Business
Trumped Up - continued
By Rod Filbrandt published Apr 1, 2009
In these troubled times, who dares to follow the Donald on his Way to Wealth™?
“Is he going to talk about Surrey?” a man in front of me asks his friend. What does he think this is, some kind of seminar? Sorry, buddy—it’s a sales pitch, and here comes the hard sell. Brown goes into overdrive, demanding that people who are truly, truly serious about making money stand up and take their chequebooks to the sign-up table in back. Despite the fact that he was only minutes earlier preaching deception, he convinces about a dozen to take the walk, most conspicuously a beaming Gordie McHockey kind of guy who seems to think he’s won a T-bone at a meat draw.
Are there no casinos? Are there no lottery kiosks? Perhaps it’s simply some persisting notion of the North American dream at work here—bigger, faster, louder, more—in which platitude-spouting cartoon characters like Dr. Phil and Donald Trump are your teachers, where wealth plus media visibility equals wisdom.
A Trump University “enrollment” sets you back $2,195 for a weekend “wealth-building” seminar where, according to former and would-be Trump U. scholars on Epinions.com, you get another pitch for the software and the mentor program upgrade. I may not know my asset from a hole in the ground, but I can certainly spot the real wealth-building going on here, the real secret recipe. It’s not even costing them any gold paint.
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It’s no secret that the economy is taking a slowdown. Economy is melting down, the good side is it is recovering. Supply follows demand, that's how economics work – and there are few exceptions; one of them is not payday lending. Often, one of the criticisms of payday lending is the location of payday lenders, and often pawn shops as well. A recent Federal Reserve study, headed by Robin Prager, found that second tier lenders go to areas where most people don't have the credit to access bank loans – that means that supply is following demand, and the market is working. IT'S NATURE AT WORK – not predation. Instead of concerning yourself with payday lending and payday loans, why don't you concern yourself with alleviating poverty – you know, find a solution that has something to do with the problem.
