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Trump Victory Clouds Outlook for Time Warner-AT&T, Other Mergers (reuters.com)
U.S. corporate dealmakers were likely to put major merger plans on hold as they assess whether U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will follow through on his populist promises and a threat to block AT&T's purchase of Time Warner, or act more like traditional business-friendly Republican administrations. From the report:Trump's rhetoric and the personal nature of the campaign, which included little discussion of policy, left many uncertain about the new U.S. leader's plans, including how his administration will handle mega-mergers. Wall Street braced for a drop in deals, with Goldman Sachs on Wednesday projecting a 20 to 30 percent downside for earnings of banks that focus on merger and acquisition advice, and Jefferies saying that uncertainty about Trump's policy on trade, healthcare, taxes and energy could hamper underwriting activity and M&A globally. "I think a lot of deals will hit the pause button for a bit until we get some clarity on whether President Trump will moderate or be as disruptive as some expect," said a senior Wall Street banker who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak with the media. "It's going to be a tough environment for everything until we see how [Trump] behaves as a leader," the banker added.
These mergers are good for 3-4 1%ers and bad for everyone else.
Rhetoric wins elections but actions speak louder than words. Trump spent his entire career having to skirt around regulations to get things done so I highly doubt he's going to do anything that gets in the way of business doing whatever it wants to do, including performing anti-competitive mergers.
Assuming it comes with $1 million in cash delivered by a naked supermodel. As long as he gets what he wants, his morals are for sale.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
You have to admit: Trump is the first president in memory who isn't carrying debt to Wall Street or other big business into the White House. His career thus far has been as the puppeteer, not the puppet. I hope he fucks up Comcast and AT&T good and hard.
Low information voters for the win!
"Old man yells at systemd"
It is a shame that you felt that you had to post that as A/C. I find it interesting that the media frenzy has made admitting support from Trump something that many will not do. This probably contributed to the 'surprise' victory and why polsters got it wrong.
I am a Brit, I did not have a vote.
If Slashdot has taught me anything in the past 48 hours, it's that anything and everything about Trump is worse than Hitler.
Mega mergers between cable companies that Trump doesn't like? Obviously this means mega-corps are our new friends and opposing them means you hate women and minorities.
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
Trump may owe money on loans to various banks - but they are LOANS he has to repay.
Hillary was "given" money from all of the largest corporations, and may foreign nations, given outright... her "repayment" was going to be be very different indeed....
Trump only owes them money, what Hillary owed them would have been paid in our tears.
Also why would you think Trump would be MORE lenient on banks to whom he owes money? Why would he not instead be one of their biggest critics having to deal with them to get money for projects the same way the rest of us do.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Trump had to skirt some horrid regulations.
Not sure which regulations you are referring to but whichever they are they were horrid in his opinion. Not an opinion that is universally shared. Regulations usually exist for a reason and getting rid of regulations just because the are inconvenient for Donald Trump isn't enough of a reason.
I too, doubt he will do anything bad for the economy.
Based on what? You have NO idea what he's going to do. Nobody does. Most of the crap that has come out of his mouth has been ill-considered if not outright harmful and he changes positions more often than most people change their pants. He tells transparent and easily refuted lies on a routine basis about topics that he clearly doesn't understand and refuses to listen to others about.
But monopolies are bad for the economy.
Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't. A monopoly in and of itself isn't necessarily bad but they require careful regulation and oversight in most cases. Sometimes monopolies are the most economically efficient way to do something. But this particular merger doesn't seem to benefit consumers in any meaningful way.
Time Warner was one of Hilary's biggest donors, and their subsidiary CNN bashed Trump nonstop. You really think Trump wants to see those people consolidate even more power? Not going to happen. Time Warner invested big into Clinton to get this merger through and the investment didn't workout.
Totally.
That's why Trump relied exclusively on vapid celebratory endorsements and bread & circuses concerts to lure in stupid voters who didn't know any better.
Just look at all those late night comedians who were bought & paid for to support Trump and trash Hillary! It's outrageous!
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
If we don't know his motivations, how do you "know" that he will use the Presidency to game his own business interests?
How do I know a guy who has spent a lifetime focused on making money and plastering his name on everything he can, bragging about how rich he is and how he games the system, and turning himself into a brand will pursue his own interests? You have to be an idiot to think he would do anything else. Maybe he'll surprise us all but I very much doubt it.
I guess I'm more on the side where he doesn't seem to have motivation to get rich (he's already rich) nor does he have the motivation to need to impress anyone or curry favor
Rich people always want to get richer. There never seems to be a limit where enough is enough. And he now can perfectly legally engage in insider trading just like congress can.
A leader with no checks or balances stands every chance of becoming a despot or an American analog of one. With a republican congress what's to really stop him from trampling the civil rights of millions of minorities? Who will keep him from trashing the environment? Who is to keep him from removing health insurance from millions of people? Who will protect the reproductive and civil rights of women? Who will keep the religious crazies out of schools? These are not idle or hypothetical questions any more.
And really, what does the unsolicited endorsement of KKK loonies have to do with it?
Because nobody knows what he really stands for aside from himself, and even that is in question. Groups like the KKK look at him and see him as their guy. Given the racist, xenophobic drivel that has come out of his mouth why wouldn't hey. It's just an example but hardly the only one. He's like those actors who don't actually emote much so people can project themselves on to them. Nobody actually knows what the guy thinks and that is terrifying in someone who is being given the most important job in the world.
The media needs to be demonopolized. It is my sincere hope that after 30 years of complaining about a corrupt media we finally have enough of a voice to get the DOJ to address this under the Sherman Act.
Free speech is fine, but propaganda is not the same thing. The MSM in the US has become an arm of the Democratic party and what we used to laugh at in the USSR's Pravda. Worse however, is that people in Russia at least knew beyond any doubt that their media was state run propaganda while many in the US actually believe the reality TV shows are real.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
The GOP has (not for the first time), the perfect opportunity to affect real change. They could probably push through constitutional amendments limiting money in politics. They could enact term limits. They could improve healthcare by expanding medicaid.
There are dozens of things they could do.
But we know they won't. They will make moves to consolidate their power and prevent others from taking seats from them. Otherwise, it's business as usual, let the palm greasing and ass kissing commence.
Cheap storage VM.