Thanks to my comments scolding Facebook posters on their failure to fully embrace socialism, LBTQIA+ rainbow flagism, etc., I am on Joe Biden’s email list. From November 16, 2019:
Subject: I never got a million dollar loan from my dad
My father taught me that a job is about more than a paycheck. It’s about your dignity. It’s about being able to look your child in the eye and say everything is going to be ok.
Unlike Donald Trump, my father never loaned me millions. Everything I’ve gotten in my life I’ve worked for — and that’s the reality for most Americans.
For Donald Trump, his life was handed to him on a silver platter and he has never had the slightest inclination to pay it forward.
I’m going to lay out the case on Wednesday night at the debate why I’m the best candidate to take on and defeat Donald Trump next November. But I still need to raise another $500,000 from grassroots supporters before I take the stage in order to stay on track with our fundraising. Can you chip in $5 today to help me out today?
Since Donald Trump is now a multi-billionaire with a personal Boeing 757 in executive configuration, saying that he started with only $1 million (subject) or “millions” (body) is tantamount to admitting that the hated dictator (and almost lifelong Democrat!) has been tremendously successful in business, as measured by ROI. Does Biden not realize this or does he assume that readers of his email are not smart enough to recognize that turning $1 million into multiple billions is an unusual outcome?
[Also note the outdated description of a job from this outdated politician: “It’s about being able to look your child in the eye and say everything is going to be ok.” The welfare parent with the lifetime right to occupy public housing can do that. The employee-at-will holder of a non-government job can’t promise a child anything about the family’s future.]
What did I miss while I was in China? Are the geriatrics still leading among the Democrats? Or is Mayor Pete emerging as I predicted?
(Another politician with whom my Facebook postings apparently align is Tom Steyer. As with other Californians, I can’t figure out why he bothers with national politics. If there are services, such as housing for people currently living in tents, that he thinks government should provide, why doesn’t he organize it at the state or local level where Republicans can’t obstruct progress? Has anyone just straight up asked him why he doesn’t bring his religion to 40 million fellow Californians before trying to proselytize the entire nation?)
Not only is turning a million into billions an unusual accomplishment, it is also one that can hardly be accomplished without criminal or quasi-criminal deceit or other misdeeds, unless I am mistaken.
@Bernie, you are spot on, but let me make a small adjustment to your comment.
Not only is becoming a politician and staying a politician for life, living off grassroots supporters by asking for a $5 donation and lying to them in the eye is an unusual accomplishment, it is also one that can hardly be accomplished without criminal or quasi-criminal deceit or other misdeeds, unless I am mistaken.
> Biden: Unlike Donald Trump, my father never loaned me millions. Everything I’ve gotten in my life I’ve worked for — and that’s the reality for most Americans.
Meanwhile, didn’t Biden’s son get $140M in tarp loans from the govt? And $1M/yr to sit on the board of a foreign oil&gas co he seemingly had no qualifications for? And $1B investment from China just days after travelling there onboard Air Force 2 with his VP dad?
With Bloomberg, entering the race with an estimated net worth of $54 billion, makes Trump look like a peasant. In addition Bloomberg has a EE degree, probably making him the wealthiest engineer on the planet. He went to make his fortune in finance instead of engineering. It looks like he started from a upper middle class family so his ROI would be significantly more than Trump, who started from a 1% family. He is definitely a geriatric, older than Trump. As for non-geriatric candidates, Andrew Yang could be another interesting candidate, but like Mayor Pete he makes too much sense, making him unelectable.
Trump has a bigger plane and has had hotter wives. Sometimes money is not everything. Calling a man with a 757 a peasant is simply beyond the pale. Perhaps you meant to say pleasant! Bloomberg has been a republican for most of his life. Trump used to be a democrat! Usually the 2nd generation in a family business burns it to the ground. Even if trump only succeeded in keeping up the business he should be commended.
I’ve met Michael Bloomberg in person, many years ago at Johns Hopkins, and I have a relative who is a fraternity brother of his (they even dated the same girl briefly!) Bloomberg is from a middle to lower-middle class family originally. He earned his EE at Johns Hopkins University which is the reason for all his philanthropy there. My relative reports that he was a very, very hard working student at JHU, busy all the time, very little in the way of extracurriculars. But he knew a lot of people, and he made sure to know a lot of important and influential people.
I have stories that I cannot tell. But they’re amazing.
He is, by far, the largest benefactor in JHU history, including his most recent effort (which Philip has discussed) to make Hopkins one of the “need blind” schools in terms of financial aid.
Bloomberg did the undergrad EE at Hopkins (at the time it was a very rigorous program, and Hopkins was all male) and then went to Harvard for his MBA, I believe. His primary insight – the thing that built his fortune, was the Bloomberg Terminal. It arrived at a perfect moment in computing history. It was one of the most important “right place at the right time with the right idea” innovations in financial history. I met him briefly when he received an award from Hopkins back in the early 1990s for his entrepreneurship. He accepted the award with a brief talk and a Q&A, and one of the questions from a stuffy professor concerned his plans to expand Bloomberg News to become an international juggernaut. The professor was seething and skeptical of the wealthy Mr. Bloomberg, asking something along the lines of: “Don’t you think you’ll run into international competition and regulation that will hold back your plans?” His response, which I remember verbatim very clearly, was:
“I have an army of lawyers who make sure that I can do what I want.” Period. Full stop. You should have seen the look on the professor’s face.
To Philip: One thing that I do know about Bloomberg aside from the anecdotes and lore that I’ve been subject to all these years is that he was not a “silver spoon” in any sense. One could say that he went to Hopkins first because it *was not* Ivy League. As I said, my relative reports that Mike had a very buckled-down work ethic, at least at Hopkins.
To everyone else: If Bloomberg wins, he will be the second Phi Psi to become President, after Woodrow Wilson. And just for fun: Another brother from the same chapter – Maryland Alpha – is John Astin. 5:10 in this clip:
Trump’s old POS 1991 Boeing 757, is worth at the most around $10 million on a good day. Bloomberg has his own private air force, which he flies himself. It looks like his main airplane is Dassault Falcon worth about $30 million, a much more practical airplane. So in airplanes and in total wealth, Trump is a peasant, when compared with Bloomberg. Trump does have an insecurity, when dealing with people that are more successful than he is, Bloomberg can take full advantage of this, none of the other democrats are able. The team of mayor Bloomberg and mayor Pete running would have the best chance of winning against Trump in 2020. Anybody else on the democrats side has no realistic chance against Trump. If Trump wins in 2020, I predict that Trump will appoint Ivanka Trump as the first female president in 2024.
On the point that the 2nd generation in a family business burns it to the ground, the correct saying is that the first generation makes the money, the 2nd generation enjoys it and the 3rd generation looses it all. So far it looks like the Trump kids are keeping the business empire going.
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-fabulous-life-of-michael-bloomberg-the-eight-richest-man-in-the-us-2015-7
Bloomberg was also a lifelong Democrat before he became a Republican for his mayoral campaign in New York. Now he’s switched back. Epiphanies! Speaking of money: Bloomberg didn’t borrow money from his father, but he did receive $10 million dollars severance from Philbro Corporation in 1981 (approx $22.5 million in 2019 dollars), which helped a lot, but even so: $10 million is a pretty modest beginning given all the eventual success:
ps://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/michael-bloomberg-6415.php
“He became a general partner at Salomon Brothers in 1973. The bank was bought by Phibro Corporation in 1981 and Bloomberg was laid off from his job and given a $10 million severance package.
Using the money from his severance package, he went on to form Innovative Market Systems, a financial-data service firm, in 1982 and also served as its CEO. He acquired Merrill Lynch, the wealth management division of Bank of America, as his company’s first customer.
The company proved to be a successful one and was renamed Bloomberg L.P. in 1987. Over the years it introduced several ancillary products like Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Message, and Bloomberg Tradebook. Bloomberg eventually left the position of CEO to pursue a political career.”
1987 seems like the Bronze Age in computing history, but it was right about the time it became feasible to build systems like the Bloomberg Terminal and lease them at prices attractive to financial professionals. A minicomputer or a mainframe with everything offered by the BT was vastly out of reach to most people at the time. It would be interesting to see one of the early models. The personal computer made it all possible.
@pavel. you must be stupid stupid stupid. Bloomberg has no type rating. You disgust me.
@Toucan Sam, my apologies if I disgust you and your great intelligence, I am just a peasant living in an igloo in the People’s Republic of Canada 🙂
Pavel, those who live in igloos shall not throw snowballs!
Toucan Sam, climate change has melted all the snow around my igloo, not much snow left for snow balls. What snow ball did I throw? Please explain? Was it comparing wealth between two billionaires? If greed is still good in the US, then money is everything. What does Bloomberg’s type rating have to do with anything? It looks like he does enjoy flying his helicopter, with a co-pilot, makes sense from a safety point.
@pavel you are a liar!!! How could the snow around you melt but not the igloo itself? And due to what global warming? You make me so sick I am disgusted!
The igloo made from blocks of ice or high density snow, would melt much slower than low density snow around the igloo. This is due to the amount of heat per molecule in the snow being greater than the amount of heat per molecule in the ice (more molecules in the ice due to the higher density than snow), assuming equal heat per unit area on the igloo and the snow around it. There are additional factors like the reflectivity of the ice vs snow that could affect the speed of melting. So snow around the igloo will melt faster than the igloo itself under most conditions. QED
Pavel it’s too bad Phil doesn’t do a better job with comment moderation. It has come to my attention that you are a foreigner trying to meddle in our election! This is much worse than hate speech!
Toucan Sam, you have discovered my true plan, I figured the Russians and the Chinese are meddling in your elections, Canadians should also meddle in your elections. I will have our government dispatch Trudeau dressed in a traditional Indian costume to the White House immediately to issue an apology on the behalf of all Canadians for meddling in your elections 🙂
Anyways, I have detected your black stealth helicopters flying over the horizon, so I better run!
I think Mayor Pete has a real advantage in that he speaks Norwegian and therefor can connect to those Norwegian-Americans who also speak Norwegian. Also, imagine if he were debating Trump and he broke into Norwegian how tongue tied Trump would be. And, I bet he speaks Norwegian better than Corey Booker speaks Spanish. Notwithstanding, my own feeling is that Mayor Pete should be running for President of Mensa not President of the US.
Trump’s Father Helped GOP Candidate With Numerous Loans
Although Donald Trump says he built his empire from a $1 million loan from his father, a court document shows frequent borrowing from Fred Trump and his companies
…
The document, a casino-license disclosure in 1985 by then-wife Ivana Trump, shows Mr. Trump taking out numerous loans from his father and his father’s properties near the start of his career in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
At the time of the disclosure, Mr. Trump owed his father and his father’s businesses about $14 million, according to the document.
…
Beginning in 1974, the younger Mr. Trump began to gain attention for a plan of his own, to buy and revamp the Commodore hotel in New York in partnership with the Pritzker family, owners of Hyatt Hotels Corp. His father co-guaranteed a $70 million construction loan Donald Trump used for renovation and Hyatt’s support was crucial to the deal.
In September 1980, around the time Mr. Trump was laying the groundwork to build a casino in Atlantic City, N.J., his father lent him $7.5 million, a matter previously reported. In 1981, when Mr. Trump applied for a casino license, regulators learned he received a $100,000 salary as an executive vice president at his father’s company, Trump Management Inc., and yearly trust money that varied from around $32,000 a year to more than $200,000.
The disclosure document from Ivana Trump shows, additionally, that Fred Trump had been providing credit on frequent occasions starting at least as far back as 1977.
In a nine-month period in 1979, Mr. Trump borrowed $5.7 million from his father and his father’s companies, drawing on a line of credit 18 times and taking out a few individual loans, according to the document. It shows those borrowings were soon repaid.
He took out more loans from his father the following year. At several points, Mr. Trump extended loans that were due and added the interest to the loan’s principal.
…
In the 1990s, other infusions followed, including one in 1991 that became public. When Donald Trump was facing problems paying loans, his father purchased $3.5 million in chips at one of his casinos, which New Jersey regulators later deemed illegal aid to a casino. Donald Trump denied it was illegal, in a Journal interview last year, and said his father eventually was repaid.
Mr. Trump also at some point took out a nearly $10 million loan from the family estate, according to a 2007 deposition Mr. Trump gave in a lawsuit against a journalist.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-father-helped-gop-candidate-with-numerous-loans-1474656573
As for Trump and his money: I don’t begrudge him any of it, and if his father wanted to give/loan him vast sums, that’s his prerogative. I don’t think all the money in the world is going to matter to Trump in 2020, though, because I don’t think the economy is going to hold up as his signature issue through the election, impeachment or not. There are much bigger forces at work, and I think 2020 is going to be a very rough ride.
His enemies are going to try to make sure he winds up penniless and his entire family is broke, that’s for sure.
I am not sure why Bloomberg being yet richer is relevant to the question of whether Biden is making a mistake by highlighting that Trump started with $1 million! My post was about the incompetence of Biden and his campaign staff not finding a better angle with which to attack the opposition.
Biden’s campaign is most likely in a panic mode, they just do not have any solid angle vs Trump. This is one of the reasons that Bloomberg is entering the race, he is seeing the incompetence in the democrat campaigns. Biden’s campaign is also in a panic because they are seeing internal competition, with the rise of mayor Pete.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/02/in-iowa-biden-confronts-a-growing-threat-pete-buttigieg-064382
Bloomberg is relevant because, the argument that Biden is making against Trump, would fail in his own party against Bloomberg. Bloomberg has an higher ROI than Biden or Trump, so Biden should step aside and let Bloomberg run against Trump. Bloomberg would not have to ask anybody to chip in $5 to help him out today.
On your other questions:
> “Are the geriatrics still leading among the Democrats?”
Bloomberg is a geriatric and he could have good chance of leading the Democrats. Biden is loosing his lead and the other geriatric, Sanders, who is Sanders again?
> Or is Mayor Pete emerging as I predicted?
Mayor Pete is emerging and moving ahead of Biden. It will be interesting to see what happens to Mayor Pete’s campaign with Bloomberg entering the race. Bloomberg, could easily fund his own campaign with his own resources, no fundraising required. This is why a democratic ticket with Mayor Pete (his popularity) and Mayor Bloomberg (his financial resources) would have a very good chance against Trump.
I will take Bloomberg over Trump in a second. If you subtract his debts and you added back the debts he discharged in bankruptcy, I really thing he would not be that rich. I think he’s made his money by creating exclusive experiences for his rich friends. I think he has bribed and networked his way into the real estate tycoon elite, and really represents what most Americans truly hate. He is not a self made man like Michael Bloomberg, his rich daddy and their friends gave him an easy start and he just ran with it.
It is a very interesting psychological phenomenon when one wishes to have a person like Bloomberg as one’s leader. Self-flagellation syndrome ?
Bloomberg apparently thinks that the people he want to lead are not sufficiently cultured, have a bad cuisine, bad religion, and cause the economy to deteriorate. Perhaps, “deplorables” was the word he was looking for.
His plan is to replace the no good for nothing electorate with “an awful lot more immigrants rather than less.”, therefore. “We need immigrants to take all the different kinds of jobs that the country needs — improve our culture, our cuisine, our religion, our dialogue and certainly improve our economy,”
The most burning economic problem Bloomberg will have to tackle as the future president is his golf course maintenance:
“New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says golf fairways would suffer if illegal immigrants were returned to their native country.
“You and I are beneficiaries of these jobs,” Bloomberg told his WABC-AM radio co-host, John Gambling. “You and I both play golf; who takes care of the greens and the fairways in your golf course?”