When banks subsidize [Donald Trump]'s wretched excess, they divert funds from the rest of us, from people who would use loans to buy homes, fund small businesses or go to school. To their credit, the banks held Trump's feet to the fire, forcing him to trim the fat that fueled a lifestyle he once touted gleefully.

In his effort to get a group of banks to ignore his late loan payments and to give him another $65 million, Donald Trump ended up agreeing to reduce his personal living expenses from $583,000 a month to a mere $450,000.

While Donald Trump is trimming back to $450,000 a month, the average U.S. household had income under $30,000 a year ($2,500 a month) in 1989. Should one of these average families fail to meet a mortgage payment or two, banks don't negotiate, they confiscate.