Posted on 10/09/2018 6:51:43 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
In their 2009 book From Poverty to Prosperity, authors Arnold Kling and Nick Schulz noted how the productivity of a typical immigrant surged upon arrival in the United States. Thanks to feverish investment in all things American, those working in the United States (at all levels of income) are equipped to produce at levels that are the envy of much of the world.
Simply stated, to be able to work in the United States is to win the proverbial lottery. While most Americans can’t lay claim to any substantial inheritance, we increasingly live and work as though we do. The rich and their heirs have left us with voluminous resources of the educational (walk any U.S. college campus if you’re skeptical), mechanical and financial variety that have given us the opportunity to achieve financial security on par with how actual heirs are set for life. That’s one reason why the world’s poorest continue to risk their lives in order to reach here, legally and illegally. So vast is the knowledge and wealth here, so immense is the investment in the typical worker, that Americans on all levels have the chance to prosper in ways that those not American do not. To use but one example, does anyone seriously think the world’s most valuable company would presently be headquartered in Damascus if Steve Jobs’ father hadn’t immigrated to the U.S.?
By global standards, nearly every American was born on 1st or 2nd base, and some would say 3rd. All of this rates discussion in consideration of the New York Times’ recent front page story about President Trump’s wealth. The 14,000 word report observed that while “Mr. Trump won the presidency proclaiming himself a self-made billionaire,” he "received the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father’s real estate empire, starting when he was a toddler and continuing to this day.” The Times’ conclusion was that Trump is in fact not self-made, that he was and still is the beneficiary of immense wealth created by his father (Fred Trump), and that he was in the position to utilize his father’s money because the “Trumps paid a total of $52.2 million, or about 5 percent” in inheritance taxes, not the headline 55 percent rate that was in place when Trump’s father passed.
About all this, the Wall Street Journal’s Holman Jenkins pointed out over the weekend how it surprised “exactly no one” that Trump inherited quite a bit more than a $1 million that he long claimed his father staked him to get started. So true. Most sensed that Trump had more at his disposal starting out, but then we all do by virtue of living in the United States. Compared to much of the rest of the world, none of us are self-made. Many Americans doubtless imagine “what they would do” with a multi-million dollar inheritance, but many more who aren’t American imagine “what they would do” if fortunate enough just to live and work in the United States. This rates some thought in consideration of Trump’s business career, as do Trump's substantial achievements.
The 45th president has said that “I built what I built myself,” and has been criticized for saying just that, but there’s a great deal of truth to what he asserts. While Fred Trump was undeniably successful, his achievements were relatively unknown. They also took place outside the borough of Manhattan.
That Trump has his name on various buildings inside Manhattan says a lot about him. How many individuals, self-made or heir, can point to skyscrapers with their last name on them in the borough of the world’s most prominent city, let alone on buildings in the most prominent cities in the world? All that, plus as the Times acknowledges in the report, Trump’s “singular achievement” before “he became president” was building a brand “so potent [that] it generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue through TV shows, books, and licensing deals.” The Times added that “[J]ust as important” to Trump’s achievements as his father’s dollars “were his son’s preternatural marketing skills and always-be-closing competitive hustle.” Sorry readers, but this isn’t nothing. While this column takes a backseat to very few when it comes to critiques of certain Trump policies, what he accomplished in business was beyond impressive. All of this analysis ignores how an individual on a shoestring budget managed to vanquish sixteen politically seasoned Republicans (including political “heirs” of the Jeb Bush variety….) on the way to the Republican presidential nomination, not to mention his victory over a political heiress in the form of Hillary Clinton despite the media’s near-monolithic view that Clinton would mop the floor with Trump.
For those who want to believe that Trump’s achievements are still undeserving given the tax machinations of the Trump family and its accountants, such a view isn’t serious. Figure that the Times itself acknowledged that the tax “maneuvers met with little resistance from the Internal Revenue Service.” Estate tax lawyers are paid quite a bit precisely because they’re able to help the rich legally shield their money from the grasping hands of politicians. Per Jenkins, the Trump family did what Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and others with immense wealth have long been doing. And it’s good that they do. Politicians don’t tax away our dollars to stare at them lovingly as much as they do so in order to arrogate to themselves influence over the direction of precious resources; influence that most could never hope to achieve in the private sector. The latter in mind, a better investigation from the Times would be an ongoing one of the Democrats and Republicans in Washington who’ve long enhanced their own personal wealth through the mis-allocation of the wealth produced by others, including Fred and Donald Trump.
Which brings us to the final point of this column. The annual Forbes 400 was just released. Skeptics about Donald Trump’s self-made status might stop and think about the list. Not only was Fred Trump never a member of the 400, the greater truth is that there are few (if any) 400 members who inherited great wealth only to use the money to make their own fortunes with it. Think about it. Members of the Forbes 400 are either self-made or heirs, but rarely both. With the exception of Donald Trump. Trump is a Forbes 400 member who got that way by putting inherited wealth to work in the building of a brand that is global in scope. Trump is both, and that makes him exceedingly unique.
Forget the politics, Brett Kavanaugh, Republicans and Democrats, Trump's stances on trade and immigration, and simply ask the question: Is Donald Trump self-made? By any reasonable standard, yes.
Now the big lottery winners are the politicians that can walk away with hundreds of millions of dollars on a hundred thousand dollar salary. Global extortionists can get billions to trillions also.
I would make a strong comparison between Donald Trump and Bob Hope. Hope invested his profits early on into land speculation. By his early 70s....he was probably one of the top ten wealthiest men in LA. Trump? Basically the same story...he bought land, and speculated upon the value, and built hotels that people wanted to visit.
Donald Trump’s father passed away in 2000.
Trump may have inherited a tidy sum from his father, but I seem to recall that Donald Trump had accomplished a thing or two on his own by the year 2000
>>Estate tax lawyers are paid quite a bit precisely because they’re able to help the rich legally shield their money from the grasping hands of politicians.
As I commented on the writers of The NY Times article this is responding to, if those three dweebs knew anything significant about income, gift and estate taxes they’d be making 5X - 10X their current salaries at the NY Times and be working as Tax CPAs, wouldn’t they?
Mark Levin already debunked the 55% charge by the times. There is adjusted gross income. You don’t just apply the 55% tax to everything and call it a day.
Trump was over 50 when his father died. DJT was already reportedly a billionaire and a NYC icon with a bunch of movie and TV cameos in addition to commercials.
I, Pencil is an article written in 1958 by Leonard E. Read. The burden of the article is how diffuse are the inputs to make a simple item like a pencil. Of course a particular company - Eberhard Faber, in the example instance - made the pencil. But Mr. Eberhard and Mr. Faber did not simply speak the pencil into existence; the company has to have buildings housing machinery, and workers to operate the machines. But beyond that, the Eberhard Faber workers have to have food, shelter, and normal amenities - including those required by their families.And the same is true of the vendors who supply Eberhard Faber with the machinery they require, and all the obvious materials - wood, graphite, rubber, and the ferrule material and the enamel. All those vendors have their own equipment, workers, and supply chain. And in all cases the workers need food, shelter, and normal amenities. So although the pencil certainly does not exist without Eberhard Faber, society works together to make pencils - and everything else.
So, “You didn't build that? Somebody else made that happen?” Yes - but that “somebody else” was not government. The “somebody” was more like everybody - mostly very indirectly. It is not the government but society - as Thomas Paine points out in Common Sense, a very different thing - which makes the pencil.
Government planning is merely interference in society’s subtle workings by people who have nowhere near the competence needed to make such large decisions and be responsible for them. It is nothing more than the irresponsible separation of responsibility from authority, in violation of the first principle of good management. Improvement in efficiency via government “planning” is a paper tiger.
Now the big lottery winners are the politicians that can walk away with hundreds of millions of dollars on a hundred thousand dollar salary. Global extortionists can get billions to trillions also.
No better example than Barry O himself. Based on Presidents salary he should be worth 4-5 million over 8 years.... Probably worth !00’s......
Not quite the same for me, but I saw both my parents and parents in law buy and sell only their own homes and have big infusions of cash from that. Early on in our marriage, my husband and I wanted to buy real estate for investment purposes.
We bought our first home in 1984 when going interest rates were 16%, we got an owner to carry at 9% and got down payment help from our parents. But today that little house, which we turned into a rental and sold about 17 years ago, afforded us to own right now a 10 unit apartment building, no mortgage and a 9 unit rental with duplex's on an acre. Plus we live on 165 acres of timber, all because of that first home purchase 34 years ago.
“a better investigation from the Times would be an ongoing one of the Democrats and Republicans in Washington who’ve long enhanced their own personal wealth through the mis-allocation of the wealth produced by others, including Fred and Donald Trump.”
The failing nyt is worth nothing. It is assuring its demise by hiring radical hate-filled racists like sarah jeong, and with hit piece articles designed to get trump.
I hope to see the nyt auctioned off in bankruptcy court.
this thread has great info on Trumps wealth
Im a life long NYer and he has been in the news for his success (mostly) for most of my life and im not young...
Assuming Trump received 15 million instead of 1 million ignores that the money might have been designated except for 1 million.
Nonetheless, let’s use the 15 million figure. Potus said at the outset of the last election that his holdings were all worth 10 billion. That means he grew his inheritance from 15 million to 10 billion. That’s a 667% increase.
If I inherited $1,000,000. from my parents, I’d have to grow it to 667,000,000 to match what Trump did.
No matter how you look at it, he did a great job.
And that doesn't count "profits" paid to employees. He made jobs for people besides fund managers (Suck it Robert Reich).
And his Presidency adds a ! to that point...he really did build that....
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