SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Hillary Wants to Bring Back Bill. She Shouldn't.
Why would Hillary threaten workaday Americans with another poke in the eye from her con man spouse?
Jun 15, 2016
This year, despite the unnerving presidential freak show the Republicans are putting on, Hillary Clinton is the one who recently stunned me.
Attempting to convince wary working class families that she'll lift up the poor, shore up the middle class, and stand against the abuses of her Wall Street financial backers, Clinton made a horrifying declaration that she'll bring back Bill.
Specifically, she promised that her former-president husband will be put "in charge of revitalizing the economy."
Good grief. Isn't he the big galoot who turned his economic policy over to Wall Street's Machiavellian, Robert Rubin?
And didn't Bill break his 1992 campaign promise to raise the minimum wage in his first year? Afraid so -- he put it off until his fourth year, and even then provided only a token increase that left the working poor still mired in poverty.
And let's not forget his "welfare reform" bill, which shredded the safety net for America's poorest, most vulnerable people.
This is the same Bill who rammed NAFTA down our throats, creating the job-sucking sound that continues to devastate today's middle class. He also colluded with laissez-faire ideologues and plutocratic Republicans to deregulate Wall Street, allowing global speculators to wreck our economy by playing casino games with our bank deposits and home mortgages.
By the way, since leaving office, Bill has amassed a personal fortune through smarmy, often-secret deals with Wall Street banks and global corporations.
Why would Hillary threaten workaday Americans with another poke in the eye from this big money con man? Instead, she should use Bill's gift of gab by making him her official greeter for White House visitors.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
This column was distributed by OtherWords.
Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
This year, despite the unnerving presidential freak show the Republicans are putting on, Hillary Clinton is the one who recently stunned me.
Attempting to convince wary working class families that she'll lift up the poor, shore up the middle class, and stand against the abuses of her Wall Street financial backers, Clinton made a horrifying declaration that she'll bring back Bill.
Specifically, she promised that her former-president husband will be put "in charge of revitalizing the economy."
Good grief. Isn't he the big galoot who turned his economic policy over to Wall Street's Machiavellian, Robert Rubin?
And didn't Bill break his 1992 campaign promise to raise the minimum wage in his first year? Afraid so -- he put it off until his fourth year, and even then provided only a token increase that left the working poor still mired in poverty.
And let's not forget his "welfare reform" bill, which shredded the safety net for America's poorest, most vulnerable people.
This is the same Bill who rammed NAFTA down our throats, creating the job-sucking sound that continues to devastate today's middle class. He also colluded with laissez-faire ideologues and plutocratic Republicans to deregulate Wall Street, allowing global speculators to wreck our economy by playing casino games with our bank deposits and home mortgages.
By the way, since leaving office, Bill has amassed a personal fortune through smarmy, often-secret deals with Wall Street banks and global corporations.
Why would Hillary threaten workaday Americans with another poke in the eye from this big money con man? Instead, she should use Bill's gift of gab by making him her official greeter for White House visitors.
Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
This year, despite the unnerving presidential freak show the Republicans are putting on, Hillary Clinton is the one who recently stunned me.
Attempting to convince wary working class families that she'll lift up the poor, shore up the middle class, and stand against the abuses of her Wall Street financial backers, Clinton made a horrifying declaration that she'll bring back Bill.
Specifically, she promised that her former-president husband will be put "in charge of revitalizing the economy."
Good grief. Isn't he the big galoot who turned his economic policy over to Wall Street's Machiavellian, Robert Rubin?
And didn't Bill break his 1992 campaign promise to raise the minimum wage in his first year? Afraid so -- he put it off until his fourth year, and even then provided only a token increase that left the working poor still mired in poverty.
And let's not forget his "welfare reform" bill, which shredded the safety net for America's poorest, most vulnerable people.
This is the same Bill who rammed NAFTA down our throats, creating the job-sucking sound that continues to devastate today's middle class. He also colluded with laissez-faire ideologues and plutocratic Republicans to deregulate Wall Street, allowing global speculators to wreck our economy by playing casino games with our bank deposits and home mortgages.
By the way, since leaving office, Bill has amassed a personal fortune through smarmy, often-secret deals with Wall Street banks and global corporations.
Why would Hillary threaten workaday Americans with another poke in the eye from this big money con man? Instead, she should use Bill's gift of gab by making him her official greeter for White House visitors.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.