From: newsmax.com, by Cathy Burke, on Jun 1, 2016, see the article HERE.
Garnet92: For those of you who aren’t familiar with Mark Cuban, he’s the outspoken owner of our Dallas Mavericks NBA basketball team. He’s also a billionaire. There’ll be more about him in my closing commentary.
Businessman Mark Cuban says he’s got doubts about Donald Trump’s actual wealth, suggesting he’s not really a billionaire — and that some of his investments appear to be “desperate.”
In a radio interview on 77 WABC’s “Bernie and Sid” show Wednesday, the outspoken billionaire said Trump’s lack of financial transparency makes it difficult to determine just how rich he is.
“I know what I’m good at, and I know what I’m not good at,” the owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks said. “I’m not so sure Donald knows what he’s not good at.”
Cuban conceded, however, Trump excelled at “branding real estate” and hotels.
“He’s good at that. Whether or not that’s made him a billionaire, I don’t know,” Cuban said.
“He’s not transparent enough for us to really know,” he continued, adding that he went over Trump’s Federal Election Commission filings and found the real estate mogul, “like all of us,” is “horrible” in some areas.
“I think he’s good at real estate, I do give him a lot of credit there,” Cuban said. “I think he’s good at branding real estate. I don’t think he’s very good at brands for non-real estate products. And, to me, it’s more of a reflection of desperation.”
“So when you’re putting your name on steaks, and you’re putting your name on water, you’re putting your name on playing cards, you’re putting your name on all this nonsense, right? You’re not gonna make big bucks, no matter what,” Cuban said. “It’s not like Trump Steaks were gonna make him $100 million. It’s not like they were gonna make him $5 million.”
“I asked, ‘What the hell are you doing?'” Cuban continued. “‘Are you that desperate for money?’ Seriously,” Cuban said.
“He just doesn’t have that ability to say ‘no’ to someone who’s going to write him a check,” he added. “And that’s a problem.”
At the end of the interview, Cuban also declared he was richer than Trump.
“[He’s] not even close,” he said. “Before all the Trumpians jump on me on who has more money, the reason I know is when you file your Federal Election Campaign reports, you have to list all your cash and liquid securities and bonds. You have to list them one by one. So we know without any question that as of May 27, Donald doesn’t have more than $165 million in cash and securities and bonds.”
“And trust me, I’ve got a lot of more than that in cash, securities, and bonds,” Cuban said. “And so you know, I’m willing to bet dimes against dollars that that’s pretty much what he’s got.”
~~~~~~~~~~
I LOVE THIS! Mark Cuban calling out Donald Trump and saying that he might not really be a billionaire – them’s fighting words to The Donald!
And there’s no one else I’d love to see mix it up with His Trumpness. Mark would deck his sorry orange ass if he gets too much out of hand. Trump’s usual tactic of humiliation and intimidation won’t work with someone who’s just as rich and is not prone to backing down from a fight. The thing is – they’re a lot alike. There’s no telling what Cuban will say – including to NBA officials. Here’s a statement that sums it up nicely: “Cuban has been fined by the NBA, mostly for critical statements about the league and referees, at least $1.665 million for 13 incidents.” So, yes, he occasionally pops off (like Trump), but his statements and comments are genuine sentences and make logical sense – as opposed to Trump’s rantings.
Mark is a bit of a running joke here in Dallas – mostly because of his mouth, but he does have some good traits. For example, he wears a Maverick jersey and sits with the fans at all games – not in an owner’s box – he sits with the fans. Interestingly, he bought the majority stake in the Mavericks from H. Ross Perot (remember him?). He also founded the Fallen Patriot Fund to help families of U.S. military personnel killed or injured during the Iraq War.
Anyway, I hope that Trump tweets some disparaging remarks about Cuban – I’d love to see that Twitter fight between the billionaires. My money is on Cuban.
Garnet92.
Categories: Political
Pesky Truth 
That would probably be one interesting twitter fight, for sure.
We’ve become a nation that believes the ability to make money is equivalent to the special qualities that it takes to be the most powerful public servant of the country. That’s sad.
LikeLike
I will admit that there was a time that I thought that having someone who had been successful in the business world would be beneficial. Being a retired businessman myself, I figured that someone who fully understood the revenue/expense mandate familiar to all business operators would be a positive attribute in a CEO of the largest and most wasteful enterprise on the continent. And, I still think that it would be a very beneficial experience for him/her to have – especially controlling expenses.
But, it became apparent to me during the current president’s reign, that NOTHING is more important than character and a firm belief in the Constitution and Bill of Rights as guiding principles. Compared to business experience, Constitutional governance wins by a landslide.
At no time have those two alternatives been more in opposition than the 2016 Republican presidential primary fight.
We had a businessman (Trump), totally devoid of character and oblivious to even the most basic tenets of our Constitutional Republic and on the other hand (Cruz), a man who historically was committed to the Constitution even as a schoolboy. And his character, notwithstanding the lies and insults from Trump, has evidenced itself as honest, steadfast, and committed to his beliefs. The two couldn’t be more different.
And yet, look at who won the nomination.
While it’s true that being successful in business does require above average capabilities in several disciplines, honesty and character (obviously) are not requirements – for a president, they should be prerequisites.
LikeLike
During his campaign we’ve learned how important it is to him that people ‘be nice’ to him. That’s how he grades people – if they’re nice to him, he’s nice in return – at least until they cross him, so I don’t think it’s so much desperation for the money, although that’s likely a factor, but he loves to be wanted. You can almost hear him telling his fans how those people sought him out because they wanted his name on their product or in their store, etc. just fill in the blank here. That’s what drives him to slap his logo on everything.
Trump always talks about what he’s worth as opposed to cash on hand, so I’d bet Cuban’s right too. If Trump does take to Twitter, his shots at Mark will be petty ones like wearing T-shirts to games or some such nonsense, because he can’t argue the main points with him – not without demanding proof, and that’s the last thing he wants to produce for the public eye.
LikeLike
You’re right Kathy, that is the only consistent thing about Trump – you’re either fer him or you’re agin him – he’s constantly using the “carrot and stick” approach with everyone. Notice which vet group got the most money? The one that gave him an award.
He uses accolades and insults as if they were currency and rewards those who praise him with favorable comments in return. That’s why I hope to see a Twitter war develop between Trump and Cuban. But, I guess Trump doesn’t want to poke Cuban with a pointy stick when Cuban can hit back just as hard and just as quickly.
LikeLike
You’re both exactly right. Putin has figured out Trump, very quickly. Just throw the pathetic man a little praise, and he’s putty in Putin’s hand.
Since Putin praised Trump, Trump thinks Putin can do no wrong. Trump was panting like a lonesome lap dog over praise from Putin:
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-continues-embrace-putin-n482496
Trump’s attacks on his fellow Republican candidates were downright vicious, but Putin is swell, as far as Trump is concerned. Trump even brushed off criticism of Putin for bumping off unfriendly journalists and political adversaries, saying, “Our country does plenty of killing also.”
Read that again. Think about what Trump said. If you’re not horrified yet, then read it a third time.
Even Hillary would never say such a thing. Even Barack Obama would not say such a thing.
Would even Michelle Obama say such a thing?
Listen to him (the clip is just one minute):
http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/trump–putin-is-a-leader–unlike-our-president-588186691983
That sounds like something that Jeremiah Wright would say!
It makes me want to vomit.
If a Democrat were to say such a thing, conservatives would be united in demanding an apology, or resignation.
How can Trump get a way with that? How can anyone imagine that Donald Trump is a conservative? How can he talk about his country that way?? How can anyone imagine that he’s qualified to be President???
LikeLike
Is Trump’s new strip-club not profitable?
“‘We feel this is the third leg of the Atlantic City triangle: gambling, alcohol, and adult entertainment,’ said Bob Gans, the club’s managing partner. ‘It’s a natural.'”
http://web.archive.org/web/20130830053327/http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20130827_Taj_looking_to_score_with_a_strip_club.html
LikeLike
I dunno Dave, a strip club does seem appropriate for Trump – especially one that doesn’t feature full exposure. Seems like Trump is a human equivalent – there’s no full exposure coming from him either – everything he says is somewhat obscured by rhetorical pasties and g-strings. We never get to see what’s really there.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Brilliant comment!
LikeLike
I’ve said from the beginning that Trump is undeniably rich, very rich. But not THAT rich! I’d think he is less than a Billionaire in net cash out of all his assets. Nothing to sneeze at, mind you, but far less than his braggadocious claims.
Which leads to the 2nd question, Why? I’m not certain that “desperation” is the proper word, nut not being Trump’s psychoanalyst, and, boy does he need one, that description is as good as any. Rebranding bottled water as Trump Water?? Hell, Garnet, any one of us can do the same thing by slapping labels on a generic bottle of H2O. And after marketing expense, how much net profit can be realized? Not much from a rich man’s view, like Cuban says. So, Why?
It does reek of desperation, for petty cash flow, or for name recognition, due to a lack of confidence in self worth, or the like. It is sad and pitiable actually, yet we are on the verge of placing a man of such apparent psychological fragility in the highest office with access to the nuclear codes?? REALLY??
LikeLike
Trump has been in financial difficulties before. Even with a large list of assets, he was (and may be now) cash poor. A week or two ago, I looked up the relative positions of Trump and Cuban on the list of billionaires (I think it was a Forbes list) and Trump was a few positions ahead of Cuban. But Cuban has apparently seen more of the detail of Trump’s FEC filings than I have and that ought to give him some justification to make his statement.
We all know how jealously Trump guards his true wealth and for Cuban to call him out on it was music to my ears. I believe, as you said, that Trump isn’t nearly as wealthy as he boasts and that’s another reason that he doesn’t want his tax filings released. I’d love to see how he would spin overestimating his wealth if/when the public finally gets a look. That would be entertaining!
I also especially liked your choice of words referencing Trump’s “psychological fragility” – good way to describe it.
LikeLike