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from the fortunes-declining-like-many-other-americans dept.
AlterNet reports
Donald Trump has dropped 92 places in the Forbes list of wealthiest Americans, with the magazine putting his wealth at $3.1bn, down from $3.7bn last year.
[...] Forbes ranked the first billionaire president as the 248th wealthiest person in America. The year before, he was ranked 156th.
As a candidate, Trump said his net worth was more than $10bn, but Forbes pegged that figure at $4.5bn in September 2015. By Forbes' estimates, Trump's wealth has fallen 31% in two years.
According to Forbes' story:
It was another record year for the wealthiest people in America, as the price of admission to the country's most exclusive club jumped nearly 18% to $2 billion. Even at these new heights, entrepreneurs are breaking into the ranks for the first time as they mint fortunes in everything from telecom to booze to fishing. There were 22 newcomers, 14 of whom are self-made entrepreneurs. Among the most notable: Arizona iced tea cofounder Don Vultaggio; Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings; Tito Beveridge, the creator of Tito's Handmade Vodka; Chuck Bundrant, whose Trident Seafoods sells his fish to places like McDonald's and Burger King; and Rocco Commisso, founder of cable TV and broadband firm Mediacom and owner of the New York Cosmos, a soccer club based in Brooklyn.
The most notable loser was President Donald Trump, whose fortune fell $600 million to $3.1 billion. A tough New York real estate market, particularly for retail locations; a costly lawsuit and an expensive presidential campaign all contributed to the declining fortune of the 45th president.
If you prefer, you can just go straight to the list [Edit - that requires JS from www.forbes.com and i.forbesimg.com, JS-phobes can get just the raw numbers here -- FP].
In November, some thought that having a successful businessman at the helm would cure USA's ills. I wonder if this will increase the incidence of buyer's remorse among voters.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Thursday October 19 2017, @03:50PM (4 children)
Jimmy Carter's failing was not that he was not smart enough, but that he expected the rest of DC to follow his example of intelligent, moral collaboration. Of course that failed because DC is a wretched hive of scum and villainy.
An engineer who understood that and had the will to cleanse that place with fire would tower above any other American in history. They'd pile up granite higher than Mt. McKinley to carve a giant statue of him.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @04:48PM (1 child)
But to accomplish that such a president would have to vastly abuse their power and would likely destroy everything. How do you go from dictator / coup back to democracy?
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday October 19 2017, @07:57PM
Not necessarily. Under the system we have we'd need such a person taking office with a posse in Congress with sufficient discipline and skill to drive a decisive agenda. If that agenda aimed squarely at really taking down the status quo, it would be enormously popular and successful with the American people. Congress has a single-digit approval rating, so they're hanging by a thread as it is.
The model I have in mind is a technocrat like Bloomberg. I had bones to pick with the guy, but he was one of the more effective leaders I've seen in America in my lifetime. He managed to move the needle in a very entrenched, corrupt political culture in the country's largest city, and he did it with a relative lack of controversy (compare, for example, with Rudy Giuliani's time as mayor).
Short of a revolution, something like that is required to keep America from coming apart at the seams and breathe new life into this democracy.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday October 19 2017, @07:13PM (1 child)
I don't think we're disagreeing very much.
Can't help but notice the cultural concept of the nerd was invented and pushed hard in the 70s possibly precisely to prevent someone capable of fixing things from rising to power and "draining the swamp", which might be seen as an endorsement of the theory, by the system.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday October 19 2017, @07:58PM
Well TPTB can't allow governance according to the data when the data is so damning, right? Because that's exactly the kind of governance a nerd/engineer/technocrat is wont to do.
Washington DC delenda est.