Reason # 42: Stock Tips
Why do we need to defeat Donald Trump and ensure that a Democrat occupies the White House?
In the documentary film “The Smartest Guys in the Room”. There is a dramatic confrontation between California Senator Barbara Boxer and Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling in which she displays video of him urging Enron employees to invest all of their retirement money in company stock. She then points out to him that, at the exact same moment time, Skilling was selling off his own holdings in Enron, in the absolutely certainty that the stock was about to become worthless with the result that employees will lose their entire pensions. Her disgust with such a betrayal of trust and abandonment of company workers is evident. OK, few would dispute that Skilling and Ken Lay were horrible people who deserved to spend years in jail but what does that have to do with Donald Trump? He never worked for Enron.
Patrick Caldwell reported in Mother Jones that executives for Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts (THCR) urged casino workers to invest their retirement money in THCR stock, selling as high as $30/share (average over time around $10). Employees bought more than a million shares. As noted in earlier posts, Trump bungled his grandiose plans for a gambling Mecca in Atlantic City, buying and ultimately losing three giant casinos on the boardwalk. When things fell apart, employees were stuck with almost worthless stock certificates and empty retirement accounts. They sued, but a New Jersey judge dismissed their action. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU00/20200929/111078/HMKP-116-JU00-20200929-SD003.pdf
Trump had to sell off his giant yacht, his airline and major real estate holdings to avoid personal bankruptcy. Although all of the little people, his employees, local businesses who worked with him and investors lost billions of dollars. No wonder THCR ranked last among corporations for employee satisfaction. They also lost their jobs and in some cases their homes. Donald? He bragged that he did just fine. As THCR cratered, he was still paying himself a $2 million salary and claimed that he had made $44 million total on his casino debacle
Now if that story sounds somehow familiar, go back and read the first paragraph again. Where is Barbara Boxer when we need her?
What is the moral of this parable? If Donald Trump offers you an investment inside tip, send it straight to the round file.
Have a heart; use your mind, search your conscience, and vote for Democratic candidates – across the ballot – on November. 5th.
Please share this message with your friends and please, add your thoughts, to expand upon what are only brief sketches here.
Fred Grannis
August 3