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> He succeeded in business by bullying his opponents and using his power against them by squeezing them That was my impression before the election, when I didn

> He succeeded in business by bullying his opponents and using his power against them by squeezing them That was my impression before the election, when I didn't pay any attention. I thought he was a successful bully, which wouldn't necessarily be the worst combination for a President. After learning about his actual business history (Thanks, Trump Inc.! podcast) I think the 'succeeded' part is pretty arguable. He was born unbelievably wealthy, had a string of some unbelievable business failures, and was subsequently bailed out by some known (Deutsche Bank) as well as unknown shady actors and practices. Now that I understand his business history, I wouldn't consider him to have succeeded in business. He could have been vastly more wealthy today by doing nothing other than invest in index funds, which to me counts as largely unsuccessful.

mrunkel 6y ago
It's like the old joke. What's the easiest way to get a million dollars? ... Well you start out with 100 million!
eloff 6y ago
Investing the bulk of your money in index funds during the great market run-up following the second World War and having the guts to ride out the storm when the market tanks periodically, I think is not trivial. There was a secretary in NYC who did that and died with an 11M fortune. She was clearly very successful. I think Trump has been successful. Many people born into wealth lose it or at least don't grow it. So he deserves some kudos here. I think people don't like to give him credit for anything, but if you "only" grow your fortune at the rate of the market, then you're really tracking the average success of American business. That's by definition better than 50% of public companies and in the top few percent of individuals. That's successful in my books. This post is attracting quite a bit of negative attention, but I stand by my assessment as fair. If you disagree, maybe you want to point out how it's not fair? I think people just hate Trump (which I do as well, but I can separate concerns.)
- selimthegrim 6y ago
  Read up on Hudson Yards and think about it some more.
1958325146 6y ago
> He could have been vastly more wealthy today by doing nothing other than invest in index funds, which to me counts as largely unsuccessful. Isn't that unknowable without knowing how much he has spent along the way?
- zaphar 6y ago
  No that's easily derivable from public information about his businesses and the performance of index funds over time. The most knowing how much he spent could tell us is whether he would have been able to spend more or less than he did.
  - 1958325146 6y ago
    You are comparing - Case A: Donald Trump runs his companies starting at year X and meanwhile leads a lavish lifestyle, ending up with N1 dollars. - Case B: Donald Trump puts all his money in index funds and spends nothing, ending up with N2 dollars. As far as I can tell, you are saying N2 > N1, therefore he would have been better off investing in index funds. But you are comparing apples to oranges if you have different spending habits between the cases. It could be that running his private plane or plating things in gold or whatever would have drained his index fund investment totally.

mrunkel 6y ago

It's like the old joke. What's the easiest way to get a million dollars? ... Well you start out with 100 million!

eloff 6y ago

Investing the bulk of your money in index funds during the great market run-up following the second World War and having the guts to ride out the storm when the market tanks periodically, I think is not trivial. There was a secretary in NYC who did that and died with an 11M fortune. She was clearly very successful. I think Trump has been successful. Many people born into wealth lose it or at least don't grow it. So he deserves some kudos here. I think people don't like to give him credit for anything, but if you "only" grow your fortune at the rate of the market, then you're really tracking the average success of American business. That's by definition better than 50% of public companies and in the top few percent of individuals. That's successful in my books. This post is attracting quite a bit of negative attention, but I stand by my assessment as fair. If you disagree, maybe you want to point out how it's not fair? I think people just hate Trump (which I do as well, but I can separate concerns.)

selimthegrim 6y ago
Read up on Hudson Yards and think about it some more.

1958325146 6y ago

> He could have been vastly more wealthy today by doing nothing other than invest in index funds, which to me counts as largely unsuccessful. Isn't that unknowable without knowing how much he has spent along the way?

zaphar 6y ago
No that's easily derivable from public information about his businesses and the performance of index funds over time. The most knowing how much he spent could tell us is whether he would have been able to spend more or less than he did.
- 1958325146 6y ago
  You are comparing - Case A: Donald Trump runs his companies starting at year X and meanwhile leads a lavish lifestyle, ending up with N1 dollars. - Case B: Donald Trump puts all his money in index funds and spends nothing, ending up with N2 dollars. As far as I can tell, you are saying N2 > N1, therefore he would have been better off investing in index funds. But you are comparing apples to oranges if you have different spending habits between the cases. It could be that running his private plane or plating things in gold or whatever would have drained his index fund investment totally.