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Elephants and Jackasses...

Discussion in 'Permanent Threads' started by Nettdata, Oct 14, 2016.

  1. Aetius

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  2. SouthernIdiot

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  3. dixiebandit69

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    Well, yeah, his bitch-ass got CARRIED out by security because he was so afraid of those Trump supporters... Or were they Antifa dressed up as far Trump supporters?

    Who knows? We're living in a clown-world now.
     
  4. Aetius

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    McConnell has always viewed Trumpism as a short-term and ultimately self-destructive strategy for Republicans. He doesn't want to surrender to Democrats, but if he can find a way to slip the blade between Trump's ribs and keep the Republican electoral strategy intact he'll do it in a heartbeat.
     
  5. downndirty

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  6. Aetius

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  7. downndirty

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    This is... probably worst case scenario for Trump Inc. It looks pretty damning, in terms of fraud.

    All of the creditors and business partners (contractors, for example) that work with this enterprise now have to call everything into question. If the accounting firm is saying "we out", then any auditor is going to be looking for who helped Trump Inc commit fraud, or whether the assets listed as collateral are actually worth anything close to what they said they were. Now, politics aside, no one clean will want to be associated with this company. You attract unwanted attention just by association moving forward, not to mention the lack of credibility ("Can you afford this? Sure we can. Here's our financials, that our longterm accounting firm refuses to certify as real. You can totally trust us!") . As the investigations continue, I'd imagine Trump Inc's credit is essentially nonexistent, so they're a cash operation for the time being, and the value of the assets so questionable, liquidation amounts to a fire sale. Fuck, I'd imagine Deutch Bank is on the phone with German regulators right now, going "ok, ok, what do you want us to do?"

    Trump personally is probably eyeing his political war chest as his main source of funding to save Trump Inc., and I imagine that's a very serious no-no in terms of campaign finance laws. I'd bet good money that Trump isn't exactly cautious or deeply familiar with regulations that specific, and by 2024 could be investigated for campaign funding violations....which if the investigation happens quickly enough jeopardizes his candidacy, and if not, jeopardizes his ability to fund raise.

    McConnell's stance suddenly makes a lot more sense: Trump broke and under investigation for fraud isn't new, but Trump raised a shit ton of money to "stop the steal." Using that money to bail out his own corporation might somehow be legal, but it's definitely not what GOP donors want when they give to the cause. And the perception of doing business with Trump is now not only bad in the eyes of the public, it's financially questionable. McConnell saw Trump as a useful idiot, and it's clear he thinks the "useful" stage is over.

    Even the fuckers who got rich from Trump's actions while in office are now nervous: the contractor buddies relied on that accounting, and they are part of the paper trail under investigation. It might not be the NYAG, but at some point the IRS is going to start looking into it. Hell, after Enron, and some of the fuckery associated with the big 4 accounting firms in 2008, DOC and DOJ have to at least be monitoring what's going on. I don't think the IRS will get involved, too politically charged, and no president wants to set a precedent of investigating/auditing the former cheif exec, because out of spite alone, it'll become standard process. Besides, why bother? The NY investigations have plenty to work with.

    The likelihood of a former president facing criminal charges seems pretty low, especially for someone like Trump who's used to having a fall guy around. But the damage done to his businesses....that seems pretty likely to stick around a while.
     
  8. GcDiaz

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    Politics aside, this guy's had a long history of underpaying or just NOT paying contractors at all, then burying those who sued under legal bills. His history of fraud is legendary, which is why only Deutsche was willing to bank with him. This was always known. Hard to sympathize with anyone who chose to do business with him.
     
  9. Crown Royal

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    He’s declared bankruptcy what four, five times? “The Art Of The Deal” is when your dad dies with half a billion dollars in his chequing account.
     
  10. GcDiaz

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    It's crazy how the entire Trump family tax fraud scheme was laid out in detail, to the point his judge sister had to resign from the bench, and nothing more came of it.
     
  11. Aetius

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    [​IMG]

    I'm no IRS auditor, but this feels like he's just openly admitting to tax fraud.
     
  12. dixiebandit69

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    That's got to be fake.
    It definitely sounds like something he would say, but I don't think even he would be stupid enough to say something like that; just keep your mouth shut, and let the lawyers talk for you.

    Then again, we saw Giulliani have a press conference at Four Seasons Total Lawn Care, and sweat cheap hair dye on live TV a few weeks later...

    Do you have a source for this?
     
  13. Aetius

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    https://twitter.com/realLizUSA/status/1493748938276548608

    Liz is Trump's chief spokeswoman. Since his ban from Twitter he issues these "from the desk of" things and she posts them to Twitter.
     
  14. GTE

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    Fake. Trump would say "Statement from the 45th (and maybe 47th) President of the United States"
     
  15. Juice

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    I was an auditor. I don’t think that statement is an admission of fraud. His company could very well have little debt now and he could still be paying nearly zero taxes. You can claim a “carryforward” of your losses for up to 20 years. I’m assuming he lost a lot of money for a couple consecutive tax cycles and then kept carrying those loses forward to shield from liability when he was making money again. It’s a tax strategy that should be deprecated, but it’s fairly common and not illegal (or he’s just being his mentally retarded self and is inadvertently admitting to fraud lol). In all seriousness I can’t say for sure since I haven’t see his statements, but a loss carryforward is usually how this situation occurs.
     
  16. bebop007

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    I guess it depends on the end users of the financials. My dad's accounting office was a small operation and we only did compilation work (unaudited/no opinion) so saying that they are unaudited isn't necessarily an admission of anything.

    In terms of end users, saying you are under-reporting anything would only seem like an issue for tax purposes. The IRS is going to have issues if you are under-reporting income. In terms of under reporting on financials sent to banks, which is probably the big one, I'm not really sure what the point is. Maybe given his shady past, there are certain debt covenants in place and something may trigger if something gets too high. But, I've not worked/operated at that high of a level so I don't really know. It's just an, unsurprisingly, bizarre statement.
     
  17. Aetius

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    I'm referring to the part where he claims his properties are "far more valuable than what was listed in our financial statements." Given his lawyer has already testified that he routinely lied about the value of his assets in order to get loans/avoid taxes, this seems like an open admission of the practice.
     
  18. Revengeofthenerds

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    so is russia gonna invade the ukraine or not? And if they do, what's gonna happen?
     
  19. dixiebandit69

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    Yeah, Zalinski said it was going to happen yesterday.
    I had my popcorn popped and beer ready, then nothing.
     
  20. downndirty

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    Smart money is saying "no", because the response wouldn't be direct foreign military intervention, but it would go after Putin's money personally. NATO and the West are basically promising Putin whatever he'd like to gain will be negated and then some in the form of sanctions, bans, etc.

    Also, the Russian military forces would be overwhelmingly favored, but then what? A long occupation that demoralizes and paints in vivid detail all the weaknesses of the standard Russian army? They remember their time to Afghanistan well enough to know that it's not that simple. It's also just the kind of quagmire the West would funnel arms and money into, and it would make Putin despised among many Russians/Ukrainians, because it's unpopular now, much less after unnecessary bloodshed. The West is trying to position this move as toxic to Putin's legacy, and I have to imagine it's not without merit or weight.

    Lastly, I think Russia has some legitimate cause for complaint: they are only heeded when they threaten, the West doesn't take a peaceful Russia seriously, and they believe they deserve better treatment. If Russia de-escalates, then they get a better seat at the table. Given some of the shenanigans Russia has pulled the last few years, some of which caused sanctions and financial penalties to Russian nationals, they may de-escalate in exchange for the removal of some of that.

    This all hinges on Putin, and he's in his 70's. When he goes, so do most of these deals. One of the main objectives is ensuring the Russian nuclear program, with all it's components, are secure through that transition. He's thinking about securing his legacy, and emerging from COVID stronger, and the West is acknowledging the decline (and likelihood of that decline continuing) of the Russian state and the danger inherent in Putin dying in the next decade (almost a certainty) without working on how to ensure Russia's nuclear arsenal doesn't grow legs.