[jjeaff]

Well, he didn't exactly have the money. He borrowed $20k from his father in law and used $5k from his own military savings.

No small sum I suppose. (around $300k adjusted for inflation). But also not a "small million dollar loan". ($4 million inflation adjusted even IF it were true.)

But Sam's real story is not the rags to riches. It the brilliant and hard work that took him from riches to extraordinary success.

[throwaway84742]

Dude turned that million dollar loan into $140M though. People tend to omit that part for some reason.

[jjeaff]

As did absolutely anyone and everyone who had money invested in Manhattan Real estate at the time. Trumps real business record is abysmal with a few gambles that paid off and it appears purely due to luck.

Additionally, when his father died, all that money was passed down. Had that amount of money been put in the S&P 500 at the time, trump would be far richer today.

[throwaway84742]

When you turn a few million dollars into $4.5B you can come here and talk about “abysmal” records and stuff. With very few exceptions, any businessman would give their first born to have an abysmal record of this kind, and _then_ top it off by becoming POTUS.

[mlloyd]

Because only 1% of the country can get a $1MM loan to start.

[throwaway84742]

0.001% of the country can multiply it hundred fold over the course of a few years. I have a million just sitting around in equities. I don’t know how to do it.