Conflicts of interest, corruption and Trump-era fraud.
117 articles · page 5 of 6
As you’d expect, it is hot and humid here. Some complain it is scorching heat, but frankly, I like it. Sitting around for eternity in the heat has its benefits. You don’t get many visitors. People here, many who you’d know by name, spend most of their time alone, soaking up the sulfur fumes, pulling…
By definition, reputation and history, trading firms are predatory. Some trading firms seek to get the advantage over other traders, while others seek to get the edge over business competitors and in some cases, even their own customers. So, when a trading firm offers free commissions to retail traders for their options and securities trades,…
Since his inauguration three-and-a-half years ago, Trump’s basic political strategy has been to delay, obfuscate, lie, and promote dissension among Americans. But at the same time, the Democrats who control the U.S. House of Representatives (235 to 199) where they have a majority over Republicans, have been accomplices to Trump’s tactics. They have done so…
If Trump is forced to release his taxes, people will be able to see how he made his money and if he cheated on his New York tax bills. This would hurt Trump’s ego and that is something he is not equipped to handle.
While many people are focused on removing the statues of Confederate military leaders, it’s also an excellent time to ask why there are no statues of other traitors to the U.S., such as Benedict Arnold or the worst spy in modern history, Robert Hanssen. Benedict Arnold, a confidant of George Washington, was an officer with…
The huge $ $2 trillion coronavirus relief package enacted April 1, 2020, was the largest bailout bill in US history, but while it provides relief for small business and individuals, particularly lower-income families, it also contained a $500 billion bailout fund that benefits big businesses, including a $170 billion tax break for real estate investors…
Crooked, undisciplined cops have been a famous movie theme for decades. However, movies are often based on reality. One of the best movies on undisciplined cops is the 1973 movie Serpico, directed by Sydney Lumet, which featured a young Al Pacino as an honest cop in a dishonest and corrupt precinct in the Bronx. The…
One of the most difficult discussions today among Jewish groups today is how much is the Trump White House involved in promoting anti-Semitic themes? This is a difficult discussion for national Jewish groups since the largest contributor to Trump is Sheldon Adelson and many members of the Republican Jewish Coalition. The discussion is painful since…
It has only been about a month, but the data is now emerging about the huge, publicly-traded corporations that received taxpayer bailout funds that may not have to be paid back. These are billion-dollar corporations that often have poor records in terms of their employee relations, environment, customer service records, and transparency to public scrutiny.
Somewhere inside an office at the Republican National Committee headquarters and in offices of other top Republican pollsters, studies are showing Trump will lose to Biden in the next election. The poll results are secret, but they are no surprise. Trump is erratic, vindictive, immoral, corrupt, venal, and refuses to take advice. These…
The Trump administration is the poster child of self-serving deals. From giving tax breaks that benefit his own companies to appointing his family to top government posts when they are not qualified to spending $30 million for golf trips to his various properties, Trump is continuing the same scams and self-serving business deals that have…
Behavioral economics has been described as a “revolution” that has taken over economics over the past three decades. Although it has been controversial, it is now regarded as providing a framework for investor behavior. In this Yale lecture from spring 2011, economist Robert Shiller, winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economics, describes…
Most media pundits are academics, politicians, ex-politicians, political consultants or other professional hangers-on who dominate the Washington scene. But it’s too bad almost none of these outlets include observations from average Americans, except for those wasted and politically ineffective posts on Facebook and Twitter. Still, 51% of Americans believe Trump…
Tell them to go back where they came from…
As despicable as he is, Donald Trump is a hybrid product of the American business system. The nation’s business community may find this hard to accept, but Trump is the face of modern American capitalism. His methods may not yet be taught at the nation’s top business schools, but there is no…
“Justice delayed is justice denied.” –William Gladstone (1809-1898) American voters have short memories, but most remember that executives who headed the nation’s major financial and mortgage firms that led to the 2008 real estate crash the subsequent eight-year-long recession were never prosecuted for their criminal derelictions of duty. Americans watched as…
In a single week in March 2019, Americans were treated to an unprecedented college admission bribery scandal, the lenient sentencing of Trump’s campaign manager on tax evasion, and Republican plans to cut the pensions of thousands of federal employees, accompanied by proposed decreases in Medicare and Medicaid budgets. These sad events touched the power…
Americans have a special envy for the rich and famous. Blame it on a combination of the can-do- anything spirit, the quest for Hollywood-type fame, and the belief that wealth is the elixir for all human problems. Whatever the reasons, some Americans have elevated the wealthy, deserving, undeserving and even criminal, to be the pinnacles of…
The news today that Larry Kudlow, a CNBC TV market commentator and ex-Bear Stearns economist, maybe the next White House’s National Economic Council, (succeeding Gary Cohen who resigned) is another bad omen for individual citizens and investors. Kudlow is an unabashed and unquestioning advocate who pushes the neoliberal mantra that free markets, trickle-down…
Military generals working in the Trump White House are making a killing, at least in terms of their pension benefits and salaries. Trump thinks generals and other senior military officers are great at organizing chaotic situations or instilling discipline into errant civilians and others with minimal work experience. Yet, while there is a disconnect between…
