Capitalism leads to corporatism?

This article (25% of Donald Trump’s political spending goes to his own companies, Quartz) details Donald Trump’s business of running for presidency; how much he stands to make through it.

“It’s very possible that I could be the first presidential candidate to run and make money on it,” Donald Trump told Fortune in 2000, during his first abortive run for president.

…as the leading candidate for the Republican nomination, he operates on a more rarified and lucrative plane: Trump’s companies have already earned $1.4 million from his campaign.

Trump’s various companies have contributed some $105,000 worth of services, including salaries for Trump’s pre-existing staff, including his feisty bodyguard, and, less explicably but more expensively, rent paid to his to luxury condo buildings in the heart of Manhattan: Trump Plaza and Trump Central Park South.

His campaign has also paid $160,000 to rent space at various Trump-owned buildings, including Trump Tower on 5th Ave. The campaign’s largest expenditure is $1.2 million to the private jet company that Trump owns in order to shuttle him around the US. All told, his campaign has paid Trump-owned entities $1.4 million, a little more than a quarter of all its spending.

So will Trump make a profit from his campaign? It seems likely that he raised more money in the last three months of the year than in previous quarters, as his staying power exceeded expectations. If he ramps up spending and goes all-in to win, he may not be able to repay his campaign loan. But if he keeps raising money and keeping costs low while funneling money into his own enterprises, it’s entirely possible he’ll make money as candidate.

Originally published at logiconomics.wordpress.com on December 29, 2015.