Elizabeth Warren Slams Donald Trump's Business Strategies
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Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) isn't letting up on Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
A post on Warren's Facebook page calls out recently unearthed comments made by Trump in 2007, in which he says he's looking forward to the house bubble bursting because he's "always made more money in bad markets than good markets."
In the post, which has been liked more than 93,000 times, Warren accuses Trump of "drooling over the idea of a housing meltdown."
In an attached video of her speech at the Center for Popular Democracy's annual gala, Warren hits Trump even harder.
Referring to Trump's alleged desire to benefit from a housing market crash by purchasing distressed properties in bulk and then selling them on the cheap, Warren asks, "what kind of a man does that?"
She continues: "What kind of a man roots for people to get thrown out of their house? What kind of a man roots for people to get thrown out of their jobs? To root for people to lose their pensions?"
Warren answered her own question with an indictment of Trump's ability to care about the American people. "I’ll tell you exactly what kind of a man does that? It is a man who cares about no one but himself."
In 2008, Trump's wish for a housing market crash came true. The housing bubble — which was created by mortgage companies making sub-prime loans to home buyers, and then selling that debt up the chain to Wall Street banks — burst. According to the Wall Street Journal, 9.3 million people lost their homes between 2006 and 2014.
A 2014 report by the Herald-Tribune lays out how cash-flush investors were able to profit off plummeting house prices during foreclosure crisis:
"Nationwide, institutional investors paid an average $167,556 for 202,117 homes that now have an estimated market value of $211,897 each.
That represents $8.9 billion in gained equity, a 26 percent gain over the months studied, RealtyTrac said."
The Massachusetts Senator also criticized Trump for failing to release his tax returns.
"I mean look maybe he’s just a lousy businessman and he doesn’t want everyone to know that he’s not as rich as he claims to be but we do know this: the last time that his taxes were made public Donald Trump paid nothing, zero," she said. "Zero taxes before, and for all we know, he’s paying zero taxes today and he’s proud of it."
Trump responded to Warren's harsh criticism with this Tweet.
Trump is referring to reports that Warren bought several foreclosed homes in Oklahoma City during the 90's for cheap and then flipped the property for a profit, according to The National Review.
In 2012, Warren released a statement regarding the charges of hypocrisy to the Boston Herald:
"Elizabeth and (her husband) Bruce are fortunate to be in a position where they can help their family. They have been able to help relatives buy their homes and her nephew - a contractor - fix up houses."
