$480M???
That’s barely 5% of his net worth. The man makes $400M per year.
For the size and breadth of his organization this is peanuts.
From now on, we must only allow billionaires to run for President, because they don’t need to take loans for their campaigns and therefore are certain to represent the interests of the common voter.
Makes perfect sense, don’t it?
Your point is valid about Trump ($480 is the minimum, the disclosures are of ranges). Trump’s loans are from mega-, multinational banks, and there’s nothing unusual about them for the business that Trump is in. He is an international businessman with a portfolio of properties that span the world, including Latin America and Muslim countries, and out-sources the manufacture of his merchandise to China and elsewhere. Since his brush with bankruptcy in 2008, when Trump Chicago defaulted on its loan from Deutches Bank (let’s be fair about this, a lot of people ran into financial problems that year), Trump has put his finances into good order. He is no longer highly-leveraged.
But your point would also be valid about Cruz. The Cruz loan is a securitized loan. It is not unusual for politicians to use their net wealth to make contributions or loans to their campaigns. Cruz and his wife borrowed against financial assets to make a loan to his campaign committee for the primary run-off of 2010. The remaining balance of the loan is small relative to Cruz’ income and assets.
The real issue of the Donald’s many international investments, business partnerships and loans is that they potentially represent a conflict of interest. We have never had such a wealthy person or an active businessman be President of the United States. This was asked at the second Fox Business debate, and Trump dismissed it saying he would turn the management of his enterprises over to his adult children and hired managers and partners. This needs to be explored.
“...this is peanuts...”
I literally laughed out loud when I read this headline. It would be like someone saying *I* owed $20! Silly. and I am so sorry to see how low Cruz personally (vs his campaign staff) will go.
I’d thought he had a future, that maybe this just wasn’t his year, that he needed more experience, but now I don’t think he has the character to be POTUS. He’s shown a serious pettiness and willingness to just ‘make stuff up.’ And, he’s shown he’s not half as smart as he was cracked up to be. Too sad, really.
Trump’s net worth is at most 4.5 billion, so that would be 10%. His debt is a minimum of 480 million, and, in the words of the ad, it could be “billions”. The point is that if the banks decide to rein him in, they could bring down his organization, just as they did with past bankruptcies.
So why can’t he pay off his debts? He is owned by Goldman Sachs and Wall Street Bankers. He owes a half a billion dollars. That is saying something.
Plus it is chapter 11 and not chapter 7. All of them, iirc. That means all creditors were paid from Trump’s money, the depth were restructured, and no one walked away from obligations.
A chapter 11 is the good kind.
Mr. Trump has one of the least leveraged real estate developers that I have ever seen. It is notable that he spreads those liabilities out to several unrelated banks so he is not vulnerable to influence.
On his entire portfolio he only has a total of 17 loans and one of the largest loans on his balance sheet (Over 50M) is owed to a an LLC which Trump owns.
Chicago Unit Acquisition llc
http://www.illinoisregistry.org/chicago-unit-acquisition-llc
So why hasn’t he repaid the loans? Setting up for another bankruptcy?
I was saying when he gave 1 million to the VETS the other day that it was like you or I giving $100 bucks, and the Trumpsters tried to crucify me. I managed to escape.... but are you saying I was likely right?