Trump: The Art of the Deal " starts looking more and more like " Death of a Salesman" ..."
Steven Colbert
Liliputins. What, the heck, is this ?
http://www.stihi.ru/2012/08/18/5368
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Trump: The Art of the Deal is a 1987 book credited to businessman and current President of the United States Donald Trump and journalist Tony Schwartz. Part memoir and part business-advice book, it reached number 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list, stayed there for 13 weeks, and altogether held a position on the list for 48 weeks. It was the first book published by Trump and helped to make him a "household name". The book received additional attention during Trump's 2016 campaign for the presidency of the United States. He cited it as one of his proudest accomplishments and his second-favorite book after the Bible. Schwartz expressed regrets about his involvement and he and the book's publisher, Howard Kaminsky, asserted that Trump had played no role in the actual writing of the book. Trump has given conflicting accounts on the question of authorship.
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Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was the recipient of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. The play premiered on Broadway in February 1949, running for 742 performances, and has been revived on Broadway four times, winning three Tony Awards for Best Revival. It is widely considered to be one of the greatest plays of the 20th century.
Themes
Reality and Illusion
Death of a Salesman uses flashbacks to present Willy’s memory during the reality. The illusion not only “suggests the past, but also presents the lost pastoral life.” Willy has dreamed of success his whole life and makes up lies about his and Biff’s success. The more he indulges in the illusion, the harder it is for him to face reality. Biff is the only one who realizes that the whole family lived in the lies and tries to face the truth.
The American Dream
The American Dream is the theme of the play, but everyone in the play has their own way to describe their American Dreams.
Summery
Willy Loman returns home exhausted after a business trip he has cancelled. Worried over Willy's state of mind and recent car accident, his wife Linda suggests that he ask his boss Howard Wagner to allow him to work in his home city so he will not have to travel. Willy complains to Linda that their son, Biff, has yet to make good on his life. Despite Biff's promising showing as an athlete in high school, he failed in mathematics and was unable to enter university.
Biff and his brother Happy, who is temporarily staying with Willy and Linda after Biff's unexpected return from the West, reminisce about their childhood together. They discuss their father's mental degeneration, which they have witnessed in the form of his constant indecisiveness and daydreaming about the boys' high school years. Willy walks in, angry that the two boys have never amounted to anything. In an effort to pacify their father, Biff and Happy tell their father that Biff plans to make a business proposition the next day.
The next day, Willy goes to ask his boss, Howard, for a job in town while Biff goes to make a business proposition, but both fail. Willy gets angry and ends up getting fired when the boss tells him he needs a rest and can no longer represent the company. Biff waits hours to see a former employer who does not remember him and turns him down. Biff impulsively steals a fountain pen. Willy then goes to the office of his neighbor Charley, where he runs into Charley's son Bernard (now a successful lawyer); Bernard tells him that Biff originally wanted to do well in summer school, but something happened in Boston when Biff went to visit his father that changed his mind. Charley gives the now-unemployed Willy money to pay his life-insurance premium; Willy shocks Charley by remarking that ultimately, a man is "worth more dead than alive."
Happy, Biff, and Willy meet for dinner at a restaurant, but Willy refuses to hear bad news from Biff. Happy tries to get Biff to lie to their father. Biff tries to tell him what happened as Willy gets angry and slips into a flashback of what happened in Boston the day Biff came to see him. Willy had been having an affair with a receptionist on one of his sales trips when Biff unexpectedly arrived at Willy's hotel room. A shocked Biff angrily confronted his father, calling him a liar and a fraud. From that moment, Biff's views of his father changed and set Biff adrift.
Biff leaves the restaurant in frustration, followed by Happy and two girls that Happy has picked up. They leave a confused and upset Willy behind in the restaurant. When they later return home, their mother angrily confronts them for abandoning their father while Willy remains outside, talking to himself. Biff tries unsuccessfully to reconcile with Willy, but the discussion quickly escalates into another argument. Biff conveys plainly to his father that he is not meant for anything great, insisting that both of them are simply ordinary men meant to lead ordinary lives. The feud reaches an apparent climax with Biff hugging Willy and crying as he tries to get Willy to let go of the unrealistic expectations. Rather than listen to what Biff actually says, Willy appears to believe his son has forgiven him and will follow in his footsteps, and after Linda goes upstairs to bed, (despite her urging him to follow her), lapses one final time into a hallucination, thinking he sees his long-dead brother Ben, whom Willy idolized. In Willy's mind, Ben approves of the scheme Willy has dreamed up to kill himself in order to give Biff his insurance policy money. Willy exits the house. Biff and Linda cry out in despair as the sound of Willy's car blares up and fades out.
The final scene takes place at Willy's funeral, which is attended only by his family, Bernard, and Charley. The ambiguities of mixed and unaddressed emotions persist, particularly over whether Willy's choices or circumstances were obsolete. At the funeral Biff retains his belief that he does not want to become a businessman like his father. Happy, on the other hand, chooses to follow in his father's footsteps, while Linda laments her husband's decision just before her final payment on the house...
"...and there'll be nobody home. We're free and clear, Willy....we're free...we're free..."
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Donald Trump’s Net Worth and Approval Ratings Are Both Steadily Declining
Donald Trump’s net worth is in decline as his New York real estate portfolio struggles to keep up with the city’s evolving landscape and competition, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which compiled the president’s mortgage documents, debt forms and a new financial disclosure released Friday.
Trump, who repeatedly bragged about his wealth and successes as a business mogul along the campaign trail to help propel him to the Oval Office, is also suffering a dip in approval ratings, as his administration battles accusations of collusion with the Kremlin. The president’s job approval hovers at nearly 36 percent, a CBS poll released Tuesday indicated.
The president’s purported net worth slipped from 3 billion in 2016 to 2.9 billion in 2017. Trump has regularly claimed his total assets were worth at least 10 billion.
The Trump properties across New York City are having a difficult time attracting new clientele, as the Big Apple’s commercial real estate trends move toward skyscrapers and modern, innovative buildings. Trump Tower, along with the president’s several other luxe buildings, like 40 Wall Street and 1290 Avenue of the Americas, are consistently underperforming since Trump took office.
“We’re in the biggest development pipeline in Manhattan since the 1980s,” Keith DeCoster, director of real estate analytics at Savills Studley, told Bloomberg Tuesday. “Older buildings—circa 1980s, 1990s—are having a tougher time competing.”
The president’s millions in losses coincides with his continued decline in approval ratings, as Trump seeks to quiet the noise surrounding multiple federal investigations into Russia’s meddling in last year’s presidential elections and claims he obstructed justice when firing ex-FBI Director James Comey. The president’s approval rating peaked just above 40 percent during his first international trip as commander-in-chief, before returning to a controversial and stalled GOP health-care bill, as well as continued probes into his campaign and White House administration.
But not all Trump properties are suffering massive losses: Business at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s “Winter White House,” is booming ever since he took office and membership rates reportedly rose to more than $200,000 annually. Meanwhile, nearly 200 Democrats have sued the president, claiming he’s “blatantly” violating the Constitution by not giving up ownership of the Trump organization. The lawsuit also demands further transparency regarding the president’s international business deals.
“The bottom line is, we have no clue as to most of the investors and partners of Donald Trump around the world,” the lawsuit states. “We have no accurate and complete knowledge about all those payments and benefits because he has made no disclosure.”