Over the long holiday weekend, I admittedly, paid far
more attention to the tenderness quotients of burgers, hot dogs and several
choice rib eye steaks, than the succession crisis that is not only affecting
the accounting profession, but the country as a whole.
I rationalized that the shortened work week would come
soon enough.
And then one of the most annoying and ego-driven human
beings on the planet went and spoiled my Monday morning as I tried to relax
with a steaming oversized cup of French roast and my requisite trio of morning
newspapers.
It seems Donald Trump has reportedly spent more than $1
million on electoral research as he contemplates a Presidential run in 2016. According
to no one but him, The Donald has become a sought-after speaker at Republican
events and tells anyone that will listen that he’s continually being asked to
run for President.
My question for him is exactly who is asking? Not me or
anyone else I know. As a lifelong GOPer, he’s a person that I would not want to
see within three area codes of The Oval Office.
Think we have people who more or less take liberties with
the truth in the administration now? How about a potential candidate who’s lied
multiple times in interviews about having filed bankruptcy?
The Donald along with his incredulous pompadour sat stone
faced in front of a top business reporter and said he had never once filed for
Chapter 11? Well, he’s right, he never filed ONCE but rather FOUR times – in
1991, 1992, 2004, and again in 2008 – two of which I covered in my former life.
In the early 1990s he called for the dismissal of a
financial analyst who properly labeled his Trump Taj Mahal property in Atlantic
City a house of cards if you’ll pardon the pun. The analyst eventually won a
$750K settlement and the hotel was forced to undergo a series of restructurings
to prevent a foreclosure.
Aside from appending his ubiquitous surname on nearly
every piece of property imaginable, he might be the only person on the planet
who employs the pronoun “I” more than the current occupant of White House such
as “As you know I own the largest winery in Virginia.” Actually, he bought it
at a foreclosure auction from the widow of telecommunications magnate John
Kluge as opposed to any tangible skills as an oenophile.
Space and time prevents me from dissecting the now
deceased lifecycles of such services and products as Trump Air, the United
States Football League and Trump bottled water.
His political knowledge and long range solutions are about
as deep as the jacket cover on his tome: The America We Deserve.”
The Internal Revenue Code?
"Its complexity bleeds off billions of productive
hours. Tax rates are too high. Hidden taxes take even more. High property taxes
punish people for improving their property."
Wow! Having covered the profession for 12 years, I don’t
recall any tax manager or partner at a CPA firm being smart enough to ever
discern that.
His solution to help pay down the national debt as well
as boost the Social Security Trust Fund?
How about a 14.25 percent one-time tax on those with a
net worth over $10 million? That, contends The Donald, will result in $5.7
trillion of new revenue, a proposal that's already had more dents hammered into
it than a golf cart at a driving range.
Medicare?
"I would let them [the Democrats] make the first
move," he once told an interviewer.
Before this unfunny charade goes any farther, the GOP
should politely take him aside and politely explain that he’s not the answer in
2016.
And in the event he still doesn’t get it – the phrase
“You’re Fired” quickly comes to mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment