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> since he was elected president last November, Donald Trump has paid more than 40 visits to Trump corporation properties. His Mar a Lago club in Florida makes

> since he was elected president last November, Donald Trump has paid more than 40 visits to Trump corporation properties. His Mar a Lago club in Florida makes twice as much profit as it did two years ago. Family friends fill government offices which oversee parts of the Trump business empire. The administration has hired dozens of former lobbyists, most of them working on issues they previously lobbied on. I'm no Trump fan, but this article reads more like a political piece than a business one. The practice of securing government grants and not creating much wealth from them has a long history.

posixplz 8y ago
> The practice of securing government grants and not creating much wealth from them has a long history. This is true, it does -- in Congress. (Pork barrel spending, logrolling, etc.) However, in the executive branch, this is unquestionably a new phenomenon.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  unquestionably a new phenomenon. It depends on how you define "new." If you intend "new" to mean it is exclusive to the current administration, you are incorrect.
  - weaksauce 8y ago
    Can you give recent examples of prior administrations doing this in the executive branch?
    - jerf 8y ago
      https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-death-of-obamas-slush-funds-1496878321 https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-death-of-obamas-slush-funds... seems pretty close. Different mechanism, sure, but similar result.
      - weaksauce 8y ago
        Stuff like the Volkswagon settlement being used to remedy the complaint have been going on for many years and is a nuanced thing[0]. not sure it belongs in the same category. That's also a pretty biased opinion column so I'll hold off on judgement of the practices until I do more research. Do you have a more neutral source than an opinion column with a few paragraphs of information? pdf page 351-352: [0] https://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2483&context=lawreview https://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?artic...
    - zeveb 8y ago
      > Can you give recent examples of prior administrations doing this in the executive branch? From https://www.economist.com/democracy-in-america/2017/08/03/unproductive-entrepreneurship-is-increasingly-common-in-america[0] https://www.economist.com/democracy-in-america/2017/08/03/un... > Jeffrey R. Brown and Jiekun Huang, two researchers writing for the National Bureau of Economic Research, use data from White House visitor logs during the Obama administration to show that corporate executives’ meetings with White House staff were associated with a bump in their company stock price, more government contracts and positive regulatory decisions. Firms that had better access to the Obama White House also experienced a large drop in stock prices when the 2016 election result was announced. 0: that URL might be familiar: it's the article itself
    - LanceH 8y ago
      GM
zeveb 8y ago
And, indeed, much of the article's solid evidence is from Mr. Obama's administration. That's not to excuse the appearance of self-dealing in President Trump's administration, of course.
everdev 8y ago
So many down votes... yet the comments below seem to support my original comment. This is not a new phenomenon and the writing style seems opinionated and biased. The subject matter itself is certainly worthy of publicity and debate, but just in a more comprehensive manner that reflects US history. Politics is big business, because it's pays to know those in power at almost every level. If this administration is far more egregious than those in the past, then at least they could present their argument in a historical context rather than acting like it's come out of the blue.

posixplz 8y ago

> The practice of securing government grants and not creating much wealth from them has a long history. This is true, it does -- in Congress. (Pork barrel spending, logrolling, etc.) However, in the executive branch, this is unquestionably a new phenomenon.

reaperducer 8y ago
unquestionably a new phenomenon. It depends on how you define "new." If you intend "new" to mean it is exclusive to the current administration, you are incorrect.
- weaksauce 8y ago
  Can you give recent examples of prior administrations doing this in the executive branch?
  - jerf 8y ago
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-death-of-obamas-slush-funds-1496878321 https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-death-of-obamas-slush-funds... seems pretty close. Different mechanism, sure, but similar result.
    - weaksauce 8y ago
      Stuff like the Volkswagon settlement being used to remedy the complaint have been going on for many years and is a nuanced thing[0]. not sure it belongs in the same category. That's also a pretty biased opinion column so I'll hold off on judgement of the practices until I do more research. Do you have a more neutral source than an opinion column with a few paragraphs of information? pdf page 351-352: [0] https://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2483&context=lawreview https://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?artic...
  - zeveb 8y ago
    > Can you give recent examples of prior administrations doing this in the executive branch? From https://www.economist.com/democracy-in-america/2017/08/03/unproductive-entrepreneurship-is-increasingly-common-in-america[0] https://www.economist.com/democracy-in-america/2017/08/03/un... > Jeffrey R. Brown and Jiekun Huang, two researchers writing for the National Bureau of Economic Research, use data from White House visitor logs during the Obama administration to show that corporate executives’ meetings with White House staff were associated with a bump in their company stock price, more government contracts and positive regulatory decisions. Firms that had better access to the Obama White House also experienced a large drop in stock prices when the 2016 election result was announced. 0: that URL might be familiar: it's the article itself
  - LanceH 8y ago
    GM

zeveb 8y ago

And, indeed, much of the article's solid evidence is from Mr. Obama's administration. That's not to excuse the appearance of self-dealing in President Trump's administration, of course.

everdev 8y ago

So many down votes... yet the comments below seem to support my original comment. This is not a new phenomenon and the writing style seems opinionated and biased. The subject matter itself is certainly worthy of publicity and debate, but just in a more comprehensive manner that reflects US history. Politics is big business, because it's pays to know those in power at almost every level. If this administration is far more egregious than those in the past, then at least they could present their argument in a historical context rather than acting like it's come out of the blue.