffyboy how much of an inheritance have you got coming your way?
Nothing lol, I never realised he inherited it.
his dad was a real estate tycoon, who managed to get his projects backed by government after the depression & again after the war. Various stories put the inheritance at between $40m &$200m in 1974.
Trump jnr had blown it by 1990 when he was $8bn (some stories say $5bn, but what's $3bn between friends) in debt. 70 banks did a deal to get him through it and he was able to take out 2nd & 3rd mortgages on all his properties.
SEC regulations boosted his floating of the Casino & Hotel business a few years later.
Donald though continues to rail against government & regulators while continuing to use them to boost & protect his interests, all the while claiming he is self made and built his fortune himself.
Fair enough. He's played the system he thinks is wrong (wants other countries to pay taxes to the US, wants the Mexicans to pay for Trump Wall) and used his inherited contacts to protect his wealth from his own business ineptitude.
The fools are those who continued to back him...and the US voters if they elect him!
Edit: just a personal opinion...can not see anything at all in Trump that would make me want to vote for him, but I also think this is the weakest presidential race I have seen in many years. Not much to recommend in any candidate.
Who lends $8bn to someone with $200m? The system is mental.
16 years between the 2 events. He pretty much kept pace with the growth of the US stock market. Maybe worse, maybe better, depending on what he did actually inherit, between the $40m & $200m estimates.
You're right though. Who continues to back someone who has managed to lose between $5bn &$8bn?? There are people in this world who work hard to make a success of their lives & provide for their families. And then there are others, like Trump.
You're right though. Who continues to back someone who has managed to lose between $5bn &$8bn?? There are people in this world who work hard to make a success of their lives & provide for their families. And then there are others, like Trump.
We gave our recently failed banks roughly $700b with few string attached. This is more or less par for the course.
It should also be noted these aren't the kind of Government programs Trump is railing against. He has no problems with the tax breaks and benefits for the super wealthy. His problem is with people on food stamps living on $90 a week.
Somehow, in our economics, we've lost the concept of "Cost of Living," which is the point I was getting at. Being minted in Ugandan terms is great, except you don't live in Uganda and pay Ugandan prices. This is completely irrelevant, and an attempt at demonizing the poor, which make up 1 in 5 in America.
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Because the internet isn't always a shit hole.
I know one is a swing voter, the other I just can't tell.
They both are hoping that the Republican Party gets so shit scared about trump that they get Michael Bloomberg to chick his hat in. They both seem to think it's a realistic possibility.
Trump is not unelectable but he is unlikely to be successful because like Farage the devil is in the detail and as a toxic brand those who would position themselves to be in any Trump administration will be exposed as being too inexperienced, too tainted by past indiscretions and too loopy to be allowed near power.
Trump jnr had blown it by 1990 when he was $8bn (some stories say $5bn, but what's $3bn between friends) in debt. 70 banks did a deal to get him through it and he was able to take out 2nd & 3rd mortgages on all his properties.
SEC regulations boosted his floating of the Casino & Hotel business a few years later.
Donald though continues to rail against government & regulators while continuing to use them to boost & protect his interests, all the while claiming he is self made and built his fortune himself.
Fair enough. He's played the system he thinks is wrong (wants other countries to pay taxes to the US, wants the Mexicans to pay for Trump Wall) and used his inherited contacts to protect his wealth from his own business ineptitude.
The fools are those who continued to back him...and the US voters if they elect him!
Edit: just a personal opinion...can not see anything at all in Trump that would make me want to vote for him, but I also think this is the weakest presidential race I have seen in many years. Not much to recommend in any candidate.
You're right though. Who continues to back someone who has managed to lose between $5bn &$8bn?? There are people in this world who work hard to make a success of their lives & provide for their families. And then there are others, like Trump.
It should also be noted these aren't the kind of Government programs Trump is railing against. He has no problems with the tax breaks and benefits for the super wealthy. His problem is with people on food stamps living on $90 a week.
How much should the hand-out be?
Enough to live on. Imagine trying to live on $90 of food in the DC area.