Yeah. In all fairness, though, I don’t know what even Bernie or Warren could’ve done on the debate stage when the responses were going to be blatant lies or some version of, “I know you are, but what am I?”
Not to say I don’t regret missing the opportunity to see either option!
As someone really idiotic once said, “It is what it is.”
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Maybe Joe could could wear an AOC earpiece.
How fun would that be? 
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SO FUN!
Putting the AOC in cyrAnO de bergeraC since 2020.
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He was highly leveraged. Once they’re built, and paid for, a well run casino provides easy money. But in order to build the Taj Mahal, Trump had to promise those “all but guaranteed” profits to the banks, and the company’s profitability therefore rested upon the prospect of extraordinary profits-- which never materialized, since the Taj Mahal didn’t end up attracting new customers to Atlantic city, only cannibalizing the existing crowd.
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Isn’t that what his entire campaign has been so far?
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Not all economist ideas are good for the world. That type of thinking puts prices on things that should never be priced (public parks, the Postal Service, …).
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So what are the prospects of Trump actually getting out of debt? While winning the race can’t hurt, if we actually see a continued constitutional government, it is hard to see how he could grift his way out of $300 million in debt even if he does win. Is there any other option that he has other than to convert the country into a kleptocracy?
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How would that not pretty much immediately lead to a dystopian future of unchecked monopolies? If the big players could just buy out everyone’s property through guaranteed sales and then use those to make more money and buy out more people? The only way to stop getting bought out would be to self-raise taxes on one’s property but that would just hasten the decline of one’s cash, with the monopolists just waiting to pick up the property even cheaper after bankruptcy.
Edit: the more I think about it the more hellish it becomes. Imagine building a house, living in it, making it a home. And then a stranger with money rolls into town and just takes it away from you. That system gives those with money all the rights.
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Well, that’s an understatement!
But at the risk of veering off topic, I’m intrigued by the idea posted by @jerwin. Is there a way that could apply to only certain types of properties, but we get to maintain the commons in another model?
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Frankie warned us long ago…
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Presumably in this situation you just raise the declared value of your home and pay more taxes consequently and if the rich person keeps raising the bid until you get to a point where you would be unable to pay the taxes then it would probably mean that the bid is high enough that selling your house would be advantageous to you. (I’ve never heard of this theory though so this is just a guess.)
They can still buy you out whenever they want. No amount of money compensates for losing a home. It wouldn’t even be a lot of money. Just slightly more than you can afford. Which means you would have to trade down on your next home because there are associated costs with moving. A downwards spiral for anyone who doesn’t start out rich.
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I suspect many of the entities he owes money to would sooner forgive or at least renegotiate the debt than try to foreclose on a sitting President. Which is probably one of the reasons he’s so worried about being out of office when the debts come due around 2022.
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But nevertheless own rather than rent.
While trying to track down this theory, I came across this book, which delves into some of the Georgeist views on land taxation.
(The first chapter is free.)
It’s interesting, if not persuasive. I’m sure that the explanation of commons land will raise some hackles.
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Thank Goddess. I’ve long thought that it’s an incredibly environmentally damaging, weirdly elitist sport.
Here’s hoping the association it’s taken on lately with Trump hastens its spin down the crapper.
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You guys are all so negative. Have you considered even for a minute that whatever he did he did it because he loves America?
/s
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this is one reason i liked sanders for president. he’s never afraid to say taxes are a good thing.
the democrats by and large don’t want to alienate those on the right, especially working class people who see big chunks getting taken out of their already small paychecks, who have to deal with the deliberate insanity of our tax code.
the democrats ceded the argument a long time ago, with bill clinton i think
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The heat of the sun, shining as it does, catching the occasional unfortunate in its glare.
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