[Ache]

"The American Dream has been under assault for 30 years," says former President Bill Clinton.

<...>

I spoke with President Clinton on the eve of the Clinton Global Initiative's annual meeting in New York Monday, where "jobs jobs, jobs" is one of the main topics of the conference.

While the development of a global economy and the information technology revolution caused upheaval for many workers, Mister Clinton says these trends were accelerated by "the adoption of two bad ideas":

<...>

Government as the Enemy: Clinton cites a "30-year anti-government rant," which is a uniquely American phenomenon, as another root cause of joblessness. "Instead of figuring out how the government and the private sector can work together, saying that 'government is the source of all problems and if we just choked it off, never another regulation, never another tax, never had another program all will be well.' There is not a single, solitary example on the planet where that's worked, including in America."

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[Cog]

Bill should get a hobby.

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'B')ill should get a hobby.

[evilgenius]

There is a recent episode of Charlie Rose where Simon Schama goes into this. I would post a link, but it was days ago I watched it.

Wasn't the civil war fought over this very thing? Didn't the advocates for some form of meaningful government win? Who are these people who claim to be bringing these old things up in the name of your average American? What the hell do they want?

[Roy]

Dear Slick Willie,

Do you remember yourself (and GHWB) laughing at Ross Perot in the 1992 Presidential debates when he said NAFTA would destroy the American middle class?

You and the Republican 'contract with America' congress (hey Newt -- waves at the 4 times married family values social conservative ) presided over the beginnings of the de-industrialization of America, the collapse of the middle class, and basically ruined everything you touched.

Please go **** up a rope, ****, and ****.
Signed,
Roy

[TreeFarmer]

+1 to Roy. You're post is right on the money. Slick Willie is now trying to revise history to make himself look better. Jobs didn't start going to China under GWB, it started long before that and 'free traders' like BC put it into overdrive.

[Unconventional Ideas]

Remind me again why anything Bill Clinton says matters.

[Roy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TreeFarmer', '+')1 to Roy. You're post is right on the money. Slick Willie is now trying to revise history to make himself look better. Jobs didn't start going to China under GWB, it started long before that and 'free traders' like BC put it into overdrive.

[prajeshbhat]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Roy', 'D')=R in all but social policies

[Cog]

Power-down implies a lowering of wages and standards of living. Free trade is just making that happen quicker than Peak Oil has. I'm cool with that.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote(' ', ' ')Obama=Bush in all policies. He just has a better vocabulary.

[PrestonSturges]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Roy', 'D')ear Slick Willie,

Do you remember yourself (and GHWB) laughing at Ross Perot in the 1992 Presidential debates when he said NAFTA would destroy the American middle class?

[Novus]

Clinton is just waking up now and realizing he sold out America but it is now 20 years too late. The power brokers that put him in charge tricked him into signing NAFTA. It didn't cost him anything except the future of the entire nation. His economic adviser Rubin was a bought and paid for shill from Goldman Sachs. He was completely misled by neo-con lies who cooped the presidency right under him and the same thing is happening to Obama right now.

President goes to his economic advisers about jobs and the adviser tells him about all these free trade deals he needs to sign and how much deregulation will help America grow. All of it was lies, lies, and more lies. He should have listened to Ross Perot who wanted to build factories and revitalize the American worker.

Edit: Another thing no one really talks about regarding Clinton is the Capital Gains tax cut he signed. He cut it from 36% to 15% giving Billionaires the biggest tax cut in History. It is has cost the taxpayer untold trillions. This is why the CEO of Walmart pays less tax rate than the Walmart greeter or CEO of McDonald's pays a lower tax rate than the teenager who asks if you want fries with that.

[The Practician]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TreeFarmer', '+')1 to Roy. You're post is right on the money. Slick Willie is now trying to revise history to make himself look better. Jobs didn't start going to China under GWB, it started long before that and 'free traders' like BC put it into overdrive.

[PrestonSturges]

Yes well don't forget Bush's Sec of Labor, the Chinese woman (Taiwanese but from Shanghai exporter family) who oversaw the export of over 2,000,000 American manufacturing jobs. She is now married to Senator Mitch McConnell (R - PRC) whose personal fortune has been climbing nicely despite his government salary.

It was under the Bush administration that jobs really collapsed in America.

Clinton signed NAFTA but that was followed by a period of nearly full employment.

When the manufacturing jobs fled America, they did not go to Mexico, they went to China under Bush.

[PrestonSturges]

Bashing Clinton is also all about bringing Back the Bushies to the White House after dumping Perry.

The GOP believes that Obama was elected as the result of a personality cult rather than an overwhelming rejection of Bush policies, so they try to build a flash mob personality cult around a different wingnut every week while planning to bring back Bush policies if not another actual Bush like J.E.B.

[evilgenius]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrestonSturges', 'B')ashing Clinton is also all about bringing Back the Bushies to the White House after dumping Perry.

The GOP believes that Obama was elected as the result of a personality cult rather than an overwhelming rejection of Bush policies, so they try to build a flash mob personality cult around a different wingnut every week while planning to bring back Bush policies if not another actual Bush like J.E.B.

[Loki]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrestonSturges', 'W')hen the manufacturing jobs fled America, they did not go to Mexico, they went to China under Bush.

[babystrangeloop]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrestonSturges', 'C')linton signed NAFTA but that was followed by a period of nearly full employment.

[Zarquon]

"To get rich is glorious!" And whether Deng Xiaoping actually said that doesn't matter. But it's a fact that the Chinese opened their economy for foreign investment in the late eighties, and the full effect became visible in the early nineties, when Clinton was elected. US and European companies began going to China under Clinton because they couldn't under Bush or Reagan. It didn't really matter which guy was having photo ops in the Rose Garden at the time.