Wait, isn’t former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton just another politician who belongs to the powerful elite and maintains strong relations with the richest people in the United States? Yes!
The New York Times published an interesting article Tuesday titled “Campaign Casts Hillary Clinton as the Populist It Insists She Has Always Been,” in which the newspaper somewhat asked the question (I guess?): is Hillary Clinton really a populist?
Now that Clinton has officially launched her campaign to become the next U.S. president, the former New York Democratic Senator, who voted in favor of invading Iraq, is attempting to show her softer side. This side supposedly understands the daily struggles of lower- and middle-class voters, while vilifying the affluent – anyone who has read “Blood Feud” will know just how brutal Clinton can be.
Clinton emphatically stated to a group of economists that she will and must “topple” the one percent if she becomes president.
Anyone who has observed politics since the Bill Clinton administration can realize that the Clintons can in no way empathize with the poor and struggling middle-class. Moreover, there is no way Clinton can fight against Wall Street since she has had a cozy relationship with some of the biggest corporations and banks. In other words, Clinton has led a Faustian lifestyle.
It’s just talk, one Democratic insider told Politico. Here is what the website wrote: “It’s ‘just politics,’ said one major Democratic donor on Wall Street, explaining that some of Clinton’s Wall Street supporters doubt she would push hard for closing the carried-interest loophole as president, a policy she promoted when she last ran in 2008.”
Washington Examiner‘s Tim Carney probably said it best when he opined: “Hillary is at times a liberal, at times a moderate; here a populist, there an elitist; sometimes a hawk, sometimes a dove; but she’s always a crony.”
As Clinton prances around the U.S. trying to depict herself as the savior of the average person and the conqueror of big money, here are 11 facts to show that Hillary Clinton is just another card-carrying member of the elite, status quo politics, 1% and crony capitalism. Oh, and she doesn’t give a damn about you or your family.
- The Clinton family is worth anywhere between $55 million and $88 million. Bill has made $100 million from giving speeches, while Hillary earns $200,000 per public appearance. That’s a spicy meatball for just hearing yourself speak.
- During her days in Arkansas, Hillary Clinton served on the board of directors of Wal-Mart, a corporation that is constantly chastized by liberals, Democrats, anti-poverty activists and unions.
- Clinton’s biggest campaign contributors have consisted of Citigroup ($782,000), Goldman Sachs ($712,000), JPMorgan & Chase ($621,000), Morgan Stanley ($543,000) and Lehman Brothers ($363,000). These are all Wall St. titans that are close to the printing press and Washington.
- She regularly cites the gender wage gap, but when she was senator she paid her male staffers a lot more than their female counterparts.
- As Secretary of State, she encouraged governments to sign deals with various American companies, like General Electric, Exxon Mobil, Microsoft and Boeing. Interestingly, these same corporations have been major donors to the Clinton Foundation and the Global Clinton Initiative. Here’s just one example of her lobbying capabilities: Clinton lobbied the Algerian Government to contract GE.
- Also as Secretary of State, she established 15 public-private partnerships through the State Department, and about 25 companies were major contributors to these P3s.
- Clinton sought hefty contributions by asking corporations to donate to Vital Voices, a non-profit women’s charity she helped co-found.
- The Clintons have avoided paying taxes by using loopholes that everyone else despises so much. For instance, they have vocally supported the estate tax, but in order to avoid paying this tax they “created residence trusts in 2010 and shifted ownership of their Westchester house into them in 2011, a strategy popular among the nation’s 1 percent.” (via New York Post).
- Over the next year, we’re going to have a wave of reports regarding her conflicts of interest. One of the latest includes the revelation of the Clinton Foundation receiving millions of dollars in donations from foreign governments. An example of this consists of “an agency of the Canadian government responsible for promoting the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.”
- During a trip to India, she encouraged India to reverse its ban on multi-brand retailers. This potentially opens the door to Wal-Mart making an entrance in the massive market – remember, she has close ties to Wal-Mart from her Arkansas days.
- Clinton has been a big proponent of corporate welfare through the means of the Export Import Bank, which even President Obama has called a “little more than a fund for corporate welfare.” Also, see “Chart shows Democrats embrace big business cronyism.”
Final Thoughts
It’s quite tragic and even head scratching when millions of people buy into the hype that Clinton is the crusader of social justice and is the little guy’s best friend. She and her husband rose to prominence and wealth through attaining political power, exchanging favors with lobbyists and shaking the hands of the very people she lambasts in front of large crowds of average people.
Spencer Tracy’s character Grant Matthews in the 1948 motion picture “State of the Union” was right when he criticized politicians of playing both sides: “To labor, you promise higher wages and lower prices. To business, higher prices and lower wages. To the rich, you say, ‘Let’s cut taxes.’ To the poor, ‘Soak the rich.'” This is definitely an illustration of Clinton.
Adolphe Menjou, in the same film, was also correct when he described the differences between the Republican and Democratic Parties: “They’re in power, and we’re not!”
Unfortunately, these real issues will likely be avoided in the debates because any criticism of Clinton will result in accusations of “it’s because she’s a woman, right?”
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