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Or sign-in if you have an account.As a rule, it’s a good thing that businessmen go into government. But if business people do get into government, they need to get out of business. Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty ImagesThe good news about Donald Trump’s annual financial disclosure form, which was released on Tuesday, is that it’s 978 pages long. I’m thinking Putin’s is a lot shorter.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorPeople say Trump’s a dictator. Most dictators don’t have to file detailed financial statements, though they do very well financially. They also win all their cases before their country’s Supreme Court, if there is one. Trump still regularly loses in court — most recently on his challenge to “birthright citizenship,” the rule that anyone born in the United States is an American.Of course, the bad news about Donald Trump’s annual financial disclosure form is that it’s 978 pages long. He has clearly been very busy. The first page of the form bears the familiar sawtooth signature and notes “the filer” has paid “late filing fees related to transactions not previously reported.” Page 2 then lists the filer’s “positions held” outside the U.S. government.Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againIn addition to being U.S. president, which most incumbents have found rather time-consuming, Trump is manager, president, secretary and treasurer of both CIC Digital LLC and CIC Ventures LLC, president of Mar-A-Lago Club LLC and chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which, interestingly, is listed that way and not as the Donald J. Trump/John F. Kennedy Center, which is what Trump decreed it to be until a judge recently said no.Even for a “stable genius” — which Trump claims to be, though there is room for doubt on both counts — it must be a lot of work. Yet he seems to be very good at it. He discloses (according to the Wall Street Journal: I confess I didn’t spend Canada Day reading the fine print) more than US$1 billion in crypto-currency earnings alone, not to mention the proceeds of successful lawsuits, earnings from his golf courses and other properties, licensing deals, watch and book sales and even a pension from the Screen Actors Guild.As a rule, it’s a good thing that businessmen go into government. We’ve got far too many lawyers, academics and others in charge. Business people are accustomed to getting things done and they’re familiar with the constraints of a bottom line.But if business people do get into government, they need to get out of business. The White House said Tuesday that: “Neither the President nor his family has ever engaged — or will ever engage — in conflicts of interest. All actions by President Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people.”Well, happy is he whose personal interest lines up in perfect congruity with the national interest. But colour me skeptical. As the U.S. founding fathers were skeptical: “If men were angels,” wrote Virginia’s James Madison, “no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external not internal controls on government would be necessary.” But men are not angels, Trump least of all, even if his deviltry is sometimes charming, so the people whose courage and vision produced the U.S. 250 years ago on Saturday designed a limited government in which the governors would be restrained.To be sure, they didn’t explicitly specify that a president of the United States couldn’t also be a president, manager, secretary and treasurer of a digital token company — though they did say in the 1789 constitution that no official could “accept of any present, Emolument, Office or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” That doesn’t preclude presents or emoluments from local folk, but you would think it went without saying that office-holders should not be permitted to put the privileges that are theirs to dispense up for auction.Blind trusts are fine, so far as they go. Someone with a plain-vanilla portfolio of stocks can surrender its management and, after a while, legitimately claim not to know what’s in it. (Trump’s investment accounts made more than 3,700 trades in just the first quarter of this year.) Former prime minister Paul Martin owned a shipping company, and ships are harder to hide. And were no less visible after he sold the company to his son. Donald Trump’s main stock-in-trade is his name, which is impossible to hide.Mark Carney apparently did well in business both before and after his central banking career. He has severed a number of business relationships but, as Sabrina Maddeaux notes, still lists more than 100 companies where he has decided to recuse himself from federal government decision-making. Good for him. Donald Trump seems not to know the meaning of the word “recuse.”But if toward the end of your business career you get into an important political position, why not eliminate all doubt and simply cash out? True, that would create a conflict of interest regarding inflation policy — with your net worth in cash you would be strongly against inflation — but that would be a good thing.Beyond that the way to get graft out of government is to get government out of business. If you’re making fewer decisions people might want to bribe you about, there will be less bribery. Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.