The man who has managed to do the impossible feat of bankrupting multiple casinos wants to be in a position to call shots at major multinational corporations, not to mention the Fed.
With the gleeful announcement of the US government taking a 10 percent stake in Intel, after his bullying attack on their CEO, Donald Trump has opened a new channel in how to misuse our taxes.
This goes even beyond the extortion operation he ran on Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, requiring them to pay the government 15 percent of revenues generated from their exports in exchange for export licenses. Instead of requiring tribute payments, the White House has directly taken an ownership share of a major US company.
Not since the 2008-2009 auto industry bailout has the government invested directly in this way. Of course, the Obama administration underwent deafening criticism for its “communistic” actions in bailing out Chrysler and GM not to mention the financial firms that essentially caused the great recession of 2008. The true irony is that the same people criticizing Obama then are now applauding Trump.
A key difference between the present-day situation and Obama-era bail out was that back then the bailouts were loans of taxpayer funds. And those loans were fully paid back with interest—a fact Republicans chose to ignore. Today, Trump has used taxpayer funds to buy an ownership stake in a major corporation. Of course there was no legislative input or consultation this time—contrary to way the crisis was handled back in 2009. No, this was “businessman” Trump taking a flier. And that alone should be a cause for concern if not outright terror.
The performance statistics of businesses with which this guy is associated at a management level are either dead and buried or subject to criminal indictments. Sure the fine in his 34 count conviction was set aside, but the convictions and the other criminal penalties are still in place and still apply. The man who has managed to do the impossible feat of bankrupting multiple casinos wants to be in a position to call shots at major multinational corporations, not to mention the Fed.
What may be going on with Trump trying to push his sticky little fingers into corporate money matters may be a bit of envious emulation of his pal Putin and how he runs things.
In the summer of 2000, after Putin had been in office for a few months he called a meeting with many of the richest oligarchs in Russia. According to reporting from NPR:
Putin offered the oligarchs a deal: bend to my authority, stay out of my way, and you can keep your mansions, superyachts, private jets, and multibillion-dollar corporations (corporations that, just a few years before, had been owned by the Russian government). In the coming years, the oligarchs who reneged on this deal and undermined Putin would be thrown into a Siberian prison or be forced into exile or die in suspicious circumstances. The loyalists who remained—and the new ones who got filthy rich during Putin’s long reign—became like ATM machines for the president and his allies.
Rumors have swirled for years about how much of their wealth these oligarchs had to pass over to Putin to retain their positions. We’ve all heard the stories about what happened to those that did not toe the line including the accidental falls from high balconies or equally accidental poisonings with dioxin or radioactive polonium. Not cooperating with the Czar in the Kremlin was hazardous to one’s health and life.
With Trump already exacting tribute from Nvidia and Arm, getting a “gift” of a gold bar from Tim Cook, what’s next for the Commissar-in-Chief? We already know that Trump’s pay-to-play economy is going to be affecting each and every one of us.
Humorist Andy Borowitz recently posted:
True story: I recently ordered a $45 logo item from the UK. (This is a specialty item that is not and will never be manufactured in the USA.) I was just informed that there will be a $43 tariff tacked onto this purchase. If you believe Trump that his tariffs won’t cause inflation I’ve got some Ghislaine Maxwell testimony I’d like to sell to you.
While Trump sends his troops into D.C. and maybe Chicago next, and his FOX News attack dogs, Hegseth, Bondi and now Pirro are going after anyone who said a snide word to him or flipped him off, will our own wallets be a target of Washington’s Czar Donald the Orange? The Magic 8 Ball says, “Signs point to yes.”
With produce prices in stores up already nearly 40 percent, the answer should be f*ck yes.
Marty Kassowitz is co-founder of Factkeepers. As founder of Interest Factory and View360, he brings more than 30 years experience in effective online communications, social media management, and platform development to the site. He is a writer, designer, editor and long time observer of the ill-logic demonstrated by too many members of the species known as Mankind. After a long history of somewhat private commentary on a subject he totally hates: politics, Marty was encouraged to build this site and put up his own analyses as well as curate relevant content from other sources.
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