Hillary Clinton has a message for workers across the US who are struggling financially: She cares.

[bigtree]

New Clinton economic message has echoes of Edwards



MILWAUKEE, Wis., Feb 17 (Reuters) - White House hopeful Hillary Clinton has a message for hairdressers in Wisconsin, postal workers in Ohio and autoworkers across the United States who are struggling financially: She cares.

Clinton is courting working-class voters with a new message of economic populism similar to the theme of John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator who dropped out of the Democratic race in January.

At campaign rallies over the last few days, Clinton has vowed to rein in corporate interests from oil companies to credit card issuers and mortgage lenders, contending that they are profiting at the expense of the middle class.

"Some days, it probably feels like the perfect storm. You fill up your tank, and that's two twenties from your wallet. You pick up a gallon of milk and a few other things -- and there goes another," Clinton told workers on Thursday at a General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio.

"After a while, you feel like a human ATM -- with all the money going the wrong way."

"It's a little bit hard to take the fact that we have investment managers on Wall Street making $50 million a year paying a lower percentage of their income than nurses and teachers and truck drivers," Clinton said to loud applause at a jam-packed bratwurst restaurant in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

She railed against a tax code that she said was unfair to the middle class and against the outsourcing of jobs overseas.

"We're going to keep jobs by making it abundantly clear that there will not be one penny of your tax dollars that goes to anyone who exports jobs out of Wisconsin," Clinton said . . .

article: http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN1761155720080218?sp=true


Sen. Clinton listens to a family's story at a campaign stop at the Fair River Oaks Council in Dayton, Ohio


Sen. Hillary Clinton's economic adviser Gene Sperling talks about her economic proposals.
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/01/31/econ_adviser_sperling_q/

Hillary Clinton for President, Visions For Tackling America’s Immediate And Long-Term Economic Challenges
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=5460

Strengthening the Middle Class
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/middleclass

Creating Opportunity in Rural America:
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/rural

Supporting Parents and Caring for Children
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/family

An Innovation Agenda
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/feature/innovation/

[undeterred]

1. Is she giving away money?

Because she "cared" about health care at the beginning of her husbands administration and she's made out like a bandit but health care has only gotten worse.

[sendero]

2. Isn't that special...

... since her policies and behavior are about as culpable in this mess as any Dem's.

More trade agreements, more globalization, what wonderful prescriptions have you for us Hillary?

[bigtree]

3. I provided links

I don't see any 'globalization' proposals.

[undeterred]

8. I need imitrex, not links.

[bigtree]

14. oh, really

no one forced you to come on to this thread with your firebombs

[sendero]

17. You know what..

.. I don't give a RAT'S ASS what HRC SAYS she is going to do, I care what SHE HAS DONE.

She HAD HER SHOT, she BLEW IT. End of story, hopefully.

[bigtree]

20. so, you're just here to throw stones

understood and noted

[MannyGoldstein]

4. We Simply Need To Outsource More Jobs

Creating more free trade opportunities creates incredible wealth for the average American. It allows workers in other countries (who make, say, $2.50/day in China) to purchase an enormous amount of US goods and services. Clinton has backed the largest of the free trade bills - NAFTA and permanent "almost-free" trade status for China - and, as President, will continue to help the American worker by outsourcing their job and bringing in lots of low-priced labor though the H1-B guest visa program.

[bigtree]

7. It's been posted here, several times, that her votes on trade do not differ from Obama's

. . . in any significant way. The only difference he can manage is to point to some favorable statements Sen. Clinton once made about her husband's passage of the original bill. But, as I recall, Sen Obama voted for NAFTA's extension. I really don't see where he's in any position to criticize those statements or her actions when he used his own authority to further the trade act.

some perspective on Sen Clinton and the passage of NAFTA:

"In August in '92, we had to make a decision," Mickey Kantor the former U.S. secretary of Commerce, Clinton adviser and free trade advocate recalled for the Huffington Post. "President Clinton had to make a decision as governor, whether or not he would support NAFTA, and of course he did. ... Hillary Clinton was one of the great skeptics in the discussion as to whether he should do. So she was always skeptical beginning in 1992 and onward."

Carl Bernstein, another Clinton biographer, echoed much the same tale during a recent appearance on CNN.

"'Bill,'" he recalled Hillary Clinton as saying, "'you are doing Republican economics when you are doing NAFTA.' She was against NAFTA. And if she would somehow come out and tell the real story of what she fought for in the White House and failed in a big argument with her husband she would end up moving much closer to those Edwards followers."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/14/did-hillary-clinton-reall_n_86674.html

[MannyGoldstein]

12. There Haven't Been Any Important "Free" Trade Votes

since Obama's been in the Senate. By "NAFTA expansion" I assume that you mean Peru - this was a flea fart of a vote, and helps a country that is desperately poor.

I hope that it's true that she opposed Bill on NAFTA - if so, she should come out and say it. (Anything to distance herself drom her more-overtly race baiting husband should help her, I think.)

[dkf]

5. Her husband is responsible for a whole lot of lost jobs.

I call BS on Hillary.

[bigtree]

9. I call bs on blaming her for her husband's economic decisions over a decade ago

[rndmprsn]

11. too fucking bad...i call your call bullshit

so there...

[sendero]

18. She openly takes credit..

.. for the "experience", she can take the blame for the failure.

[bigtree]

22. Hopefully, voters are more discerning than that.

[dkf]

19. You think that those decisions didn't provide the foundation for what

we are going through today?

The difference is that now we see the consequences of those decisions.

And I do blame her for her "co-Presidency".

[bigtree]

26. I don't think enough blame has been placed on the Bush administration and his republican enablers

. . . and obstructionists in Congress who have not lifted a finger to enforce ANY of the sanctions or offsets which the treaty was to provide. Further, there's been no effort at all to help the workers who were displaced by the negative economic effects of the treaty. I can't see any Democratic administration tolerating what has occurred in the wake of it's passage like republicans have.

I do think that the most important flaw in the treaty was not recognizing that the 'authority' for the treaty's implementation might fall into republican hands. So yes, Bill Clinton bears the blame for all of that. But, I don't think it's credible to take what's happened to the economy during Bush's two terms and pile all of that on NAFTA. I would put most of the blame on the rape of our treasury for his tax breaks to the wealth 1% and his withering occupation of Iraq.

[dkf]

30. Manufacturing jobs have been leaving for a long long time

before George W. Bush.

I do remember Ross Perot's arguments. I think he was smarter than we gave him credit for. We all called him a crank and laughed when he went off about his daughter's wedding, but he had a clue after all.

[bigtree]

33. Bush's overwhelmingly negative impact on this economy is unmistakable

It make no sense at all to go back before 2000 to find the cause of our problems today. The cause is right in front of us: Iraq and the Richie Rich tax cuts.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

52. It's part of her 35 Years Of Experience(TM), isn't it?

And a pretty big part, I might add, since he created a task force around it.

Oh yeah, she didn't oppose it back then either. That's the revisionist bullshit her campaign came up with now. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/hillary-clinton-pretends-_b_86747.html

[rndmprsn]

6. another DLC corp dem "promise"

i suppose there's a sucker born every minute...

[bigtree]

10. I fail to see why someone posting such a nasty response should be seen as an authority

on character.

[zulchzulu]

13. Ferchrissakes, so the Clintonian policies of NAFTA and China free trade are not enough...

...for people to see this is nothing more than a bunch of phony bullshit. The Clintons have made millions on outsourcing contacts. We're talking millions of jobs LOST.

I saw the speech and was just really disappointed that ANYONE would trust a word coming out of her mouth based on the Clinton legacy.

She cares, my ass.

[bigtree]

16. with Obama as her opponent, there really is no defining difference to argue between them on NAFTA

and the China vote is one that I'm certain Obama would have made at the time. He voted to extend NAFTA. He hasn't really opposed these deals, except in this campaign.

[Hepburn]

35. Let me get this, OK?

You admit out of one side of your mouth that there is NO difference between Hillary and Obama, but out of the the other side of your mouth, you insist that Hillary has better positions on this issue.

:eyes:

[bigtree]

39. on NAFTA and 'free trade'? Not much difference. But if you read their economic proposals

. . . that is the difference worth talking about.

[Hepburn]

45. True......

....and that is why I am in the Obama camp. (Former Edwards supporter.)

[bigtree]

46. best of luck with your candidate

I'm watching . . .

[MethuenProgressive]

15. K&R this positive pro-Clinton thread that doesn't mention or bash Obama at all.

I wish the Obamas could compose such messages.
:kick:

[rodeodance]

42. YOU GO!

[Imperialism Inc.]

21. So then she feels our pain so to speak?

[bigtree]

27. yes. She's determined to highlight the economic plights of Americans in her campaign

. . . much like the focus of John Edwards' appeal.

[MoJoWorkin]

23. Resorting to the fall back position of what worked for Bill---- "I feel your pain."

Sure they do. All the while he makes millions from speeches and she says words are cheap!:sarcasm:

Her words, "she cares" rings hollow to many who have lost their jobs due to NAFTA.

[berni_mccoy]

24. Why does she want to force them to buy Health Insurance? And why did she vote for the Bankruptcy Law

Not really supportive of poor people in ACTION is she?

[Vinca]

25. Exactly. What a giant load of baloney.

If she cared she'd be pushing true universal, single payer, health CARE, not a bonanza for the insurance companies. (And no, I don't like Obama's plan, either.) Instead, she's prepared to take grocery money out of someone's paycheck because they can't afford to pay big insurance for a policy. This woman's picture must be next to "phoney" in the dictionary.

[bigtree]

31. Are you being 'forced' to pay taxes for Medicare and Medicaid? Social Security?

As for health care, I'm already forced to buy it, and so are you if you pay taxes. Actually, you're paying for government worker's health care. We buy it for prisoners, government employees, the indigent, bankruptcies from unpaid medical bills, the elderly, the disabled, illegal immigrants in some states, the unemployed, and when we purchase things, part of that money goes to pay salaries and medical of the employees and/or stockholders.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

28. this is Hillary's economic policy that Obama ripped off and tried to claim for himself BUSTED!

Obama takes hit on economic policy

Campaign's a ripoff of Clinton's, her supporters-

February 14, 2008

BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Political

White House hopeful Barack Obama's economic platform set off a three-way fight Wednesday as aides to Republican John McCain and Democrat Hillary Clinton accused Obama of stealing Clinton's ideas.

Obama fired back that McCain lacks economic know-how.

"Obama's plan today is the most shameless piece of potential plagiarism that I have ever seen," McCain economic advisor Kevin Hassett said. The Clinton campaign helpfully e-mailed his comments to reporters.

"He basically took Clinton's words and Clinton's policies and called them his own," Hassett said. "If I were a professor I'd give him an F and try to get him kicked out of school for something this terrible ... I remember Mrs. Clinton saying shared prosperity and I remember the bill that she introduced in August for infrastructure. The fact is these are things Obama has taken as his own without crediting the source of the ideas which was Mrs. Clinton."

Clinton herself said, "A plan that fails to provide universal health care, fails to address the housing crisis, and fails to immediately start creating good paying jobs in America again will not turn the economy around and provide the real relief that our people need. We need real results not more rhetoric."

The New York senator's campaign said she proposed a national infrastructure bank in August and that Obama's energy plan is a rehash of hers. The Obama campaign responded that his bank proposal is better than hers and that he introduced his energy plan before hers.

"John McCain started attacking me on economic policy, which I thought was flattering. It makes clear that he knows who his opponent is going to be, and I am looking forward to a great debate on the issues with John McCain," Obama told a crowd at the Waukeshaw County fairgrounds in Wisconsin.

"I have to say though that I was surprised that he took me on on economics because he has admitted ... economics is not his strong suit," Obama said. "I mean he said 'I don't understand economics very well' and after what he said it shows because his main economic philosophy is to continue the same tax breaks that George Bush has been perpetuating over the last seven years. If John McCain wants to debate the specifics of how well the economy has worked for ordinary families over the last seven years that is a debate that I am happy to have."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/794128,CST-NWS-campweb14.article

[rodeodance]

49. "Obama takes hit on economic policy"==thanks, I have not seen this.

[Radical Activist]

29. The Clinton always care.

They just don't do anything about it.

[bigtree]

32. # Under President Clinton's leadership,

. . .almost 6 million new jobs were created in the first two years of his Administration -- an average of 250,000 new jobs every month.

* 20.8 Million New Jobs Created Under the Clinton-Gore Administration. Since 1993, the economy has added 20.8 million new jobs. That’s the most jobs ever created under a single Administration -- and more new jobs than Presidents Reagan and Bush created during their three terms. Under President Clinton, the economy has added an average of 248,000 jobs per month, the highest of any President on record. This compares to 52,000 per month under President Bush and 167,000 per month under President Reagan.

* 92 Percent -- 19.2 Million -- of the New Jobs Created in the Private Sector. Since President Clinton and Vice President Gore took office, the private sector of the economy has added 19.2 million new jobs. That is 92 percent of the 20.8 million new jobs -- the highest percentage since Harry S. Truman was President and presiding over the post-World War II demobilization.

* The Unemployment Rate Fell to 4.0 Percent in January – the Lowest in Three Decades. The unemployment rate fell to 4.0 percent in January – the lowest in three decades. The unemployment rate has fallen for seven years in a row. It has remained below 5 percent for 31 months in a row. For women the unemployment rate was 4.2 percent -- staying at the lowest since 1953.

* African American and Hispanic Unemployment Rates Were the Lowest on Record. The unemployment rate for African Americans has fallen from 14.2 percent in 1992 to 8.2 percent in January 2000 -- remaining at the lowest rate on record. Unemployment for Hispanics has fallen from 11.6 percent in 1992 to 5.6 percent in January 2000 -- remaining at the lowest rate on record.

* Most Rapid Growth in Construction Jobs In 50 Years. After losing 662,000 jobs in construction during the previous four years, 2.0 million new construction jobs have been added during the Clinton-Gore years -- that’s a faster annual rate (5.3 percent) than any other Administration since Harry S. Truman was President.

* Fastest and Longest Real Wage Growth in Over Three Decades. In the last 12 months, average hourly earnings have increased 3.7 percent -- faster than the rate of inflation. The United States has had five consecutive years of real wage growth -- the longest consecutive increase since the 1960s. Since 1993, real wages are up 6.6 percent, after declining 4.3 percent during the Reagan and Bush years.

* Inflation -- Lowest Since the 1960s. Inflation remains virtually non-existent, with the underlying core rate of inflation at 1.9 percent in 1999 -- the lowest rate since 1965. For 1999, the GDP price index grew only 1.4 percent. In the last two years, GDP inflation was lower than at any time since 1963.
http://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/New/html/20000204_13.html


from Mark Shields: http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/09/column.shields.opinion.clinton/index.html

. . . when Clinton won the White House, the federal budget deficit was at a historic high of $290 billion, 10 million Americans were out of work and the nation's economic growth rate under the outgoing Republican administration was the lowest in more than half a century. Clinton introduced his controversial economic plan that raised the income taxes of the richest 1.4 percent of Americans. We immediately heard from the Gloom and Doom congressional Republicans, every one of whom voted against the Clinton plan. Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, announced, "This tax bill is a one-way ticket to a recession." House Republican Whip Newt Gingrich predicted, "This is the Democrat machine's recession, and each one of them will be held personally accountable."

What followed is unarguable: creation of more than 22 million new jobs; the nation's lowest unemployment rate in 30 years; the lowest unemployment rate among women in 40 years; and the lowest Hispanic and African-American unemployment rate in history. The nation went from the largest budget deficits in history to the largest budget surpluses in history, while the average family's income went up more than $5,000.

[stillrockin]

34. yep, that's the truth.

[rodeodance]

36. I posted that article yesterday on Edwards --thanks for reposting

[bigtree]

40. du'oh

I'm dense that way sometimes :hi:

[rodeodance]

48. oh-I am glad you reposted it---thanks. Hope people take time to read it.

[BlueJac]

37. Who are you kidding........

Fucking nonsense...........can you spell NAFTA, how about the bankrupty law?

[bigtree]

43. Actually, Mrs. Clinton has a mixed record on the bankruptcy bill . . .

from the NYT in August: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/08/clinton-and-the-bankruptcy-law/

As first lady, Mrs. Clinton worked against the bill. She helped kill one version of it, then another version passed, which her husband vetoed. As a senator, in 2001, she voted for it, but it did not pass. When it came up again in 2005, she missed the vote because her husband was in the hospital, although she indicated she would have opposed it.

In the late 1990’s, as first lady, Mrs. Clinton became deeply involved in the issue, her first real foray into legislation since the collapse of her health-care effort in 1994. She sought a private tutorial on the subject, worked behind the scenes with members of Congress, wrote public newspaper columns and spoke out against it.

Her concern was that the bill would hurt women and children. The law then required that if a divorced man filed for bankruptcy, he had to pay off his alimony and child-support obligations first. The bill gave equal status to credit card companies and other lenders who were seeking to recoup money.

President Clinton pocket-vetoed the bill at the end of his term, after Mrs. Clinton had been elected to the Senate. Congress had left town and did not have the chance to try to override the veto.

The bill popped up again 2001, which was Mrs. Clinton’s first year in the Senate. She worked with Republicans on it and was one of 36 Democrats who helped it pass the Senate, saying it had been improved from when she opposed it. Still, this version was vigorously opposed by consumer groups and unions, and ultimately did not become law.

When the bill came up again in 2005, Mrs. Clinton missed the vote. She did vote against a procedural motion involving the bill and said that had she been present, she would have voted against the bill itself.

Explaining Senator Clinton’s support for the bill in 2001, Phil Singer, a campaign spokesman, said, “She helped forge a compromise in the 2001 bill intended to ensure that custodial parents got child custody payments.” She opposed the bill later, he said, because “unfortunately, that provision was stripped from the 2005 legislation.”


and, from Jackson Williams at the Huffington post: http://jinchi.blogspot.com/2007/03/hillary-clinton-and-bankruptcy-bill-of.html


WARREN: Mrs. Clinton, in a much more secure position—as Senator a couple of years later—when the bill came up once again—Senator Clinton was not there—the day of the vote. It was the day that President Clinton, you may remember, had heart surgery. But she issued a very strong press release condemning the bill and I assume if she had been there that she would have voted against it.

From Senator Clinton's official statement on the bill:

This bankruptcy bill fundamentally fails to accord with the traditional purposes of bankruptcy, which recognize that we are all better off when hard-working people who have suffered financial catastrophe get a "fresh start" and a second chance to become productive and contributing members of society. With the passage of this legislation, which makes obtaining this fresh start more expensive and more difficult, we are ensuring that many responsible Americans will continue to be buried under mountains of debt, and unable to take back control and responsibility for their lives.

In the days before S.256 was finally brought to the floor Senator Clinton voted for every amendment which would have added consumer protections to the bankruptcy bill. Amendments which were repeatedly rejected by both the Republican majority and far too many Democrats. She even voted against cloture in an attempt to keep the final bill from coming to a vote at all.

[AGirl]

38. Kick and R - Go HIllary!!

[RBInMaine]

41. She cares so much that she takes more corporate $ than R's??

She takes and defends taking more corporate money than many or most R's from insurance corporations, drug companies, etc. etc. Give me a break.

[bigtree]

44. Obama had no objection to the same types of donations when he ran for the Senate.

He's had, of course, a campaign conversion on funding.

[dionysus]

47. her outsourcing plans will help them

:sarcasm:

[bigtree]

55. Obama said months back:

"We know that we can't put the forces of globalization back in the bottle. We cannot bring back every job that's been lost."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/07/AR2007090702780_pf.html


"Hillary Clinton said:

"Well, outsourcing is a problem and it's one that I've dealt with as a senator from New York. I started an organization called New Jobs for New York to try to stand against the tide of outsourcing, particularly from upstate New York and from rural areas. We have to do several things. End the tax breaks that still exist in the tax code for outsourcing jobs. Have trade agreements with enforceable labor and environmental standards.

Help Americans compete, which is something we haven't taken seriously which goes back to the very first question about education and skills. Let's not forget that sixty-five percent of kids do not go on to college. What are we doing to help them get prepared for the jobs that we could keep here that wouldn't be outsourced? And find a new source of jobs. Clean energy, global warming, would create millions of new jobs for Americans."
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/special/forums/candidates/clinton.html

[HeraldSquare212]

50. "Message: I care" - GHWB

[bigtree]

53. Not just the message, but a campaign built around solutions to those concerns

unlike BushI during that election, trying to explain his way out of HIS OWN recession.

[cooolandrew]

51. All I question is has her campaign shown integrity? Can expect it in the WH?

[bigtree]

54. hell, believing some the spin around here (and elsewhere),

. . . we ought to can them both.

(I don't believe most of the negative spin around here. They're both good Democrats who will make us proud after we advance one of them, as our nominee, to the White House.)