Patton: Trump's Business Dealings Undermine Workers

Government has long neglected the economic plight of the middle-class worker whose wages have remained stagnant as money flowed upward to the ultra-rich. At last, the patience of blue-collar men and women grew thin, and in this election cycle more than a few choose Donald Trump as their champion. To their way of thinking, his wealth and shrewd business dealings showed that Trump has the ability create jobs for them and increase workers' standard of living.

However, as Benny Hill used to say on his old television program, "Never 'assume' too much" or you will make and 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me.' Is Donald Trump really on the side of middle class workers and small business owners? Let's consider the facts.

On July 6, presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton spoke in Atlantic City, New Jersey, a city that was long a center for Trump's businesses. Said Hillary, "We're standing in front of the old Trump Plaza Casino and Hotel. Donald Trump once predicted, 'It will be the biggest hit yet.' Now, it's abandoned. You can just make out the word 'TRUMP' where it used to be written in flashy lights. He had the letters taken down a few years ago.

"But his presence remains. And not far from here is the old Trump Marina Hotel Casino. A few years ago, it was sold at a huge loss.

"Just down the boardwalk is the Trump Taj Mahal. Donald once called it 'The Eighth Wonder of the World.' It filed for bankruptcy in 2009. Things got so bad, the new management canceled workers' health insurance and pensions."

Not only Hillary, but the media take a dim view of Trump's business dealings in Atlantic City. Excellent investigative work by Hallie Jackson, Hannah Rappleye, and Talesha Reynolds of NBC News (07/10/16) led to two contractors who had suffered major financial losses at the hands of Trump.

Paul Friel reports "his family's cabinetry firm won a $400,000 contract to build desks, bars and slot-machine bases at Trump Plaza in the 1980s . . .

"After they finished and the general contractor approved the work, the company submitted its final bill. Paul and his father Edward were summoned to the casino for a meeting with Trump and his brother, Robert, who told them the work was inferior and they wouldn't get the last payment of $83,600.

"Donald Trump told Edward Friel he could still work on future projects, said Paul Friel, adding that the invitation undercut the argument that the work was not satisfactory . . .

"It was the beginning of the end for us," he told NBC News, adding that his father never got over the loss. 'It hurt him right up until he died nine years ago. He was not proud to be involved with Donald Trump.'"

Friel isn't alone in his complaints. Michael Diehl, a 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.

"I needed the money because the manufacturers needed to be paid," he said. "It hurt. It was hard to get over."

Impressive investigative reporting by Steve Reilly of USA Today (06/09/16) led him to this conclusion: "A half-decade after the Friels' encounter, in 1990, as Trump neared the opening of his third Atlantic City casino, he was once again attempting to pay contractors less than he owed. In casino commission records of an audit, it was revealed that Trump's companies owed $69.5 million to 253 contractors on the Taj Mahal project. Some had already sued Trump, the state audit said, others were negotiating with Trump to try to recover what they could. The companies and their hundreds of workers had installed walls, chandeliers, plumbing, lighting and even the casino's trademark minarets."

Hillary Clinton summarizes Trump's business dealings in Atlantic City. "many of those lawsuits were filed by ordinary Americans who worked for Donald Trump and never got paid. Painters, waiters, plumbers - people who needed the money they earned, and didn't get it - not because Donald Trump couldn't pay, but because he wouldn't pay."

So, if working men and women today think that Trump was successful, they are correct. However, when all is said and done, the one who made money was Trump, not the workers. They lost money at the hands of Trump. I suggest that aggrieved workers look elsewhere than Donald Trump for their salvation.

Gary Patton is the author of two books, Selling Mt. Washington, a political satire, and Outtastatahs: Newcomers' Adventures in New Hampshire, a work of regional humor.