Trump tower Manila?

I've been avoiding much of the US campaign mud slinging, and know little or nothing about Trump: like most of those in the Democrat overseas in Manila, we backed Bernie, because he is honest and defended the little people.

So what did Trumpie boy do?

wikipedia article here.

It lists involvement in 515 subsidiaries and entities with 264 of them bearing Trump's name and another 54 including his initials.[12] With investments within the United States and globally, The Trump Organization spans a wide variety of industries including real estate, construction, hospitality, entertainment, book and magazine publishing, media, model management, retail, financial services, board game development, food and beverages, business education, online travel, airlines, helicopter air services and beauty pageants

of course, these are legaTrump seems to be a "wheeler dealer"....And I'm sure if you dug you'd find a few shady business practices, but I'd like to see an article that put his whole enterprise into perspective.

But 500 plus businesses mean that the list of his half dozen "failures" we often see tweeted around the internet must be put into perspective. And about his jobs created "overseas": Well, if he is a smart businessman he should have done this.

Yet doesn't this mean that he has some expertise in foreign relations, and knows a bit about these places?

and one wonders, how many jobs did he create?

CNN Business says 34,000, but then goes on to point out snarkily that many of these jobs were calculated from his businesses which are "job multipliers".


Polifact article spins it that he has exported jobs overseas,  and includes a quote from a local Democrat:

"Now, while Donald trump has a long history of exporting jobs overseas, I know that Tim Kaine and Hillary Clinton will bring back good-paying jobs right here to Milwaukee. They will crack down on countries that cheat, like China. We need a vice president and a president who will go to bat for Wisconsin businesses, not look to send more jobs overseas."

not answered in the article: Why didn't President Obama do this?

This was one point that Bernie Sanders pointed out many times.

The Vermont senator, who has been critical of Obama and called out Clinton for constantly aligning herself so closely to the president, said trade deals for decades under both Democratic and Republican leadership have been “an unmitigated disaster.”

ironically, if you read the whole article, Polifact admits Trump didn't move US jobs overseas:

Creating jobs overseas rather than in the United States -- yes. Moving existing U.S. jobs overseas -- no.

but you know if you are a competitive business man you have to play with the rules, which right now push business to invest in jobs elsewhere, and let places like China get away with not playing by the rules.

And by running a business, I suspect Trump has a lot more experience at business reality than with how it is done in academia. One is reminded of this:




I found this "factoid" interesting:  his grandmother as a widow started the company.

Elizabeth Christ Trump, grandmother of Donald Trump, founded Elizabeth Trump & Son in 1923 with her son Fred Trump who was 18 at the time.[19][20][21] Elizabeth and her husband Frederick Trump had moved to the borough of Queens in 1906 where her husband began developing real estate. In 1918, however, he died of influenza leaving an estate valued at $31,359 ($492,016 in 2016 dollars)[22]

The Inquirer has this story on the new "Trump Tower" being built in Manila. (in Makati, the financial center of Manila, where all the "hip" people live, with lots of high class restaurants and a gay-friendly subculture). This one is not Trump's but run by his son under the Trump logo and the Century city group.

“By bringing the Trump brand to the country, Century Properties is introducing a global standard of excellence, quality and high luxury, making it a new international destination for luxury living,” said Robbie Antonio, Century Properties managing director and the development’s project head. 

not just offices but 250 apartments:
looks like it will attract a lot of rich folks to live there, including retirees who otherwise would move overseas to live in comfort and safety, and people with expertise who could stimulate the economy.

presumably he'd get a bigger press if he donated money to build housing for the poor, and will get negative publicity when a reporter discovers that he is paying a pittance (i.e. the usual salary) to those doing menial jobs etc. at these places.

But unlike experts, I have no opinion, since I tend to live quietly and simply and have always worked in poorer areas left behind by globalization.

The dirty little secret is that globalization, for all it's problems, has brought prosperity and raised more people out of dire poverty in the last century than all the do gooders in the world.

Knowing this, it makes me less likely to posit utopia.


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Other Philippine news: Duterte heard God's voice
 on an airplane that told him to stop cursing.

Well, that didn't last long.

and this story has implications beyond the Philippines: not just kidnapping by the Abus, which discourages tourism and investment, but the recent increase in piracy that threatens sea traffic in the Malacca strait.

From an economic and strategic perspective, the Strait of Malacca is one of the most important shipping lanes in the world. The strait is the main shipping channel between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, linking major Asian economies such as India, China, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. Over 94,000 vessels[2] pass through the strait each year,[3] carrying about one-fourth of the world's traded goods, including oil, Chinese manufactured products, and Indonesian coffee.

Let Duterte and Asians take care of their own problems for a change.