Trump's corrupt instruction to help Fertitta, featured in NYT

The phrase "for the larger private restauranteur" is just the ****ing tops man.

For the larger gentleman, please drop in to visit us at Rochester Big & Tall!

I command Phillip Seymour Hoffman to rise from his untimely grave, wear a tuxedo, and list to us all of the available options 'for the larger private restauranteur". I demand a cadre of butlers played by Anthony Hopkins, Carson from Downton Abbey and Alfred Pennyworth do the same.

It is our most modestly priced receptacle!

 

This mothersucker should have asked for Lebron to be banned a year. Thanks Tilman. We could have a championship right now. Selfish.

 

Maybe Trump can help Tilman buy back some draft picks?

 

And the after dinner mint is only wafer thin.

 

Tilman was striking a difference between franchisees of large restaurant chains vs large private restauranteur accounting.

Here's what Jose Cil said to start that conference with Trump ... he's the CEO of Burger King, Popeyes, etc

Jose Cil: "It’s an honor for me to be here representing 10,000 restaurants in the U.S. We have Burger King, Popeyes, and Tim Hortons. These restaurants are owned by small businesses. We have franchisees from coast to coast ... The CARES Act and the PPP had a tremendous impact on our businesses. I mean, I think there’s a lot, we think, that it can do to make a very good program even better."
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So, they had to pass that bill really quickly, some said, too quickly. And employees of large private restauranteurs didn't benefit like the workers at Burger King, Popeyes, etc franchises. That's all he's saying. And it is an interesting problem.

There was nothing wrong with Tilman chiming in to balance the statement Jose Cil made about franchises. And as far as it being "corrupt instruction," watch the interview. To me, it just sounded like a politician paying lip-service to a special interest group, with no commitment, but being polite...before they moved onto to other people in the room.

 

This is kinda the issue with Capitalism in general.

If you are poor, you have an issue, like a medical problem / bankruptcy, you just die or go homeless.

If you are middle class, you have an issue, like a medical issue / bankruptcy, you move into the poor class.

If you are rich, you have an issue, like your business failing, you just corrupt your way back into the game.

 

Our owner really is the biggest pos. Makes me so conflicted about buying out merchandise. Don’t want to do anything that lines this guys pockets

 

This is kind of bogus. The franchisees for restaurant chains are typically small businesses, not billionaires. When you work at a Burger King franchise store you don’t get paid by Burger King and you’re not an employee of Burger King.

These kinds of problems are a failure of our capitalist system. In other countries employees have been getting 80% of their wages directly from the government to stay home every month. No need for companies to be involved.

 

I watched that conference. Media was allowed to broadcast it live. The meat of Tilman, Trump and Mnuchin discussion was already complete by then. Trump had already said "let's look into this" and Mnuchin had already agreed this is complicated and they will take it offline.

The rest was jovial bantar and "do the best you can" is something I'm not going to read much into after he already said "let's look into this" during the real messaging part, beyond just repeating himself to close and move on to next guy.

Tilman made a strong and necessary (imo) case vs Jose Cli's opening remarks, and the President shouldn't (and didn't) ignore a strong case from a special interest invitee, with the media watching.

 

Yeah, one owner has 45,000 employees, the other about 20, and has to share profits with corporate.

Keep in mind, franchises (e.g., Chick-fil-A) can pay upwards of 50% gross profit in monthly fees to corporate, yet corporate is shielded from directly paying employees.

but it isn't about the owners, it's about the employees.

Paycheck Protection Program is primarily pay to employees, and that's what Tilman was addressing. Well, 5.9 million ppl got furloughed or let go in the restuarant industry. I'm not really sure what other countries did, but our Congress wanted the help of the industry to identify who to pay, and let them hand out the PPP. There just wasn't enough and it was an every-man-for-himself rush for it. Leading to chains like Shake Shack getting the cancel culture treatment for even trying to get the PPP to their employees.

bottomline: it's not a bogus case to make for all effected restaurant workers to get socialized Paycheck Protection, independent of the accounting system of Jose Cli vs Tilman Fertitta.​

 

The exchange where Tilman cried to Trump about not being able to dip into the fund without suffering PR backlash was aired on TV. This basically happened in plain sight a long time ago. I brought it up then. Disgusted me.

 

fwiw: that statement was when he returned the PPP, like Shake Shack did. Do you think they should have gotten the cancel culture treatment, and why?