"I Make the Best Deals..."

The question, of course, is for whom. If you guessed "the American people" or "those who voted for Mr. T", thanks for playing but you loose, and there is no consolation prize. 

This week the new Trump hotel just down the street from the White House...

just held an event last week pitching foreign diplomatic delegations on moving their business to Trump's hotel. From a write up in The Washington Post ...To many of the guests at the reception Tuesday, accepting an invitation to tour the $212 million hotel and check out the $20,000-a-night, 6,300-square-foot “town house” suite seemed like a good idea. They spoke admiringly about the renovation and left with a goody bag of chocolates and a brochure. It listed the choices of accommodations and meeting rooms and expounded on the location’s “striking prominence” at historical moments such as the Inauguration Day parade...“Why wouldn’t I stay at his hotel blocks from the White House, so I can tell the new president, ‘I love your new hotel!’ Isn’t it rude to come to his city and say, ‘I am staying at your competitor?’ ” said one Asian diplomat.

This is the establishment that offers a $100 signature cocktail, "a concoction of rye, potato, and winter-wheat vodka, shaken and served with raw oysters and caviar."

He's not in office yet but already angling to use the office of the presidency to enrich himself directly. Just about all major players in national politics earn good money from their connections and associations but this takes it to a whole other no-holds-barred level. It's not going to just be the Trumps but also their loyal cronies, of course. One area where Democrats have been making noise about "working with the president elect" is on infrastructure. That sounds reasonable - the roads, bridges & water plants in this country are in generally bad shape. We need to rebuild these things, people need jobs, the economy needs more consumer spending - sounds good, no? Well, maybe not! 

Trump’s plan is not really an infrastructure plan. It’s a tax-cut plan for utility-industry and construction-sector investors, and a massive corporate welfare plan for contractors. The Trump plan doesn’t directly fund new roads, bridges, water systems or airports, as did Hillary Clinton’s 2016 infrastructure proposal. Instead, Trump’s plan provides tax breaks to private-sector investors who back profitable construction projects. These projects (such as electrical grid modernization or energy pipeline expansion) might already be planned or even underway. There’s no requirement that the tax breaks be used for incremental or otherwise expanded construction efforts; they could all go just to fatten the pockets of investors in previously planned projects.

So what is supposed to be a policy for the good of the country is instead a policy for the good of the companies. I think the rule now is if you shake the hand of the new ruling party, you better count your fingers after!