Inheritance from Dad Made Trump a Wealthy Man

  

This excerpt from "The Self-Made Myth: The Truth About How Government Helps Individuals and Businesses Succeed" tells the real story about how Trump got so obscenely rich.

July 9, 2012

​Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from Brian Miller and Mike Lapham's book, The Self-Made Myth: The Truth About How Government Helps Individuals and Businesses Succeed. (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2012). ​You can read AlterNet's Vision editor Sara Robinson's review of the book here.

In March 2011 Forbes estimated Donald Trump's net worth to be $2.7 billion, with a $60 million salary. Many praise and analyze his “success” as if it were self-made, and they fail to attribute the proper credit to others in society where it is deserved. Despite what Trump may espouse, his success would have been in no way possible without his father, the general public, and the US government. Unfortunately, Trump decided to forget or selectively ignore these truths while forming his political philosophy, a sentiment made particularly clear during his brief bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

Trump was born in New York City in 1946, the son of real estate tycoon Fred Trump. Fred Trump’s business success not only provided Donald Trump with a posh youth of private schools and economic security but eventually blessed him with an inheritance worth an estimated $40 million to $200 million. It is critical to note, however, that his father’s success, which granted Donald Trump such a great advantage, was enabled and buffered by governmental financing programs. In 1934, while struggling during the Great Depression, financing from the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) allowed Fred Trump to revive his business and begin building a multitude of homes in Brooklyn, selling at $6,000 apiece. Furthermore, throughout World War II, Fred Trump constructed FHA-backed housing for US naval personnel near major shipyards along the East Coast.

In 1974 Donald Trump became president of his father’s organization. During the 15 years following his ascension, he expanded and innovated the corporation, buying and branding buildings, golf courses, hotels, casinos, and other recreational facilities. In 1980 he established The Trump Organization to oversee all of his real estate operations.

Trump eventually found himself in serious financial trouble. In 1990, due to excessive leveraging, The Trump Organization revealed that it was $5 billion in debt ($8.8 billion by some estimates), with $1 billion personally guaranteed by Trump himself. The survival of the company was made possible only by a bailout pact agreed upon in August of that same year by some 70 banks, allowing Trump to defer on nearly $1 billion in debt, as well as to take out second and third mortgages on almost all of his properties. If it were not for the collective effort of all banks and parties involved in that 1990 deal, Trump’s business would have gone bankrupt and failed.

In 1995 Trump took Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc. public and received a substantial financial boost from society and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations that enable the market to function. He initially sold 10 million shares at $14 per share and then in 1996 sold 13.25 million shares at $32.50 a share. This initial public offering granted Trump’s company a stability and legitimacy that would have been impossible without millions of people around the world trusting his organization and investing with the hope of shared success.

Despite the clear societal and governmental assistance described above, Trump continues to be outspoken in his criticism of government. In his bookThe America We Deserve, Trump explains that “the greatest threat to the American Dream is the idea that dreamers need close government scrutiny and control. Job one for us is to make sure the public sector does a limited job, and no more.” This quote proves to be particularly ironic when considering Trump’s feelings about eminent domain laws. He was quoted as saying, “I happen to agree with it 100 percent” when speaking of the 2005 Supreme Court decision on Kolo v. New London, which affirmed the government’s ability to transfer land from one private owner to another for the purpose of economic development in the area. In fact, Trump attempted to take advantage of eminent domain laws on multiple occasions, once even demanding that an elderly widow give up her home so that he could build a limousine parking lot.

Perhaps more disturbing than his hypocritical condemnation of the government is his failure to acknowledge anyone’s contributions, save his own, in the creation of his success. At the 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump made clear his feelings on the creation of his wealth: “Over the years I’ve participated in many battles and have really almost come out very, very victorious every single time. I’ve beaten many people and companies, and I’ve won many wars. I have fairly but intelligently earned many billions of dollars, which in a sense was both a scorecard and acknowledgment of my abilities.” Furthermore, Trump apparently sees no benefit in supporting taxes to maintain institutions such as the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate the stock market, in which he publicly trades his company, or the court system, which actively protects his property rights: “We are the highest taxed nation—I would tax foreign countries that are ripping off the US and lower taxes for Americans.”

From the moment of his birth, Trump was set up for success. The large inheritance left to him by his father, coupled with the contributions and the protections of society and the US government made his ascension to the Forbes 400 list almost inevitable. Nevertheless, Trump fails to recognize this phenomenon and continues to express his belief that he did it alone.

By Brian Miller, Mike Lapham / Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Copyright © 2012 with permission from Berrett Koehler Publishers. 

What Was Trump Doing While MCCain was Being Tortured In Vietnam?

He was 21 years old and handsome with a full head of hair. He avoided the Vietnam War draft on his way to earning an Ivy League degree. He was fond of fancy dinners, beautiful women and outrageous clubs. Most important, he had a job in his father’s real estate company and a brain bursting with money-making ideas that would make him a billionaire.

“When I graduated from college, I had a net worth of perhaps $200,000,” he said in his 1987 autobiography “Trump: The Art of the Deal,” written with Tony Schwartz. (That’s about $1.4 million in 2015 dollars.) “I had my eye on Manhattan.”

More than 8,000 miles away, John McCain sat in a tiny, squalid North Vietnamese prison cell. The Navy pilot’s body was broken from a plane crash, starvation, botched operations and months of torture.

As Trump was preparing to take Manhattan, McCain was trying to relearn how to walk.


The stark contrast in their fortunes was thrown into sharp relief Saturday when Trump belittled McCain during a campaign speech in Iowa.

“He’s not a war hero,” Trump said of McCain.

“He’s a war hero because he was captured,” Trump said sarcastically. “I like people that weren’t captured.”

Watch Donald Trump say John McCain is 'not a war hero'(1:05)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a decorated Vietnam war veteran, was not a war hero because he was captured by the North Vietnamese. (C-SPAN)
[Trump slams McCain for being ‘captured’ in Vietnam; other Republicans quickly condemn him]

Trump’s comments drew scorn from his fellow Republican presidential contenders. But The Donald didn’t back down.

“When I left the room, it was a total standing ovation,” he told ABC News in reference to his already infamous Iowa speech. “It was wonderful to see. Nobody was insulted.”

In fact, a lot of people were insulted.

“John McCain is a hero, a man of grit and guts and character personified,” Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement. “He served and bled and endured unspeakable acts of torture. His captors broke his bones, but they couldn’t break his spirit, which is why he refused early release when he had the chance. That’s heroism, pure and simple, and it is unimpeachable.”

If The Donald doesn’t think that that’s heroic, then what, exactly, is admirable in his eyes?

By Michael E. Miller and Fred Barbash

Caught: Daron Dylon Suspect in Brutal Torture and Murder of DC Family

The massive manhunt for a suspect in the horrific murders of a Washington businessman's family and their housekeeper ended late Thursday when police grabbed suspect Daron Dylon Wint and four associates in the nation's capital.

“Just got him,” D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said shortly before 11:30 p.m.

The arrest capped a day that began with the revelation Wint had been identified in last week's murders of Savvas Savopoulos, 46; his wife Amy, 47; the couple's 10-year-old son Philip, and housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa, 57, by DNA left on pizza crust during what may have been an extended home invasion. Police traced Wint, a 34-year-old ex-con from Maryland, to Brooklyn, N.Y., and then back to Washington in the afternoon.

Federal marshals had been tracking Wint Thursday night from College Park as he traveled in a white Chevrolet Cruze occupied by two unidentified women, police said. The car was following a white box truck, reportedly driven by Wint's brother and with another man inside. Both vehicles were stopped by marshals near 10th Street and Rhode Island Avenue NE, the official said. Police found at least $10,000 in cash in the box truck, and all of the occupants were taken into custody, according to police.

Wint is accused of storming a Washington mansion near Vice President Biden's residence and owned by Savopoulos, the CEO of an iron works company. There, he allegedly held the family while ordering them to summon a courier with $40,000, then killed all four, dousing them with gasoline before setting the home on fire.

The four were found dead in the Savolpoulos family's burning home in a wealthy Northwest Washington neighborhood on the afternoon of May 14.

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No other suspects have been identified, but police have not ruled out the possibility that other people were involved in the murders.

Authorities said Thursday that Wint, a certified welder, worked for Savopoulos' company American Iron Works in the past. Savopoulos was the CEO of American Iron Works, a construction-materials supplier based in Hyattsville, Maryland, that has been involved in major projects in downtown Washington.

Wint was born and raised in Guyana and moved to the United States in 2000, when he was almost 20 years old, according to court records filed in Maryland. He joined the Marine Corps that same year and received an honorable discharge for medical reasons, the records show. Following his discharge, he worked as a certified welder, the records show.

Text messages and voicemails from the Savopouloses to their confused and frightened household staff suggest something was amiss in the house many hours before the bodies were found. Authorities believe, based on statements made by the staff, that the four victims were held against their will for several hours before being killed sometime on May 14. Sources told WTTG that Savvos and Amy Savopoulos, as well as Veralicia Figueroa, were found in chairs and doused with gasoline. Philip Savopoulos was found in his bed, covered in lacerations and burned beyond recognition.

Hours after the fire, the family's blue Porsche turned up in a church parking lot in suburban Maryland. It, too, had been set on fire.

 DNA analysis at a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms lab linked Wint to the crime, a law enforcement official involved in the investigation told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for lack of authorization to discuss the investigation publicly.

During the family's final hours, someone called Domino's from their house and ordered pizza. The Washington Post reported that the DNA was found on a pizza crust. At a Domino's about 2 miles away, a worker told the AP that a pizza was delivered from there to the mansion that day. The delivery driver who dropped off the pizza told WTTG he was paid in cash placed in an envelope outside the front door.

Wint was convicted of assaulting one girlfriend in Maryland in 2009, and he pleaded guilty the next year to malicious destruction of property after he allegedly threatened to kill a woman and her infant daughter, breaking into her apartment, stealing a television and vandalizing her car.

"I'm going to come over there and kill you, your daughter and friends," Wint told that woman, according to the records. "The defendant advised he was good with a knife and could kill them easily and was not afraid of the police," a detective wrote.

Also in 2010, Wint was arrested carrying a 2-foot-long machete and a BB pistol outside the American Iron Works headquarters, but weapons charges were dropped after he pleaded guilty to possessing an open container of alcohol.

Attorney Robin Ficker said Wint didn't seem violent when he defended him in earlier cases.

"My impression of him -- I remember him rather well -- is that he wouldn't hurt a fly. He's a very nice person," Ficker said.

A housekeeper who worked for the Savopoulos family for 20 years, Nelitza Gutierrez, told the AP that she believes the family and Figureroa were held captive for nearly a day before they were killed, citing an unusual voice mail she got from Savopoulos and a text message sent from the phone of his wife, telling her not to come to the house.

Gutierrez said she and Savopoulos spent May 13 cleaning up a martial arts studio he was opening in northern Virginia before his wife called around 5:30 p.m. She could hear his half of the conversation. He later said his wife told him to come home to watch their son because she was going out, Gutierrez said.

Later that night, sounding flustered, he left Gutierrez a voice mail saying Figueroa would stay with his sick wife overnight, that she shouldn't come the next day, and that Figueroa's phone was dead.

"It doesn't make any sense. How come you don't have another phone -- iPhones are all over," Gutierrez said. "He was kind of building stories."

The next morning, Gutierrez received a text message from Amy Savopoulos that read, in part, "I am making sure you are not coming today." She called and texted back and got no response.

Adding another layer of intrigue to the story, Gutierrez told WTTG an assistant to Savvos Savopoulos dropped off $40,000 in cash at the home on the morning of the fire. She said the money was meant to be used to finance the opening of the martial arts studio. It was not immediately clear if that money was what was found on the box truck when Wint was arrested late Thursday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from MyFoxDC.com.

I Knew MLKJR, I worked with MLKJR, and You, Mr.Sharpton, are no MLKJR

 As the Riots raged Al Sharton and other race profiteers who line their pockets by stirring black communities into violence, made an awfully ridiculous statement about himself.

As Sharpton took the stage, he compared himself to the late, great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — an actual, respected civil rights leader who made effective changes without burning down U.S. cities.


But Sharpton’s comparison didn’t sit well with King’s niece, Dr. Alveda King, who recently told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto that Sharpton was sorely mistaken when he told his followers that violence, like the kind that took place in Baltimore, did happen when MLK was around and that people should “do their research” before claiming that it didn’t.

Dr. Alveda King told Cavuto, “I’m astounded, because when Rev. Sharpton says you need to do research — research will show that my uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. … who actually came from a background where it would have been easy for him to be violent — they were trained in non-violence, conflict resolution.”

She continued defending her uncle, along with her father and other civil rights leaders who were able to make change without raising a hand, looting drug stores or throwing bricks at police officers.


“So yes, do your research, and every time, you will see … young people following non-violent conflict resolution. Did they want to riot?” she said. “Yes — but there was a standard, there were teachers, there were leaders who helped them not fight.”

“So Reverend Sharpton might have to do some research himself,” she said (H/T IJ Review).


Its laughable that Sharpton would compare his actions to those of MLK, as Sharpton’s only true intention is to grow the bottom line of his National Action Network.

Dr. King did it for the betterment of humanity.