Read Why U.S. Law Makes It Easy for Donald Trump To Stiff Contractors (Fortune)

Fortunately, the practice is not common in business.

I came across this article while thinking about how Trump’s stiffing workers and contractors seemed similar to his handling of the government shutdown.
After reading this, it almost seems to me that with the government shutdown Trump is “selling out his goodwill” in a political sense the same way he’s sold out the goodwill of his own businesses.
Seeing both of these things juxtaposed is another very stark reminder that he seems to have no empathy for anyone at all. This article seems to have called out the same thing long ago.

In practice this [selling out goodwill] rarely happens, for two reasons.
First, most business people, despite what some people think, have integrity, a heart, and a conscience.
[…]
Fortunately, you don’t see that too often. That’s because most business people, like most other Americans, are fundamentally decent people. They believe in, and practice, the Golden Rule.