It is always informative to learn how the super-rich get their money.

Categories Billionaires, Trump

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Vale Math says:

June 11, 2016 at 6:39 pm

Socialized risk, privatized rewards

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- Ellen Lubic says:
  
  June 11, 2016 at 9:03 pm
  
  “Socialized risk” in this case means cheating everyone to steal their money and destroy their lives.
  
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rum, sodomy & the lash says:

June 11, 2016 at 7:40 pm

Test

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rum, sodomy & the lash says:

June 11, 2016 at 7:45 pm

You’d be better off touting Clinton than bashing Trump. Trump won’t have the turn out problem that Hillary will have. Please give us a real reason to vote FOR Hillary.

BTW, did you hear that the State Deptartment under Clinton steered millions of dollars to a for-profit school that paid Bill $16 million to be its honorary chancellor?

Please assure us Diane that you don’t condone this kind of graft.

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- Ellen Lubic says:
  
  June 11, 2016 at 9:01 pm
  
  Please validate this rumor with facts. Where can we see this info???
  
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- rum, sodomy & the lash says:
  
  June 11, 2016 at 9:12 pm
  
  http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/06/laureate_gave_bill_clinton_165_million_also_gave_student_loans_to_noncitizens.html#ixzz4B7BKzTuD
  
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- LeftCoastTeacher says:
  
  June 11, 2016 at 10:27 pm
  
  Ellen, you know I’ve always got your back, but as a middle school teacher, I’m not touching rum, sodomy, or the lash with a ten foot pole, especially not in Diane’s virtual living room. Talk about inappropriate!
  
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- Ellen Lubic says:
  
  June 12, 2016 at 12:56 am
  
  Rummy…you created a false equivalency. Bill was chancellor of Walden for five years, but Walden at the time was widely viewed as a legitimate and international university system. Here are the creds of their President.
  
  “Jonathan Kaplan, JD, past president of Walden University from 2007−2012, is currently serving as the president, responsible for the overall day-to-day management, academic quality, financial performance, accreditation, and governance of Walden.
  
  Mr. Kaplan has had a distinguished career in government, public policy, and law in Washington, D.C. He served in the White House as chief of staff of the National Economic Council and as special assistant to the president for economic policy under President Bill Clinton. He also held posts at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and on Capitol Hill, focusing on economic and domestic policy issues. Before his government service, he practiced law as an associate at Covington & Burling, a leading international law firm.
  
  Mr. Kaplan serves as an observer on the board of directors for Coursera, an education technology company offering massive open online courses (MOOCs) all around the world. He also was appointed in 2013 by a bipartisan group of U.S. senators to be part of a Congressional task force conducting a comprehensive review of federal higher education regulations and laws.
  
  Mr. Kaplan graduated cum laude from Harvard College with a BA in government. He received his J.D. from Boston University School of Law, where he was an editor of the Boston University Law Review. He resides in Bethesda, Maryland, with his family. ”
  
  This is a far cry from Trump U. a marketing devise by hucksters to separate ‘students’ from their money. It was not a real university with classrooms, schedules, professors, grades, etc. It was merely Elmer Gantry types who hired a hall for a one shot deal, encouraging the sale of Trump’s books to the naive. There are many similar phony universities advertised daily in media who sell similar fast cash ‘lessons’ and too many who fall for this gambit.
  
  Trump is just what he seems, a bloviating megalomanic who brings out the worst in everyone who supports his bigotry and deception. The NY Times article is truthful despite your comments.
  
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- joan says:
  
  June 12, 2016 at 1:37 am
  
  http://www.wnd.com/2016/06/clinton-backed-college-seeks-cash-amid-4-7-billion-debt/
  
  Clintons and the College Fiasco- Endless……
  
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- Joel Herman says:
  
  June 12, 2016 at 2:00 am
  
  Well I have a very difficult time telling anyone to vote for Clinton because she is a truly flawed candidate .However as flawed as she is Trump out does her by miles.
  
  Go bankrupt once business can be rough , Go bankrupt twice your having a tough streak. Three times you don’t belong in business your obviously not to good at it . The fourth time in 10 years , your a criminal fraud trying to take advantage of people .
  Oh gee I think I see a pattern here . Trump University for the life of me why anyone would want to participate in a program run by a criminal fraud who is stiffing creditors and business associates repeatedly, is beyond me .
  
  The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, Ever hear of it . It made it practically impossible to discharge debt in Bankruptcy . The reason, Bankruptcy Law was being abused used to avoid real obligations in a fraudulent manner. But that law did not apply to criminally fraudulent Oligarchs . It applied to student loans most of which were defaulted on by students who attended criminally fraudulent for profit institutions like Trump University .
  
  Now for a minute there, I thought you were going to source your story from the National Enquirer, a nationally distributed magazine found in-between bubble gum and breath mints at the supermarket register. The scandal sheet that the Donald has his “African American” pickup for him. “Which makes him better than Sarah Palin who didn’t read anything. Then you came up with the “American Thinker” terribly disappointing. As the demeaning Donal would say “your fired” come back with a better source.
  
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- democracy says:
  
  June 12, 2016 at 5:49 am
  
  The origin of the Laureate Education story was Bloomberg, which reported this:
  
  “The Clintons paid a total of $43.9 million in federal taxes over those eight years, and their average tax rate works out to 31.6 percent. That’s mostly a function of the source of their earnings: highly taxed speech and business income, rather than investments. Their tax rate topped 35 percent in 2013 and 2014, thanks to the expiration of the George W. Bush tax cuts they opposed and the start of Obamacare taxes they supported.”
  
  And this:
  
  ” “Families like mine that reap rewards from our economy have a responsibility to pay our fair share,’ HIllary Clinton said in a statement. The Democratic presidential front-runner has called for higher tax rates on high-income Americans.”
  
  But rumboy didn’t say anything about that.
  
  The Bloomberg story added this:
  
  ” Bill Clinton brought in just short of $16.5 million for his role as honorary chancellor of Laureate Education, a for-profit college company. He left the position earlier this year weeks after his wife launched her campaign.”
  
  And that’s what the conservative blogosphere went ape over.
  
  To be clear, Bill Clinton should have been talking up public education, not making money from a for-profit behemoth.
  
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- democracy says:
  
  June 12, 2016 at 5:50 am
  
  The Bloomberg link:
  
  http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-07-31/hillary-and-bill-clinton-paid-43-million-in-federal-taxes
  
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rum, sodomy & the lash says:

June 11, 2016 at 7:46 pm

I read the article too. It’s like the New York Times just discovered capitalism.

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Akademos says:

June 11, 2016 at 7:46 pm

Complex Ponzi.

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Akademos says:

June 11, 2016 at 8:23 pm

A billionaire is better off with a golf course, over a diamond mine, bearing his or her name and likeness in the contours of the artfully landscaped hills than without. Of course, there is the argument for going without one, naming yourself Richie Rich and living in a mansion made of currency with endless underground vaults of gems and precious metals.

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Paula says:

June 11, 2016 at 11:16 pm

So basically, to maintain his wealth, Trump shorted the little guy, the small businesses and shareholders in his companies. And this is the guy Repubs want to be in control of the government and our national defense. I think not.

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- Joel Herman says:
  
  June 12, 2016 at 2:24 am
  
  Think again: They were willing to sell arms to Iran ,to finance a War forbidden by Congress In Nicaragua. While selling Crack Cocaine in American cities for the same purpose . After they delayed the release of American hostages in Iran to make an American President look bad. You think Trump would upset them . At least when Trump called Mexicans rapist he could point to one Crime . We are still looking for Reagan’s Welfare Queen with twenty kids and a Caddy .
  
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- rum, sodomy & the lash says:
  
  June 12, 2016 at 10:31 am
  
  This just in: only 3% of Clinton Foundation donations went to charity. Most went to salaries.
  
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    June 12, 2016 at 12:02 pm
    
    Rum, what’s your source?
    Donna Shalala runs the Clinton Foundation and she is a woman of impeccable integrity
    
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- Joel Herman says:
  
  June 12, 2016 at 12:21 pm
  
  Rum
  
  It is no secrete that I really have a dislike of the Clinton’s but the one thing I hate more is when the right makes me come to their defense . Now not even the Oxy addict in Florida says it was 3% so again a little better sourcing. please. And I hope you understand what politi fact is saying.
  
  http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/apr/29/rush-limbaugh/rush-limbaugh-says-clinton-foundation-spends-just-/
  
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- rum, sodomy & the lash says:
  
  June 13, 2016 at 7:45 am
  
  I think the difference is…Trump until now was a private civilian. And at least with Trump we can point to 30K employees and things: buildings, gold courses, resorts, TV shows, steaks, etc.
  
  With the Clintons, we have lots and lots of money…and talk and books.
  
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    June 13, 2016 at 10:01 am
    
    Rum, you are done. No more shilling for Trump.
    
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- rum, sodomy & the lash says:
  
  June 13, 2016 at 8:34 am
  
  Does google not work for you?
  
  1. Search Clinton Foundation Scams
  2. Prepare for avalanche of results, left, right and in between.
  
  We need 501-3C reform. It’s a tax shelter scam and wealth preservation scheme for the elites of all stripes. We pay the price.
  
  At least Donald, love him or hate him, actually works and offers customers something more than govt. access.
  
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    June 13, 2016 at 9:59 am
    
    Rum,
    
    You can also Google and find that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax staged by President Obama. It never happened! The children are well! The FBI is hiding them. Not so clear where the adults are.
    
    Google and find that 9/11 was staged by the CIA.
    
    Rum, you are a troll For Donald TRUMp and you are no longer welcome on this blog. Please leave.
    
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- rum, sodomy & the lash says:
  
  June 13, 2016 at 11:03 am
  
  You can google and find that Andrew Cuomo didn’t fail the bar five times, too.
  
  I’m guessing you and your readers can discern for themselves the legitimacy of the sources.
  
  Fess up Diane. Are you only supporting Clinton so friends of yours get Dept. of Ed. jobs?
  
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Sharon Schmidt says:

June 12, 2016 at 5:27 am

Like Trump’s spiritual ancestor said, “Make Germany great again!”

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- Joel Herman says:
  
  June 12, 2016 at 12:30 pm
  
  Was that ancestor Reagan at Bitburg . An actor, a game show host, ones just a bit more skilled then the other. But we do have a problem here. That guy you were actually referring to appealed to the authoritarian tendencies of his people, at a time due to economic stress they were open to it.
  
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Chiara says:

June 12, 2016 at 7:25 am

Thank God for mechanic’s liens or this “super successful businessman” would never pay any of his debts:

“A review of about 60 lawsuits and hundreds of liens alleging Trump hasn’t paid suggest that either his companies are bad at hiring workers and assessing contractors, or that they renege on contracts, refuse to pay or consistently attempt to change payment terms after work is complete.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/06/09/news-roundup-trump-stanford/85651072/

Too bad the waitstaff and busboys he stiffs can’t put a lien on his property like the painters and electricians did.

They could put that plane he and his family travel around in up for auction and finally get paid. He put a solo painting contractor in Florida out of business because he refused to pay a 30,000 contract on work that was already completed. 30,000 is a painter’s wage for a whole year of work.

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Akademos says:

June 12, 2016 at 7:33 am

In other news, the NYC DOE, still corrupt after all these years:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/nyregion/in-lawsuit-us-says-queens-school-discriminated-against-3-black-teachers.html?referer=

Related story: Are attacks on veteran teachers still systemic and condoned?
Is age and service discrimination still rampant?

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Chiara says:

June 12, 2016 at 7:36 am

How perfect is it that the national standard for “super successful business people” is now people who literally DO NOT PAY employees, while they and their families live lavishly and excessively?

We admire this. This is what we’re all supposed to aspire to. What a joke.

The funniest part of the whole thing is Trump attacking the judge. Without bankruptcy protections this guy would be living in a one room apartment and driving a used Taurus.

The court system works pretty well for Donald Trump. I don’t know what he’s mad about. It’s the secret to his “success”

He says he paid 55 million for his campaign- probably another lie but let’s accept his number. Add up all his unpaid debts and let’s see whether unpaid plumbers, painters and busboys are the people REALLY financing this extravaganza.

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- retired teacher says:
  
  June 12, 2016 at 9:37 am
  
  We really need his IRS tax returns released. Even if Trump is in dispute with the IRS, he should still have returns to show. I think there would be a backlash if the public saw how little he paid.
  
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  - dianeravitch says:
    
    June 12, 2016 at 12:05 pm
    
    The ITS already said that Trump may release his tax returns, regardless of audit status.
    Certainly no obstacle to releasing returns from 2010-2014
    
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- rum, sodomy & the lash says:
  
  June 13, 2016 at 7:47 am
  
  When do you think the Clinton Foundation will get its audit?
  
  When will Hillary release her Goldman Sachs speech transcripts?
  
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Akademos says:

June 12, 2016 at 8:00 am

Join Carl and Rob Reiner!

Tweet against Trump!

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_575c663ae4b00f97fba8815e

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jcgrim says:

June 12, 2016 at 8:17 am

What does this say about the geniuses on Wall St that they repeatedly fell for Trump’s lies?
“In retrospect, David Hanlon, a veteran casino executive who ran Merv Griffin’s Atlantic City operations at the time of the Resorts battle, said, Mr. Trump succeeded in repeatedly convincing investors, bankers and Wall Street that “his name had real value.”

“They were so in love with him that they came back a second, third and fourth time,” Mr. Hanlon said. “They let him strip out assets. It was awful to watch. It was astonishing. I have to give Trump credit for using his celebrity time and time again.”

Imagine what Trump would do to the US Treasury.

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Chiara says:

June 12, 2016 at 8:21 am

I think it;s great that newspapers are revealing this giant phony to BE the giant phony that he is but I have to ask- why wasn’t any of this reported during the primary?

The NYTimes is a NY newspaper. Trump is in their backyard. No one could look into any of this during the 2 years he was running for the nomination?

The USA Today investigation is all public records. The lawsuits and mechanics liens are all posted on county court or land record systems. Maybe they could have mentioned this massive fraud sometime prior to millions of people believing this elaborately constructed fairy tale he told?

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Chiara says:

June 12, 2016 at 9:06 am

Just a head’s up- the Obama Administration officials who pushed “online learning” for 8 years are now cashing in on “online learning”

“Having served as the U.S. Secretary of Education from 2009 to 2016, Duncan is one of the most notable and highly-regarded thought leaders of twenty-first century education. One of the longest-serving education secretaries and arguably the most influential, he guided a rapid expansion of the federal role in the nation’s 100,000 public schools and saw 40 states adopt key policies. Aligning with Pluralsight’s mission to democratize professional learning for all, Duncan championed significant education causes to equalize learning opportunities while a member of President Obama’s Cabinet, including Race to the Top, Investing in Innovation, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that preserved 350,000 teachings jobs through $100 billion in stimulus funds.”

The public sector/private sector merger is nearly complete!

I love how they crow about “saving teaching jobs”. The fact is when the finance sector tanked the economy and states didn’t have tax receipts to pay employees DC had NO CHOICE but to direct a tiny portion of the bank bailout to states. What were they going to do? Close thousands of schools and shut down whole towns?

You know, Arne Duncan wasn’t educated by a screen and a computer program- he got careful attention by real human beings in those expensive private schools he attended.

Why is he selling this cheap replacement to the masses? It wasn’t good enough for him.

http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2016/06/thought-leader-duncan-has-another-new.html?spref=tw&m=1

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- Joel Herman says:
  
  June 12, 2016 at 1:54 pm
  
  Trump was the least dangerous of the Republican candidates because he had no political Ideology (Carter). What makes him dangerous is not the garbage he spews which is only minimally different than the rest of the Republican pack. What makes him dangerous is that with no Ideology no vision for the Nation ” the giant phony” will work with the extreme right and their agenda will be his agenda.The Republican establishment jumps all over his remarks not on content but on tone . This is a party built on a fear and anger about civil rights in the North and the South since Nixon and Kevin Philips . Built since Reagan on a rejection of integration . With a goal of segregated religious schools and vouchers to pay for them.
  Built on “rugged individualism for the poor and socialism for the rich”.
  
  But dismal Democrats empower those on the right . As you point out about Obama/ Duncan education policy, the revolving door is taller and wider than Trump Tower ., Holder comes from a Wall Street Law firm after leaving the Clinton administration and returns to it after zero prosecutions under Obama.
  Rubin comes to Clinton from Goldman and leaves to Citibank. There is one cabinet post that almost never comes out of the industry it should represent, Labor . Only one Peter Brennan tossed a bone for beating anti war demonstrators by Nixon. So until and unless the Democrats clean their house we will be faced with a series of Trumps. Obama came in with a supper majority he leaves with the most Republican country since before the Great Depression. Bill Clinton came in with majorities in both houses and lost them both . The house for the first time since 1946 . . .
  
  On all to many issues the democrats have seeded the populist (“a political party seeking to represent the interests of ordinary people”) message to Trump who will not represent those ordinary people once in office.
  
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CPSdoc says:

June 12, 2016 at 3:26 pm

Here are some links you might like –

http://www.afscmeinfocenter.org/blog/2016/06/public-education-finances-2014.htm#.V12gRL0wqAY

http://www.afscmeinfocenter.org/blog/2016/06/the-condition-of-education-2016.htm#.V12bJr0wqAY

http://www.afscmeinfocenter.org/blog/2016/06/arbitrary-funding-how-the-supreme-court-upheld-education-funding-inequity.htm#.V11v-b0wqAZ

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Akademos says:

June 13, 2016 at 5:28 am

Ken Burns Blasts Trump:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ken-burns-donald-trump-stanford-commencement-speech/

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- rum, sodomy & the lash says:
  
  June 13, 2016 at 7:47 am
  
  Hair vs. hair.
  
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m4potw says:

June 14, 2016 at 2:58 am

To rum, sodomy & the lash

I do not know how old you are, how much experience with reality you have, and how much you get pay to advocate for the “Lord of lies” who cheats, lies and trashes people (Mexican immigrants in his chain of hotels) who worked for him.

Here is a link for you to read and think about your fate in near future with “Lord of lies”

http://www.opednews.com/articles/We-Must-Understand-Corpora-by-Chris-Hedges Corporate_Powers-That-Be_Propaganda-160612-497.html

OpEdNews Op Eds 6/12/2016 at 21:36:39

We Must Understand Corporate Power to Fight It
By Chris Hedges

[start paragraph]
…
Education is indoctrination. Ersatz intellectuals, along with technocrats and specialists, who are obedient to neoliberal and imperial state doctrine, use their academic credentials and erudition to DECEIVE the public.

The promises made by the corporate state and its political leaders — we will restore your jobs, we will protect your privacy and civil liberties, we will rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, we will save the environment, we will prevent you from being exploited by banks and predatory corporations, we will make you safe, we will provide a future for your children — are the OPPOSITE of reality.

The loss of privacy, the constant monitoring of the citizenry, the use of militarized police to carry out indiscriminate acts of LETHAL VIOLENCE — a daily reality in marginal communities — and the relentless drive to plunge as much as two-thirds of the country into poverty to ENRICH A TINY corporate ELITE, along with the psychosis of permanent war, presage a dystopia that will be as severe as the totalitarian systems that sent tens of millions to their deaths during the reigns of fascism and communism.

[End paragraph]

History and people’s real life experiences have shown us from Memoirs of Holocaust survivors, and many waves of immigrants who prefer to die in ocean and sea than to live with cruelty. Please wake up to smell coffee.

There is one final note for you that all corporate leaders are coward. They hide their wealth offshore, invade tax, loot public “PENSION” fund, SELL arms to enemies, and destroy our democracy. They do all of these for PURELY MONEY that they cannot bring along with them after their death or they cannot enjoy their wealth because of terminal illness and fear for their own terror life. Back2basic

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- rum, sodomy & the lash says:
  
  June 14, 2016 at 3:04 pm
  
  He says behind a mac, sipping a Starbucks and checking his iPhone for texts.
  
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