Thursday, May 1, 2014
Bill Clinton: 'I Thank God Every Day That Hillary and I Live in NY and Pay the Highest Aggregate Tax Rate in America'
New York Times, Bill Clinton Defends His Economic Legacy:
Former President Bill Clinton, who has grown increasingly frustrated that his economic policies are viewed as out-of-step with the current focus on income inequality, on Wednesday delivered his most muscular defense of his economic legacy.
The speech reflected a strategic effort by Mr. Clinton and his advisers to reclaim the populist ground now occupied by Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and other ascendant left-leaning Democrats, and, potentially, to lay out an economic message that could propel his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, to the White House in 2016.
“My commitment was to restore broad-based prosperity to the economy and to give Americans a chance,” Mr. Clinton told students at Georgetown University, his alma mater, as Mrs. Clinton looked on from the front row. For nearly two hours, the former president defended the impact of policies like welfare overhaul and the earned-income tax credit, and displayed a series of charts detailing the number of people his policies lifted out of poverty. ...
As president, Mr. Clinton presided over one of the healthiest economies in recent memory, but he also forged a new model of a pro-business, pragmatic Democrat who championed public-private partnerships and open markets. His language as president was more focused on lifting the middle class than castigating the wealthy. That should not be confused with a lack of concern for the poor, Mr. Clinton says now. ...
On Wednesday, Mr. Clinton said he thanked God every day that “Hillary and I and some of our friends in this audience who live in New York probably pay the highest aggregate tax rates in America.”
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2014/05/bill-cinton-i-thank-god-.html
Comments
I don't have anything against Bill Clinton, but the whole Hillary (not to mention Jeb Bush) thing sounds an awful lot like the Restoration of the English or French Monarchy, and a statement like this sounds much more like "noblesse oblige" than anything seriously resembling social justice
Posted by: michael livingston | May 3, 2014 3:19:16 AM
I clicked on the link for the NYT article and, right under the picture of Bill Clinton wagging his finger, was an ad for men's underwear.
Posted by: Woody | May 2, 2014 8:32:56 PM
That from the Clintons who deducted Bill Clinton's underwear on their taxes.
"...while governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton would donate his used shorts to Salvation Army or Goodwill resale shops and take a $4 tax deduction for each pair. And it has since been revealed that he gave away long underwear and valued it for tax purposes at $12 per long john. (I don't know if they were with or without back flaps, or whether it matters.)"
Imitate the president: Deduct your underwear
Posted by: Woody | May 2, 2014 11:17:08 AM
It's time to put this facade of Bill Clinton's greatness to rest...
When I was a younger man, I worked for the fastest growing petroleum refining and marketing company in America. The Marketing Dept. was led by a loud mouthed, bullying, immoral Sr. VP buffoon who happened to be a lackey for the President of the company. To this day, this clown still claims he was a large part of the success, never realizing the talent he inherited by chance. Everyone that worked for the company, short of the Execs, knew the buffoon was dead weight who happened to be along for the ride.
Much like our Sr. VP, Bill Clinton supposed successes could simply be defined as serendipity. He was there when it happened in a very visible position, and the collapse much like the company I worked just happened to have transpired at the end of his term.
I defy anybody to detail for me what policy Bill Clinton championed that led to the booming 90s. An influx of capital gains taxes based on a false premise, which collapsed in the spring of 2000 while Clinton still President and blamed on George Bush? Welfare reform, where Clinton finally caved to a Republican Congress after being dragged to the table three times?
Posted by: Tex Taylor | May 2, 2014 1:09:31 AM
This kind of comment from Bill Clinton may explain why, during what might be called the Whitewater years of their marriage, Hillary was reputedly in charge of their finances.
Posted by: Joseph W. Mooney | May 3, 2014 4:50:53 AM