(06-15-2017 06:49 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  Where was that allegation?
The author actually explicitly state that no purchases in the recent period with increased LLC purchases significantly exceeded the market value.

"Anyone who wanted to court favor with the President could snap up multiple properties or purposefully overpay, without revealing their identity publicly."

So, we didn't actually find anything to support the idea that was happening, but that isn't going to prevent us from saying that it could happen. We're just going to suggest the possibility, without actually saying it. Good, nice and honest there.

Quote:This is why I kept saying they did a fairly fair job of evaluating the situation. This is a piece that points out an interesting trend that the public should be aware of, and provides a decent amount of background on that data, and does some digging into the questions you have.
That's why I keep saying this isn't some article damning Trump as has been suggested. It's critical of the practice because of its potential for corruption. I mean, would you argue that this isn't a method that could be used to launder or funnel money to someone to curry favor?

If you're willing to agree that it's rarely done for those nefarious purposes, that there are other reasonable and more compelling reasons for so doing, and that it appears from every indication that these transactions were done that way for one of those other more reasonable and compelling reasons, yes. But if that's the case, why even make the suggestion in the article?

Thinking about it, in view of the additional information, the article is even more disingenuous than I had originally thought. "Here are some nefarious things that might happen. They didn't happen in this case, but don't forget that they might."

My overall impression is that the authors have precious little subject matter knowledge or integrity, were sent to do a hatchet job, and did one to the best of their ability.