Is Trump sound like Bush with this comment?

docmercer--banned · Nov 22, 2004

Trump Casino Empire Files for Bankruptcy

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[size=-1]By JEFFREY GOLD, AP Business Writer

NEWARK, N.J. - [size=-1]Donald J. Trump's casino empire has filed for bankruptcy protection after months of negotiations with bondholders over restructuring a crushing debt. [/size][size=-1]Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc. and numerous related operations filed for protection from its creditors under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code on Sunday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Camden, N.J. The Trump casino business consists mainly of three Atlantic City properties and a riverboat casino in Indiana and are only a small part of Trump's overall real estate empire.

The filings come even as Trump, the celebrity developer and best-selling author, has returned to the spotlight with the television show "The Apprentice," which turned "You're fired" into a national catch phrase. Trump denied the bankruptcy was a setback.

"I don't think it's a failure, it's a success," he said in the interview.

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Marco · Nov 22, 2004

I never did have too much sympathy for greedy ba$tards who tried to juggle all these deals and ended up biting off more than they could chew.....

They could have all the money in the world and it still wouldn't be enough to satisfy thier lust for money and power.

News like this almost brings a tear to my eye. :drink:

docmercer--banned · Nov 22, 2004

and remember Michael Miliken?

Of Junk Bond fame in the 1980's?

He now teaches a "Business Ethics" course @ UCLA ...

charleslanger · Nov 22, 2004

I totally agree-- Trump's king of using other's money to make himself money with it, and then not giving it back. Yet people come back for more: now he's got Indiana heavily courting him to run their casinos-- they say they have no concern with any bankruptcy proceedings elsewhere(translated: we don't care if he's screwed other poor slobs, as that can't/won't happen to us-- & anyhow it's not like it's our personal money, it's the taxpayers'!).

Investing in Trump junk bonds has got to be the world's worst investment: you rarely get paid-- when you do it's often past the due dates... & he frequently has defaulted on them totally with the various bankruptcy proceedings over the years: once in bankruptcy court those debts go to the back of the line behind ALL others: more often than not the entire amount defaults, at best a few pennies on the dollar are recovered.

Yet people come back for more, clamoring to invest-- they must reason to their boss or spouse,"But honey(term's the same for both, no? One usually kisses both of their ?) look at how big of a return we're being promised!"

Ron Perlman of Revlon fame's another one-- usually has multiple ongoing suits in various jurisdictions going against him.... Yet he's acclaimed as such a society scion & elegible bachelor.....

You know if you do a deal with either of these characters you'll likely end up being screwed royally, or in court & screwed just a little less. Same thing happens if you work for either of them. They actually do it on purpose to find go-getters / make employees prove their value: if one doesn't have a backbone / is not a constant squeaky wheel, one gets screwed out of significant commissions, overtime, bonuses, etc. that are part of standard pay packages...

WildBill · Nov 22, 2004

Do you people really take the time to understand the full story here? For those that bought into these bonds many years ago sure it isn't a success. But the point of junk bonds like this is that they create trading opportunities and the chance to buy or sell. These things Trump has had all these years were clearly going to do him in at some point, but he held on far longer than most in the financial world speculated.

The truth is for Trump and for many of the later buyers of the bonds the deal is a success. There is no doubt what Trump needs most is more capital to upgrade facilities. The Taj Mahal has been likened to a big bus station, how can you compete with neighbors when people say that about the supposed flagship operation?

Donald has always been a risky bet, people that buy into him as anything else aren't doing their homework. Everything he does is fully leveraged, but over the last decade that pretty much mirrors many in the public as well. How many people buy houses these days that they think they can't afford, but use too much leverage to make it work for now? How many people were on full tilt margin when the stock market was booming? Even now some mutual funds and hedge funds figure you don't get enough leverage so they mirror indexes, but just double or triple the exposure. Want something that will give you three times the returns, good or bad, of the S&P 500? They have that.

Don just plays by these rules, but for himself wisely moats everything. Half the bonds he had were second mortgages on the businesses backing the bonds in the first place! Please don't tell me that people who got fooled by that don't at least deserve some of the blame if they lost money on it.

charleslanger · Nov 23, 2004

Definitely, the morons deserved to be skinned-- nobody forced them. A lot of times too, it's what's in at the moment-- I can brag that i got a piece of the Trump Mahal...and/or many investments are done for the entertainment or deal-making value to one's friends / business associates, fully expecting to lose money in the venture: restaurants / clubs, racehorses are two that come to mind...

It's usually harder to keep money than to make it, anyhow.