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Tem42 comments on Open thread, December 7-13, 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: polymathwannabe 07 December 2015 02:47PM

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Comment author: Tem42 12 December 2015 01:42:48AM -2 points [-]

Trump has brought a big yacht. He doesn't live the frugal life.

This is true, and a good point. But your original point was:

Trump is a billionaire because he's good at dealmaking which is a relevant skill for political campaigning.

Based on this discussion, it looks like Trump is not a billionaire because he is a good at dealmaking. He had multiple ways to become a billionaire (investing in index funds, investing in gold, dealmaking, inventing Facebook).

And as you now point out, he completely failed in utilizing the money; Trump is a billionaire because he was inefficient in finding good ways of exchanging his money for utility. Another area in which I would have outperformed him :-)

Comment author: ChristianKl 12 December 2015 10:44:34AM 1 point [-]

Based on this discussion, it looks like Trump is not a billionaire because he is a good at dealmaking. He had multiple ways to become a billionaire (investing in index funds, investing in gold, dealmaking, inventing Facebook).

Given the way he has chosen he wouldn't be a billionaire if he was bad at dealmaking. It's a relevant skill for winning political fights.

If you think that Trump just blabbers around what's on his mind, you are massively misreading the situation.