No wonder Donald Trump thinks it would be OK to default on the National Debt. He seems have made his career out of stiffing people:
A USA Today analysis published Thursday uncovered 60 lawsuits by ordinary Americans who say Trump and his businesses failed to pay them for their work.
The list, as you might expect, mostly involves people who were involved in his casino ventures, including bartenders, waiters, plumbers and other contractors.
I guess you don’t get to a “purported” net worth of $4.5 Billion without cutting some corners. Like paying the people who work for you.
But most people who actually work for a living will tell you there’s nothing quite as infuriating as expending your precious time and money only to be handed a piece of paper through a metal-barred gate saying that the company that you hired has gone out of business and you are never going to get paid. See ya!
Too bad, sucker! What’s that gesture you make with your thumb to your nose, where you wag your fingers at someone? That’s apparently Trump’s modus operandi, according to USA Today:
- More than 200 liens since the 1980s that were filed by contractors and workers who said they were stiffed.
- Records released by casino regulators in 1990 that show 253 subcontractors on a single project were not paid in full or on time.
- Twenty-four Fair Labor Act violations by the Trump Plaza casino and Trump Mortgage for failure to pay minimum wage or overtime. The cases were resolved with an agreement to pay back wages.
Take Mike Diehl, a piano dealer who probably thought he had hit the jackpot landing a contract to supply pianos to Trump’s Taj Mahal:
The small businessman said he won a bid in 1989 to supply $100,000 worth of grand pianos to Trump's Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City but was still waiting to be paid months after delivery. The gambling mecca finally told him it ran into financial difficulties and could only give him 70 cents on the dollar.
Diehl, 88, told NBC News that even though he held up his end of the contract, he felt he had no choice but to take the discounted payment and lose $30,000 — or about a third of his yearly income.
Trump’s excuse appears to be that everyone he chose not to pay did “inferior work.” But the article cites the example of Paul and Ed Friel whose family company was awarded a $400,000.00 contract to build desks, bars and slot machine bases for one of Trump’s casinos. After they had completed the entire job Trump and his brother called them into an office to tell them their work was inferior and they were going to withhold the last payment, amounting to $83,000.00. Oh, and by the way, no hurt feelings-- their company was welcome to work on future projects.
So many contractors, so much “substandard” work. That’s the cost of doing business, right?
Well, no. There are plenty of legal measures you can take if you think the work you receive is substandard. You can have that claim evaluated in a court of law, which gives all of the parties the opportunity to present their side, and have a jury weigh the merits.
Or you can just stiff them and bury them in legal fees if they try to sue you:
The actions in total paint a portrait of Trump’s sprawling organization frequently failing to pay small businesses and individuals, then sometimes tying them up in court and other negotiations for years. In some cases, the Trump teams financially overpower and outlast much smaller opponents, draining their resources. Some just give up the fight, or settle for less; some have ended up in bankruptcy or out of business altogether.
The USA Today in-depth investigation paints as textbook-worthy picture of abusive business practices by Trump as can possibly be imagined, and a penchant for instigating or escalating lawsuits worthy of the Church of Scientology:
[T]the lawsuits show Trump’s organization wages Goliath vs David legal battles over small amounts of money that are negligible to the billionaire and his executives — but devastating to his much-smaller foes.
Trump stiffed the Friels and it cost them their family business, which had existed since the 1940’s:
Paul Friel said his father was a conservative Republican and would be appalled by Trump's political success if he were still alive.
"He would be embarrassed that Donald Trump is actually going to be the nominee for president for the Republican Party in 2016."
He wouldn’t be the only one who’s embarrassed.
