Friday, May 22, 2015

Yet another double standard or just a plain old hypocrite?

Recent news of the Clintons’ $25 million jackpot in 2014 makes it tough for Hillary to push her core campaign theme with a straight face. Indeed, widespread laughter will greet her efforts to champion “everyday Americans” against those who allegedly make too much money. 
 
 “The deck is stacked for those at the top,” Hillary Clinton said Tuesday, not mentioning that her household income puts her in not just the top 1 percent of tax filers but the top 0.1 percent.  “There’s something wrong when CEOs make 300 times more than the typical worker,” Clinton told Iowa voters last month.

“In 2013, CEOs of the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index companies received, on average, $11.7 million in total compensation, according to the AFL-CIO’s analysis of available data from 350 companies,” the mega-union reports. “While CEO pay remains in the stratosphere, production and nonsupervisory workers took home only $35,239, on average, in 2013.” The Clintons last year made more than double the earnings of a typical CEO. Even halving their joint income to $12.5 million puts each $800,000 ahead of the AFL-CIO’s average corporate villain.
 
Assuming a 2,080-hour work year, the AFL-CIO calculates that the average worker earned $16.94 per hour, while the typical CEO made $5,607 every hour. Shocking? The Clintons averaged $12,019 per hour, or $6,009 each.
 
USA Today also noted that “the Clintons appear to have put their homes in ‘residence trusts,’ a move that could reduce their estate taxes.” Here again, the Clintons seem to be cutting their tax exposure for when they enter that great real-estate scheme in the sky. That is perfectly legal. However, death-tax avoidance muffles the battle cries of someone who rails against the rich.
 
 
 


9 comments:

  1. Note, this is not a defense of Clinton, but here goes. After Bill was out of the WH, he hit the speaking trail and sarcastically thanked the Republicans for helping wealthy people like him. I think Hillary should openly discuss this and point out how flipping ridiculously easy it is for wealthy people to continue raking in money for very little risk and very little actual work. I think some of this comparison here is a little disingenuous however as I tend to think Bill is the one who is pulling in the money.

    I appreciate the snark, and I'll say for the umpteenth time, I am not a Hillary fan. Still, I think Republicans need to choose their talking points carefully. Warren Buffet is also extremely rich, also takes advantage of every loophole possible, and also rants on how ridiculous our tax structure is with it's give aways for the super rich. 30% of the country will not vote for Hillary no matter what, and from that perspective, it really doesn't matter what they think. For others who won't dismiss a rationale argument just because they don't like messenger. I'm not sure I want to push Hillary into embracing this and using it to make a point if I'm a Republican strategist.

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    1. It just illustrates how hypocritical a presidential candidate can be.

      Demonizing a segment of people in the US while doubling down on the very same thing.

      It's about claiming there is a income inequality while being at the top on that inequality list.

      Of the $25 million former President Bill and presidential hopeful Hillary have earned for paid speeches in the past year, the Washington Post reports Hillary pulled down $11.7 million of that on her own – $3.2 million of which was from the tech industry.


      Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/tech-giants-have-paid-hillary-clinton-32-million-for-speeches-since-2014-2015-5#ixzz3asWf1lKo

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    2. Hypocritical? Meh, I honestly don't know. Here's the thing. Like i said, Hillary cannot get your vote no matter what she does and to be fair, depending on which Republican can climb to the top, they aren't going to get my vote. What is important though is how the debate gets shaped. Republicans recently were talking about wage gaps. that completely boggled my mind and I highly doubt it's something they want to talk about.

      Up until now, the Republicans have been able to say that any attack on our tax structure, or any comment on wage gaps is a direct attack on "The hard working wealthy" who got everything they have by sweat and grit. You and I could argue about how much truth or myth there is in that, but it kind of doesn't matter. What does matter is whether others start to take interest in the man behind the curtain. Claiming that the top 1% are actually victims, which is what Republicans have been doing, is going to wear thin. It's like that boy who cried wolf thing. People eventually start to question that message when what they see right in front of them doesn't match.

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    3. Hillary would get my vote the same time Jeb would get my vote.

      "The hard working wealthy" who got everything they have by sweat and grit.
      I would be the poster child for that statement. I live comfortably and would be considered wealthy by middle class standards. Born on 3rd base, hardly.

      I guess my whole issue with politics, the left and right is demonize a segment of the population a business an industry to get the attention of the public. Divisive politics, I am sick of it. We are all American, we have always had wealthy people we have always had poor people. The left with the help of the media successfully demonized Romney, a successful now wealthy business person, not to mention shot himself in the foot numerous times. Interesting how the wealth of the Clinton's approaches the wealth of Romney yet nothing is said from the left or the media.

      Oh the middle class, how pathetic and disingenuous of our politicians as they set up off shoring with Free Trade Agreements. The cheap junk for jobs program. As the middle class continues to consume cheap imports then claim the oh poor us, business off shored our jobs, how pathetic.

      p.s. What Hillary is doing is wearing thin with those paying attention. Will the American voter wake up to the true Hillary?
      Will the democrats run a real candidate or is it Hilliary's turn as it was McCains turn?

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    4. And this is where Bernie Sanders may gain traction. Bernie made two paid speeches recently and got a measly 1800 bucks. Bernie is worth 169,000 and carries 25 grand in credit card debt. As he talks about the wage gap, as he talks about income inequality he is standing with the masses. Hilary and Bill are rich no doubt. But they still came from nothing especially Bill. Does that disqualify them from knowing how the common people live because they have made it big? They are just a decade removed from being just regular folks.

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    5. Sanders is at least honesty about his standing in the world. The Hillary, we were broke when we left the WH is laughable.

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    6. Well, not to make a they said it so it's okay, but Reagan famously made a lot of hay on alleged welfare mommas driving Cadillacs as if to say that everyone who was poor and receiving assistance was basically a free loader. I've read a fair amount of articles and books about the 1%, and they are not about demonizing them. What they do demonize is the system that allows the wealthy to not just live better because of their wealth, but to live by entirely different rules than everyone else.

      I don't blame the wealthy, per se, for taking advantage of legal loop holes to grow their wealth to gargantuan levels. But, let's be honest, who runs our banks? Who runs our big businesses? Who dominates our congress? it is the wealthy. While they may not be bad people for capitalizing on what the Fed is doing, there is no denying that while their wealth is growing, the rest of us who essentially have to live on what we make from actually working, the wealthy are getting nothing short of a free pocket stuffing while we pay for it in inflation. Like I said, for now, Republicans are getting away with saying the left is demonizing the wealthy for being wealthy. that will continue to work for awhile but the day will come people no longer buy that story. Just a hunch.

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  2. Rick
    An interesting debate and an interesting financial disclosure. Viz Bernie is worth 169,000 and carries 25 grand in credit card debt. My problem is this; if a man is worth 169K why carry 25G as a high interest liability in a credit card account?. For someone with a desire to oversee an economy the size of the US market, surely his personal fiscal irresponsibility should debar his candidacy. It has been my belief that debit is something to be avoided at all costs and perhaps therein lies the root cause of problems currently besetting your nation.

    Cheers from Aussie

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    1. " It has been my belief that debit is something to be avoided at all costs and perhaps therein lies the root cause of problems currently besetting your nation."

      Too much debt and too much desire to control the world is what typically brings down most empires. This country has an abundance of both.

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