Okay, this is pretty funny. (TRUMP ALERT)

[sportage]

Another republican debate coming September 16th on CNN.
I suspect Christie will, at some prearranged point, bolt over to Donald knocking him to the floor, then sit on him holding Donald down while the others on stage pull out daggers and do Donald in once and for all.
Pretty much like was done to Julius Caesar.
With Donald looking up, his last breath asking, "Et tu, Jeb? "Et tu?".

 

[fskimospy]

Seems like an irrelevant point, or at least one with relevance less than extreme. How relevant is "business acumen" in the first place? What if he ran on his ability to cook pasta?

It seemed funny to me, hence the thread title?

 

[justoh]

that hardly makes it "extremely relevant" (or at all).

 

[Bitek]

Seems rather telling to me. Trump's acumen is having the skill not to lose all of it (permanently, Bks not withstanding)

By this logic, Notch is more qualified to become president as he at least made something from nothing.

 

[Moonbeam]

There is a woman in India who was born dirt poor to a fishing family and runs a multi billion dollar charity organization and all she does is hug people. When there was a natural disaster she was there and helping before the government could decide what to do.

 

[Genx87]

Too bad I cant sleep in the stockmarket.

Buy a house to sleep in it, not as an investment.

 

[CPA]

Are you retarded?

This is a very simple concept: if Trump's returns are outperformed by an index fund, that means his active management of his assets LOST money.

For someone who styles themselves a business expert that's hilarious. Use your head.

He didn't lose money. What the he'll are you talking about? He just didn't earn as much as he could. You can't lose what you didn't have.

 

[1prophet]

Instead of spending so much time worrying about Trump,

Democrats as well as Republicans should do a little bit of self examination of all the things they have consistently been failing at that has created the present environment for someone like Trump to become so popular.

 

[fskimospy]

He didn't lose money. What the he'll are you talking about? He just didn't earn as much as he could. You can't lose what you didn't have.

Yes, it would appear reasonably likely he made less money through his vaunted deal making than he could have by doing basically nothing.

There's no way you didn't know what that passage meant.

 

[JockoJohnson]

Yes, much better to have invested it and not created all those jobs that people now have who work for him.

 

[fskimospy]

Instead of spending so much time worrying about Trump,

Democrats as well as Republicans should do a little bit of self examination of all the things they have consistently been failing at that has created the present environment for someone like Trump to become so popular.

I am in no way worried about Trump, haha. I just thought this was funny.

If he wins the Republican nomination be will get creamed in the general. He is one of the most widely hated public figures in America.

If he runs as a third party he guarantees a democratic victory.

If Republicans co-opt his immigration message they will become toxic too. Democratic victory.

Etc, etc.

I find him to be a gross and absurd figure, but electorally this clown is pure gold for the left.

 

[fskimospy]

Yes, much better to have invested it and not created all those jobs that people now have who work for him.

Because the companies it would have been invested in totally wouldn't hire people.

Wait, what?

 

[Genx87]

I am in no way worried about Trump, haha. I just thought this was funny.

If he wins the Republican nomination be will get creamed in the general. He is one of the most widely hated public figures in America.

If he runs as a third party he guarantees a democratic victory.

If Republicans co-opt his immigration message they will become toxic too. Democratic victory.

Etc, etc.

I find him to be a gross and absurd figure, but electorally this clown is pure gold for the left.

Even without Trump that lineup of Republicans fighting over who can be the most extreme was set to fail.

 

[werepossum]

I've a better idea than electing Trump.
Lets elect the Political Class who is bought and paid for by the same Wall Street that sent those jobs to China!
/sarc

Anyone who works in business in this country is going to, by competitive standard, be forced to work under the same environment (rules, regulations, and circumstances) as their peers. Other American businesses use Chinese labor, you'll be forced to do the same. As long as Wall Street runs the show you'll have cooperate board rooms demanding Chinese labor. You'll have politicians signing trade deals to screw the American worker and enshrine this fact even further.

Can Obama not preach Climate Change while spewing CO2 from his private jets? Can Sanders not preach equal wealth while holding a dime to his name? Those who advocate change are forced to make do in the same environment as the rest of us, but that doesn't mean they are wrong for wanting to see it changed.

Made in China simply means we're all on the fail boat together.

Agreed, but I suspect Trump's clothing line is high end enough that it would be plenty profitable if made in America. I agree we should blame the political class for setting up the rules, but a billionaire can choose to what extent he takes advantage of the opportunity they have given him. Lots of middle class Americans intentionally pay more to support American workers; I don't think it's unreasonable for billionaires running for President to do the same.

Trump's current net worth is a combination of his investments minus decades of expenses--taxes, multiple divorces, an absurdly extravagant lifestyle, etc. The S&P 500 comparison ignores those expenses and assumes that he would have sold everything he owned (and not been taxed on it), invested in an index fund, and not spent another penny for three decades. Absurd.

It's entirely possible that Trump would have fared better investing in index funds, but to my knowledge there isn't enough publicly-available data to determine that.

Well said.

Seems rather telling to me. Trump's acumen is having the skill not to lose all of it (permanently, Bks not withstanding)

By this logic, Notch is more qualified to become president as he at least made something from nothing.

Hey, that solves his boredom and loneliness problems too.

 

[soulcougher73]

Hindsight is 20/20 they say. At least he tried to do things that interested him instead of just sitting on his ass doing nothing with all that money.

 

[soulcougher73]

I've a better idea than electing Trump.
Lets elect the Political Class who is bought and paid for by the same Wall Street that sent those jobs to China!
/sarc

Anyone who works in business in this country is going to, by competitive standard, be forced to work under the same environment (rules, regulations, and circumstances) as their peers. Other American businesses use Chinese labor, you'll be forced to do the same. As long as Wall Street runs the show you'll have cooperate board rooms demanding Chinese labor. You'll have politicians signing trade deals to screw the American worker and enshrine this fact even further.

Can Obama not preach Climate Change while spewing CO2 from his private jets? Can Sanders not preach equal wealth while holding a dime to his name? Those who advocate change are forced to make do in the same environment as the rest of us, but that doesn't mean they are wrong for wanting to see it changed.

Made in China simply means we're all on the fail boat together.

Depends on/if you go public or not and how much profit is enough profit. Not ALL companies have to do that. But if you gave control of your company over to people on the stock market then you kinda have to. Thus stock market is evil

 

[fskimospy]

Hindsight is 20/20 they say. At least he tried to do things that interested him instead of just sitting on his ass doing nothing with all that money.

Apparently a lot of people missed what I find funny about this. (or maybe they don't find it funny!)

The guy claims to be a business expert who is great at making money. It seems reasonably likely that this business expert failed to match the performance of the S&P, meaning with the resources he had available he was less adept at making money than someone who had put their money in an index fund and fallen asleep for 40 years. Does that sound like amazing business skill to you?

It's his money, he can do whatever he wants with it. Build real estate, plaster his name on things, buy fake looking toupees, whatever. I don't begrudge him any of the uses of his money, I just found it humorous that his returns may not have matched the investment strategy that you can learn in a 1 hour personal finance course.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Apparently a lot of people missed what I find funny about this. (or maybe they don't find it funny!)

The guy claims to be a business expert who is great at making money. It seems reasonably likely that this business expert failed to match the performance of the S&P, meaning with the resources he had available he was less adept at making money than someone who had put their money in an index fund and fallen asleep for 40 years. Does that sound like amazing business skill to you?

It's his money, he can do whatever he wants with it. Build real estate, plaster his name on things, buy fake looking toupees, whatever. I don't begrudge him any of the uses of his money, I just found it humorous that his returns may not have matched the investment strategy that you can learn in a 1 hour personal finance course.

Only someone as stupid as a liberal would find a rich man that isn't as rich to be funny.

Our point is simply that he tried. You can't be successful without trying. He took a higher risk chance than index funds and it didn't pay off quite as well. According to you that is, I'm too lazy to look at his assets.

Regardless, you're laughing at a man who made money. He didn't make as much money as you proclaim to would have made if you were in his shoes... But then again, you aren't in his shoes are you?

Everyone is laughing at you because you are clearly jealous of his success. It's pretty cute

 

[fskimospy]

Only someone as stupid as a liberal would find a rich man that isn't as rich to be funny.

Only someone as stupid as you would think that's what I found funny.

Our point is simply that he tried. You can't be successful without trying. He took a higher risk chance than index funds and it didn't pay off quite as well. According to you that is, I'm too lazy to look at his assets.

Nobody knows how much he is actually worth, which was made clear in the OP that you apparently didn't read. If your point is simply that he tried, that's a non sequitur.

Regardless, you're laughing at a man who made money. He didn't make as much money as you proclaim to would have made if you were in his shoes... But then again, you aren't in his shoes are you?

Everyone is laughing at you because you are clearly jealous of his success. It's pretty cute

No, I'm laughing at a man boasting about his business skill when it appears a person in a coma could have done better. What skill! And while I would love to have a few billion dollars, I definitely wouldn't want to be a nationally reviled figure like he is.

 

[soulcougher73]

Apparently a lot of people missed what I find funny about this. (or maybe they don't find it funny!)

The guy claims to be a business expert who is great at making money. It seems reasonably likely that this business expert failed to match the performance of the S&P, meaning with the resources he had available he was less adept at making money than someone who had put their money in an index fund and fallen asleep for 40 years. Does that sound like amazing business skill to you?

It's his money, he can do whatever he wants with it. Build real estate, plaster his name on things, buy fake looking toupees, whatever. I don't begrudge him any of the uses of his money, I just found it humorous that his returns may not have matched the investment strategy that you can learn in a 1 hour personal finance course.

No i got where you were coming from originally, but that's where the hindsight 20/20 comes in. But yeah his business skills are nothing to be amazed by that's for sure and he might not want to trump them up

 

[alcoholbob]

Trump doesn't seem the type to live his life partying and borrowing against rising stock prices. Yes he certainly could have abused the tax code more (funny liberals in this thread are saying he's stupid for not abusing loopholes more here and then crying the rich don't pay their fair share in other threads) but thank goodness he didn't and employed some people in the process.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Trumps biggest thing is his ego. While there is much opportunity cost to buying skyscrapers rather than buying index funds, you can plaster your name on the sides of skyscrapers, thus, boosting your ego.

 

[PokerGuy]

I clicked on the link in the OP and got a blank page, but maybe some of you that have already read it can chime in:

Are they comparing his current wealth to what his wealth would have been had he simply invested his starting money in an inxex fund?

What am I missing. Didn't he spend money -- a lot of money -- along the way? Everything he spent on things that don't have long term tangible monetary value would have reduced his current wealth compared to the theoretical amount he could have had if he had not spent any of his money and just invested it in an index fund.

Unless you include all the money he has spent his entire life on any/everything into the equation, how can you compare what he has with what he theoretically could have? If he spends $10,000,000 on a trip to fiji, his wealth is $10,000,000 less, but it's up to him to decide if that $10m was worth it.

Is this just another sign of stupidity and desperation on the part of the haters?

 

[Greenman]

Buy a house to sleep in it, not as an investment.

Depends entirely on where the house is. North Dakota, sure, but in Burbank it's an investment.