Hacker News Reader

> does Trump own the American Treasury?

Depends on what you mean by "own". I would use "able to decide how it is used". So I would say that Mark Zuckerberg "owns" Facebook because he has a controlling interest (although he does not own 100% of the stock). I would say that Donald Trump does not "own" the US Treasury because our form of government contains checks and balances.

View on HN

Still not applicable to Trump because the U.S. Congress has power of the purse, not the President.

Not true, the president can declare an 'emergency' and circumvent Congress.

Referring to no specific case in particular: that is not a circumvention but an application of the authority that Congress delegated to the President in the National Emergencies Act.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Emergencies_Act

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/circumvent

Reply on news.ycombinator.com