Author Topic: Antimustachian nominee: Paul Manafort  (Read 3520 times)

nereo

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Antimustachian nominee: Paul Manafort
« on: August 01, 2018, 06:22:27 AM »
Been listening to the coverage of the Manafort trial, and several times my jaw has just dropped listening to his spending habitats - all of which led to enormous debt (duh) and (to hear the prosecution tell it) his shady dealings with the Ukraine

Among some highlights:
He collected more than $60MM over a 5 year period, but blew through it all within a few years
Spent $15,000 on an ostrich jacket, bought a $21,000 watch and wired $849,215 to a men's NY clothing store (plus another $520k in clothes in California)
Renovations on his NY apartment totaling $5.4MM
Landscaping on his house in the Hamptons: $820k
Antique rugs for $934k
$300,000 for Yankees season tickets (bought on a credit card)


Mississippi Mudstache

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Re: Antimustachian nominee: Paul Manafort
« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2018, 06:34:10 AM »
Shit. Kind of depressing to think that I could retire on a crook's antique rugs.

ducky19

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Re: Antimustachian nominee: Paul Manafort
« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2018, 06:59:04 AM »
Shit. Kind of depressing to think that I could retire on a crook's antique rugs.

Or his landscape budget.

Davnasty

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Re: Antimustachian nominee: Paul Manafort
« Reply #3 on: August 01, 2018, 07:42:39 AM »
I could FIRE on his California shopping spree. Hell, I'd probably go part time on his Yankee's season tickets.


nereo

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Re: Antimustachian nominee: Paul Manafort
« Reply #4 on: August 01, 2018, 08:52:02 AM »
I could FIRE on his California shopping spree. Hell, I'd probably go part time on his Yankee's season tickets.
Season tickets are an economic headscratcher for me.  My brother wrote his honors thesis on the reliance of corporate boxes for keeping professional sports teams profitable. short version is that all of the average tickets bought by Joe Shmoe to see a game do very little for a team's bottom line, but it's the upper 2% of tickets (mostly corporate boxes) that make up most of its operating budget.
There are 81 home games a year in MLB.  Phenomenal seats average about $400/game for marque matchups.  Against non-contender teams you can get premium seats for under $100.
Face-value of NYY box seats are $300-500 with their 'dynamic pricing' model (Box Suite or Field MVP levels).
 If you want a pair of tickets to see every damn game and you want to sit right behind home plate for every game you'd likely spend under $60k/year. More likely you'll only catch a few dozen home games/year at best, not the full 82.  Many season ticket holders try to recoup their cost by reselling their seats, but if you watch any weekday match you'll see how difficult that strategy is by all the empty field-level seats.

reeshau

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Re: Antimustachian nominee: Paul Manafort
« Reply #5 on: August 01, 2018, 09:18:25 AM »
I could FIRE on his California shopping spree. Hell, I'd probably go part time on his Yankee's season tickets.
Season tickets are an economic headscratcher for me.  My brother wrote his honors thesis on the reliance of corporate boxes for keeping professional sports teams profitable. short version is that all of the average tickets bought by Joe Shmoe to see a game do very little for a team's bottom line, but it's the upper 2% of tickets (mostly corporate boxes) that make up most of its operating budget.
There are 81 home games a year in MLB.  Phenomenal seats average about $400/game for marque matchups.  Against non-contender teams you can get premium seats for under $100.
Face-value of NYY box seats are $300-500 with their 'dynamic pricing' model (Box Suite or Field MVP levels).
 If you want a pair of tickets to see every damn game and you want to sit right behind home plate for every game you'd likely spend under $60k/year. More likely you'll only catch a few dozen home games/year at best, not the full 82.  Many season ticket holders try to recoup their cost by reselling their seats, but if you watch any weekday match you'll see how difficult that strategy is by all the empty field-level seats.

That's really the same pricing model as an airline.  You need to fill seats to keep up the frequency, but it's really the sweet seats up front that are paying for the whole thing.  And travel around a business schedule (Monday am / Thursday pm, Friday) are where scarcity exists, and prices skyrocket.

AlanStache

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Re: Antimustachian nominee: Paul Manafort
« Reply #6 on: August 01, 2018, 10:06:50 AM »
I have to wonder if he was getting good airline mile deals with for all that spending...

MgoSam

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Re: Antimustachian nominee: Paul Manafort
« Reply #7 on: August 01, 2018, 12:12:45 PM »
I could FIRE on his California shopping spree. Hell, I'd probably go part time on his Yankee's season tickets.
Season tickets are an economic headscratcher for me.  My brother wrote his honors thesis on the reliance of corporate boxes for keeping professional sports teams profitable. short version is that all of the average tickets bought by Joe Shmoe to see a game do very little for a team's bottom line, but it's the upper 2% of tickets (mostly corporate boxes) that make up most of its operating budget.
There are 81 home games a year in MLB.  Phenomenal seats average about $400/game for marque matchups.  Against non-contender teams you can get premium seats for under $100.
Face-value of NYY box seats are $300-500 with their 'dynamic pricing' model (Box Suite or Field MVP levels).
 If you want a pair of tickets to see every damn game and you want to sit right behind home plate for every game you'd likely spend under $60k/year. More likely you'll only catch a few dozen home games/year at best, not the full 82.  Many season ticket holders try to recoup their cost by reselling their seats, but if you watch any weekday match you'll see how difficult that strategy is by all the empty field-level seats.

That's really the same pricing model as an airline.  You need to fill seats to keep up the frequency, but it's really the sweet seats up front that are paying for the whole thing.  And travel around a business schedule (Monday am / Thursday pm, Friday) are where scarcity exists, and prices skyrocket.

This is similar to LA Fitness' business model along with many other big gyms. They'll sign up hundreds of people knowing that only a few will actually come on a regular basis. Whereas CrossFit and other gyms have a high fee but expect the majority of their members to come. With the first gym, the slackers are essentially subsidizing the gym rats.

talltexan

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Re: Antimustachian nominee: Paul Manafort
« Reply #8 on: August 01, 2018, 12:42:01 PM »
He probably gives some of the MLB tickets away to employees, uses a few himself, and socializes with the Steinbrenner family sufficiently that it doesn't seem costly. The time would be more dear to someone like Manafort than would be the money.

nereo

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Re: Antimustachian nominee: Paul Manafort
« Reply #9 on: August 01, 2018, 01:56:50 PM »
He probably gives some of the MLB tickets away to employees, uses a few himself, and socializes with the Steinbrenner family sufficiently that it doesn't seem costly. The time would be more dear to someone like Manafort than would be the money.

Someone who spends $60MM in 7 years, and then goes into debt to a number of banks and oligarchs for several million$ more is not savvy with their money.
It's not about valuing time over money - it's having absolutely no clue about your finances and being arrogant enough to think that the money spigot will never be shut off.

eljefe-speaks

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Re: Antimustachian nominee: Paul Manafort
« Reply #10 on: August 02, 2018, 08:38:50 AM »
Easy come, easy go.

In his defense, some of this spending was probably a half-assed attempt at laundering.

bacchi

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Re: Antimustachian nominee: Paul Manafort
« Reply #11 on: August 02, 2018, 04:19:54 PM »
He was paying landscapers to trim his shrubs 3-4 times/week. It was probably the cushiest landscaping job in NYC.

Quote
“He could’ve spent that,” Ms. Saatchi said, “but close to $200,000 a year seems expensive given the size and style. I’m going to take a wild guess that if he paid that much just to maintain the landscape, he was overcharged.”

MoMan

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Re: Antimustachian nominee: Paul Manafort
« Reply #12 on: August 02, 2018, 05:08:01 PM »
Spent $15,000 on an ostrich jacket

I'd pay good money to see his ostrich wearing a jacket

Telecaster

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Re: Antimustachian nominee: Paul Manafort
« Reply #13 on: August 02, 2018, 05:21:34 PM »
I could FIRE on his California shopping spree. Hell, I'd probably go part time on his Yankee's season tickets.
Season tickets are an economic headscratcher for me.  My brother wrote his honors thesis on the reliance of corporate boxes for keeping professional sports teams profitable. short version is that all of the average tickets bought by Joe Shmoe to see a game do very little for a team's bottom line, but it's the upper 2% of tickets (mostly corporate boxes) that make up most of its operating budget.
There are 81 home games a year in MLB.  Phenomenal seats average about $400/game for marque matchups.  Against non-contender teams you can get premium seats for under $100.
Face-value of NYY box seats are $300-500 with their 'dynamic pricing' model (Box Suite or Field MVP levels).
 If you want a pair of tickets to see every damn game and you want to sit right behind home plate for every game you'd likely spend under $60k/year. More likely you'll only catch a few dozen home games/year at best, not the full 82.  Many season ticket holders try to recoup their cost by reselling their seats, but if you watch any weekday match you'll see how difficult that strategy is by all the empty field-level seats.

I always wondered why they didn't try to sell those empty seats for $2 or even give them away and make money on beer and peanuts.   

nereo

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Re: Antimustachian nominee: Paul Manafort
« Reply #14 on: August 02, 2018, 05:26:05 PM »
I could FIRE on his California shopping spree. Hell, I'd probably go part time on his Yankee's season tickets.
Season tickets are an economic headscratcher for me.  My brother wrote his honors thesis on the reliance of corporate boxes for keeping professional sports teams profitable. short version is that all of the average tickets bought by Joe Shmoe to see a game do very little for a team's bottom line, but it's the upper 2% of tickets (mostly corporate boxes) that make up most of its operating budget.
There are 81 home games a year in MLB.  Phenomenal seats average about $400/game for marque matchups.  Against non-contender teams you can get premium seats for under $100.
Face-value of NYY box seats are $300-500 with their 'dynamic pricing' model (Box Suite or Field MVP levels).
 If you want a pair of tickets to see every damn game and you want to sit right behind home plate for every game you'd likely spend under $60k/year. More likely you'll only catch a few dozen home games/year at best, not the full 82.  Many season ticket holders try to recoup their cost by reselling their seats, but if you watch any weekday match you'll see how difficult that strategy is by all the empty field-level seats.

I always wondered why they didn't try to sell those empty seats for $2 or even give them away and make money on beer and peanuts.

Those tickets are sold - the people who bought them just happen not to be there.  That's why teams announce "sellout games" even though 1/3 of the stadium can be empty.

As for why the ticket-holders don't resell the tickets - some try, but if its a wednesday night game against a non-contender team there may be more sellers than buyers, and season ticket holders don't like selling a ticket which has a face value of $350 for $100 (and then the seller gets dinged 15% and the buyer 10%).  Sunk cost fallacy at work.

CrustyBadger

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Re: Antimustachian nominee: Paul Manafort
« Reply #15 on: August 02, 2018, 05:47:39 PM »
Easy come, easy go.

In his defense, some of this spending was probably a half-assed attempt at laundering.

LOL, doubtless!