Tag: Musings

CAN TRUMP SALVAGE HIS BRAND?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

In his inflated claims to self-worth, Donald J. Trump likes to include a category of “goodwill,” meaning, well, nothing tangible. While he puts his value at $10 billion, more realistic voices put it at no more than $4 billion, and that’s assuming he’s not leveraged in debt to the hilt. After watching one after another of his enterprises go kaput – from airlines to casinos to steaks and vodka (oh, another Russian connection? gee whiz!) – he’s turned increasingly to name value alone. Many of those buildings with his name attached, it turns out, aren’t owned by him at all. The real owners just rent his name in exchange for, oh, well, something. How much longer can this game continue? Well, until the name and its sterling impression are deflated.

Believe me, more and more Trump is an elusive “brand,” based as much on his television-show posturing as anything. Successful businessman? Not as the stories of his failures, shady practices, and legal cases mount up. More and more, the question is what or who’s behind the cutout cardboard figure.

In the old days, we would have said this was nothing more than “image,” presumed status, or even a mirage in the distance. As the details pile up, a different portrait emerges. Call it showman or huckster, if you wish. It’s anything but a successful businessman whose word was good as gold. Quite the contrary.

As his bid for the White House encounters one disaster after another, and all of his brashness is returned in full measure, there’s reason to ask just where he’s heading. Where is his escape?

Or, more accurately, can he somehow salvage his brand?

I’m rather dubious. If his base turns out to be aging white males on the losing end of the spectrum, I doubt it. I just don’t see advertisers lining up for that. He’s the wrong demographic for most products. Hell, from what I’ve read, even Rush Limbaugh’s in trouble there.

One thing I’ll assume. Trump won’t believe his low ratings there any more than he trusts the polling surveys now or ballot tallies in November.

What would you do in his place?

A FONDNESS FOR CONSPIRACY THEORIES

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

American political history from the early-’60s on is filled with crucial catastrophes that leave too many lingering questions.

I could make a list but will leave that to others.

The fact is, even the crackpots who closely examine the topic of their choice often leave us with fascinating perspectives. Even without the smoking gun, you can follow the hoof prints off toward the horizon .

Makes for some intriguing reading, fact or fiction. Or some dangerous blending in between.

LOOKING FOR THE WIZARD OF OZ ANEW, BACK IN KANSAS

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Governor Sam Brownback and his Kansas colleagues are demonstrating how bankrupt their conservative ideology proves in practice. It’s a disastrous experiment. When will the GOP realize those theories really are voodoo?

Maybe they’ll find a philanthropic billionaire to bail out the Cornhusker state. One who would say, “Here, rather than a campaign donation, I’ll aim my PAC at cleaning up the mess you’ve made.”

Or just buy it up in the impending fire sale. It might make a nice ranch for the weekend.

Just don’t ask about the soaring price of wheat that would follow.

HILLARY’S BIG CHANCE

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

“Just Shut It Down,” as the Huffington Post headlined its link to the New York Times report on the Clinton Foundation’s international dealings. As the Times’ investigation published this weekend explained, “Foundation Ties Bedevil Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Campaign.”

Well, we are bound to controversy arising from a conflux of money, sexual rights, and power here, one way or another, even if the Clintons weren’t involved. Big finances are typically a touchy and often tangled subject. Still, no matter how noble some of its causes or programs, the foundation casts an inky shadow on Hillary’s presidential ambitions as a result of the potential political access its large donors may gain in return for their largess. It’s especially troubling when the contributors are nations the State Department has criticized for their records on sex discrimination and other civil rights issues.

The Clintons are likely to get nowhere in their attempts to justify their decisions and actions regarding the foundation. Explanations will simply fuel more suspicions. Best to break the ties, now – fast. Do it right, and Hillary will look statesmanlike. Besides, she’d be daring Trump to do something equally as brave and self-effacing, knowing full well he won’t or can’t. One move and she’d break free from the controversy, make its contentions past history, show she can make a bold move as a declaration of freedom and trustworthiness. Her critics would be reduced to pitiful whimpering.

Besides, now that the Clintons are free from their legal debts inflicted by the Republicans’ impeachment efforts, Bill and Hillary don’t really need the income, do they? They should be well off as is, especially if they return to the White House residence early next year.

I have no idea of the mechanics involved in shutting down a foundation or transferring its assets, but there must be guidelines. Let’s keep our eyes open for the upcoming stories.

LUCKY WINNER

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

As I said at the time, back in the days before those e-mails from Nigeria or other wealthy countries filled my spam filter:

I’d just received another three or four packages in the mail informing me I’m the lucky winner of prizes worth millions and millions of dollars if I only respond promptly.

What I still want to know is why these folks get the cheap third-class mailing rate — the one that costs about a third of what children have to pay to send correspondence to their pen pals or their grandparents.

If they’re so fabulously rich that they can offer to give such wealth away, why don’t they relieve the U.S. Postal Service of some of its burden—rather than piling on it? From the looks of it, they should be able to deliver by Express Mail — or even come directly to our doorsteps.

Or is that why it’s called third class?

(As I said then:) The postal rate increases are so reflective of federal government thinking these days. It’s another case of soaking the average citizen and giving the richest clients the biggest breaks.

Very truly yours …

 

SO MUCH FOR THE SELF-UNMADE MAN

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 4 Comments

The anarchists posing as conservatives seem to believe they can go it alone when the new Dark Ages arrive.

Really? How are you going to pay for bullets? Who’s going to print and back up this thing we call money? Gold’s only a glimmer of what’s needed, especially if you’re starving in a famine.

Who’s going to refine your oil? Maintain your highways? Even if you think you’ll be all off-road travel, just wait till you hit a river. (Bridges are costly to build and maintain.) Or cross someone’s fortified fields. Or run into the Chinese army taking over.

The way you’re headed, an arrow and slingshot will be your ultimate weapon in the rubble of what we’ve known as civilization.

I’m praying we’re smarter than that. And like Woodpecker, I’m getting a lot angrier than I’d like.

TEA PARTY ANARCHY

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

The more I listen, the more I perceive the Tea Party agenda is ultimately an attack on democracy in America. Unlike the Founding Fathers, they have no respect for the necessity of government.

And, be assured, a position of no compromise is the essence of tyrannical dictatorship.

What’s left would be brutal and cruel. Especially, for many of them, without their Social Security, in the aftermath.

And they’re afraid of socialism as an attack on the nation and its values? Think again.

ANOTHER ECONOMICS POLICY QUESTION

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

What if the One Percent moved out of the United States? Where would they go that wouldn’t tax them heavily? Much more heavily than here? Or where they wouldn’t gain so much from the public purse?

Or would they just huddle behind their own Big Wall – a much cheaper option than the one proposed for the southwest corner of the United States.

I presume they’d still be relying on our dollars, too. The kind the Treasury prints.

Besides, they couldn’t take all their assets with them. This is where their wealth’s generated, after all. Really. Even when their banks are Swiss.

As for the lunatic fringe? They would have real reasons to worry. Who else would back them, financially?