Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Murray Rothbard on Donald Trump and Michael Milken

Chris Rossini emails:

You jogged a memory (Wealth Manager Urges Trump to Pardon Junk Bond King Michael Milken) of mine about a piece that Rothbard once wrote about Milken vs. The Power elite.

In it Rothbard writes about Trump's reaction to Milken:
Speaking from his own lofty financial perch, Donald Trump unctuously declared, of Milken's salary, "you can be happy on a lot less money," going on to express his "amazement" that his former employers, the Wall Street firm of Drexel Burnham Lambert "would allow someone to benefit that greatly."

4 comments:

  1. Very interesting (as usual) article from Rothbard. Could anyone recommend a book about Milken, Wall St, or corporate financing in general for the layperson? Had no idea about that law in the 1960s that made takeover bids difficult. And never put it together that wealthy people like a progressive income tax because it hinders their competition. Fascinating stuff.

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    1. @cheddarbob

      Payback by Daniel Fischel is probably the best. It's quite sympathetic to Milken and very damning to Giuliani et al.

      Den of Thieves by James B. Stewart is a lengthy blow-by-blow of Drexel Burnham that kind of conforms to the official narrative and paints Milken in a less-positive light, but it's definitely worth reading if you're interested in the topic.

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    2. Thanks, Payback seems like exactly what I'm looking for.

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