I’ll admit it:  I’m confused!  I do not understand the phony, sanctimonious outrage by the secular Left over Donald Trump’s “locker room” discourse.  The Left is the body that champions freedom of expression, sanctions immoral behavior, and praises Rap music (whose lyrics are racist and misogynistic, and worse than what Trump has said). They glorify gender self-identification, and support a woman’s “Right to Choose” to abort her unborn child even up to a day before its birth!

Now … they are taking the moral high ground? Really?  What hypocrites!

The Left, and their media lapdogs, continually give Hillary Clinton a “Pass” for her dereliction of duty to send reinforcements to Benghazi; her deliberate destruction of over 30,000 emails; and her brazen disregard for our national security secrets!

And before anyone questions why evangelicals continue to support Trump, let me say that while we are disappointed with the lewd talk, we believe that “Actions speak louder than words.”  Hillary’s blatantly, criminally destructive actions are much worse than Donald Trump’s words. And the specter of whom she would select for the Supreme Court is paramount in the minds of most voters.  jdh

The fact that someone inherits money should not be held against them.  What really counts is what the beneficiaries do with that money.

In 1977 Donald Trump borrowed $1 million from his father in order to buy real estate in Manhattan, while his father stayed invested in Queens and Brooklyn.  Donald repaid that loan with interest.  In addition to the loan, he was helped initially in his real estate dealings by the reputation and credit worthiness of his father.  However, he leveraged that benefit to become wealthy in his own right.  What parent (if he had the means) would not help his children become successful?

Tomorrow’s blog will deal specifically with Donald Trump’s inheritance.

A more relevant question that the media refuses to pursue:  How did Bill and Hillary Clinton, who claimed they were “dead broke” when they left the White House, become worth $110 million in only sixteen years?  They did not create a product, or come up with an original idea. On the other hand, Donald Trump has built hotels and other developments that created tens of thousands of jobs.  jdh

Tomorrow’s Blog: “Trump could have earned as money by investing his inheritance in the S&P 500 Index Fund”

 

Lawsuits are the norm in the contracting and real estate development industries.  Customers sue the developers and general contractors; general contractors sue their sub-contractors. And each one counter-sues the other!  Every contractor I have known gets involved with numerous lawsuits.  It sort of “goes with the territory.”

In Donald Trump’s case of the approximately 3,500 lawsuits, according to USA Today (June 2, 2016), about 1,900 of them were his suing others for non-performance, or to protect his Trump brand. In about 1,450 cases, others sued him and/or his companies.  Most were tied to cases in which he would license his name to a project that failed. The courts usually ruled that lending his name to a project does not make him liable for losses suffered at the hands of the developer.  (The remaining legal actions were tied to the bankruptcies of his businesses.)

The “Trump University” lawsuit, in which he is accused of misleading students, is still pending. The term “University” was a marketing device he used in order to add prestige to the school. Gold’s Gym had “Gold’s Gym University.” McDonald’s had “Hamburger U.” And how many of us have attended a “Free” seminar where we hoped to learn more about investing in the stock market or real estate to become millionaires, only to learn that we needed to pay more to know all the secrets?  I know that my greedy side has urged me to take the next step.  Still, I am not the multi-millionaire that I expected to become.

Trump’s general counsel, Alan Garten, defended the number of lawsuits by saying, “Our philosophy is that we are a company of principle. When we believe we are in the right, we are going to pursue the matter to the end. If that requires that we go to trial and present evidence to a jury, we are prepared to do so. We are not going to cave to pressure.”

There is no question that Donald Trump does not shy away from a fight. But suing (and being sued) makes someone neither good, nor bad.  The courts decide who is right or wrong. jdh

Tomorrow’s Blog: “Trump inherited his money.  He didn’t really earn it.”

 

Releasing tax returns is not a requirement for presidential candidates.  Traditionally, recent presidential candidates have voluntarily released them.  But do tax returns really have anything to do with being Commander in Chief?  Liberals are asking why Donald Trump does not release his.  What is he hiding?  Is he not as wealthy as he says?  Does he owe debts to foreign countries?

The Federal income tax return does not itemize debts, nor does it show a person’s net worth.  I think Trump was reluctant to show his return for the very reason that came out this week:  He hasn’t had to pay taxes for many years.  So let‘s talk about that.

Some people believe that paying taxes is a “moral” issue.  It isn’t.  It’s a legal issue.

Our Federal income tax system is not just a means of raising money with which to run the government.  It is a social engineering device that Congress uses to encourage certain behavior.  Most would agree that it is desirable to incentivize entrepreneurs to risk money to start, or grow, businesses that hire people.  Likewise, real estate investments create construction jobs that provide new homes, or spaces for new and expanding businesses.  So Congress has provided some tax advantages for risk-takers who develop real estate and make other investments.

Since business profits are taxed, it is also reasonable to expect the IRS to “give back” some tax money when a business suffers losses.  Take the following simplistic example:

Say you have taxable income of $100,000, and an effective tax rate of 20 percent.  Normally, you would pay $20,000 in income taxes.  But suppose you had also invested $100,000 in a business that failed.  You could deduct the $100,000 loss from your $100,000 taxable income, and thus owe zero taxes for that year!

Important to note:  You only recoup $20,000 from your $100,000 investment loss.  You would not recover the remaining $80,000.

In reality, you cannot deduct more than you earned in a year; so the balance, if any, becomes a “loss carry-forward” for up to 20 years into the future.

Donald Trump has been criticized for “not paying any taxes.” Interestingly, Hillary and Bill used $699,540 in loss carry-forwards to reduce their 2015 taxes … and not pay their fair share. Where is the righteous indignation over this?

Trump invested a lot of money in several enterprises that ultimately failed.  He will never fully recapture all of those losses.

Personally, I wish Donald Trump would show more humility, and admit that he failed in the casino business, along with a lot of other people.  (According to Wikipedia, a total of 8 casinos have failed in Atlantic City; and another 11 were planned, but cancelled!)  Failure is nothing to be ashamed of … especially if you learn from your mistakes, and try again.  You won’t strike out if you never go to bat.  But you will never hit a home run either!  Trump keeps going to bat.  jdh

Tomorrow’s Blog: “Donald Trump has been sued over 3,500 times!”

 

 

Fact:    Saying that Donald Trump is a racist because of his prosecution of the “Birther Issue” is a liberal talking point deliberately designed to mislead.  U.S. Presidents must have been born in the United States, or in a US Territory, such as Puerto Rico. Asking if someone was born in the United States is questioning his/her qualification to be a candidate for office.  It has nothing to do with race.  During the Republican primary, Trump also questioned the birth-place of Ted Cruz, who is white.

This is a legitimate question.

Tomorrow’s Blog: “Trump won’t release his tax returns.  He must be hiding something.”