Hillary Clinton5

Hillary Clinton made an economic speech today and in it she listed many views that were very Progressive including wanting to prosecute both individuals and their Wall Street companies for criminal actions. It would be hard to press a better button for the base of Progressives in the Democratic Party…and she certainly knows that.

Faced with strong popularity growing for Bernie Sanders’ opposing campaign, it isn’t surprising to see this strategic move to “out-Bernie” Bernie but the real question that arises is, if it is so effortless for Hillary to drastically change her more conservative stances she held until very recently, coincidentally, in a primary where Progressive stands would be most beneficial, just how genuine and permanent are these changes of opinion?

The place to begin is with the fact that Bill and Hillary Clinton are very close and entwined with Wall Street. The Clinton Foundation is an enormous entity that endlessly seeks huge sums of money and Wall Street has been a very generous contributor. Chelsea Clinton worked for a hedge fund firm and her husband ran one so its even in the family. Wall Street remains a big financier of the Hillary Clinton Presidential campaign.

So one would reasonably ask, if Wall Street continues to be close with Hillary and donating to her while she continues to attack them in speeches…do they know something that Progressive Democrat voters may not know? If her threats to go after Wall Street haven’t made Wall Street come out against her or hesitate in backing her, wouldn’t it be fair to assume that they may have a reason to not be too concerned by what she is saying?

It is a standard cynical practice in the Presidential race, for candidates to pander to their base in the primaries then when they get to the general election, they move to the middle on issues. It’s also a standard in each party that in their primary, the front runner will often try to move farther to the right in the GOP and farther to the left in the Democratic Party to try and take the wind out of the sails of their primary challengers.

It is the way the game is often played but that doesn’t mean it is ethical. It is in fact purposely lying to the very people who decide who they want to represent their views as their party’s candidate. But lying has been institutionalized in our democracy so the public has basically been told not to whine after the fact when they’ve voted for a candidate who tricked them (Scott Walker’s political career is based primarily on this).

At this point, it is challenging to put aside the concern that Hillary may have reassured Wall Street that she will be speaking out against them to win the primary but that they shouldn’t take it seriously because she won’t actually follow through with the attacks if elected.

Even if this was the case, there is the possibility that despite the best made plans…going too far down the populist road may make it too politically difficult to turn back. So if Hillary had intended to deceive Democratic voters about her true views of Wall Street, if that expectation is cemented in place, not just by Dems but by independent voters who could help elect her in the General Election, she would have a more difficult choice to make. Reverse her course on reigning in Wall Street and risk losing a bid at a second term at the hands of voters who feel betrayed or staying the course and being abandoned by Wall Street in her re-election fundraising.

Doing the right thing can often be much more difficult than doing the wrong thing. Standing up to Wall Street is difficult for a politician, pretending to do so with a wink and a nod is easy.

One would hope Hillary is earnest in her stands to hold Wall Street criminally accountable and strongly regulate them. Whether it was originally intended or not, hopefully the importance of doing the right thing by standing with 99.9% of Americans and opposing the destructive power and greed of Wall Street would end up prevailing.

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goleafsgo
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goleafsgo

Very interesting article, AdLib. If I could vote (I am Canadian) I would find it difficult choosing between Hillary and Bernie. I can understand why the Republicans are focusing on Hillary as not being “trustworthy.” I think it is a Frank Luntz tactic that is working…at least it seems to be. It gives me pause when I think of her efforts against Obama during the 2008 campaign. And then there’s Bill. What can I say other than I would not want him directing the President.

I am impressed, so far, with Bernie…his honesty, his courage, and the way he is running his campaign. The fight for the 50 states is impressive. 3500 simultaneous local organized meetings occurred on the July 29. Amazing. Hillary only had 1/5th the number of parties in June. He call this his political revolution. Can he win? I do not know.

However, there is one guy that I really could support if he were to run…
that is Vice President Joe Biden. He is a true statesman…a GOOD man.

Pardon my naivete’ but, after all of this happens..the electing of a Democratic President, I have only one question. How does the President get anything done if Republicans maintain the Congress? Maybe two… Can America survive another 8 years of a do nothing Congress?

KillgoreTrout
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Trump the cat!

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[/img]

ACK!

Nirek
Member

KT, I am having a coughing fit with that pic.! Glad I wasn’t drinking coffee just now.

KillgoreTrout
Member

Oooops! You might have had to get a new computer! 😉

filo
Member
filo

Hillary talks the talk but Bernie walks the walk.

Nirek
Member

Filo, you just spoke the truth! Bernie speaks truthfully and has a great agenda. Bernie’s message is that we can make all Americans better off without hurting anyone. The richest folks have been getting away without paying their fair share of taxes! Some corporations have taken money out of the treasury but not put any in! To me that is just WRONG!

#BernieCares

choicelady
Member

Nirek – his agenda is Obama’s accomplishments. I think Bernie is a fraud. I am bitterly disappointed in how superficial he is.

NirekJunior
Member
NirekJunior

Bernie’s agenda goes farther than Obama’s, and I am not sure in what way he is superficial. Bernie has acknowledged what Obama has done and has been clear on what he thought Obama’s biggest mistake was – namely not keeping together the movement that elected him to keep the pressure on. Bernie is representing a large swath of people who are fed up with the way politics works, and is drawing dedicated interest from people who have felt very much disinfranchised by one cookie-cutter politician after the next. I know this because I’m one of those people. I don’t want another Clinton in the White House, and sure as hell not another Bush. I don’t want another politician telling me what I want to hear only to more or less follow the status quo when they get in office. I want someone who isn’t afraid to say what so many think. I want someone who isn’t afraid to say “well I haven’t thought much about that issue, but here’s what makes sense to me.” I want a president that I can be proud of and who is beholden not to a few big corporate donors, but the millions of people who supported him/her. Is that idealistic? Probably, but I think we are better than what we’ve been, and I think having an honest politician in the highest office in the land is a good way to move forward. (It doesn’t hurt that Bernie’s agenda meshes very well with what Pope Francis has been saying, another man I greatly respect.) just my thoughts 🙂

filo
Member
filo

I sent Bernie $50 when he announced. I will vote for him on any ballot. On the other hand, I will be pleasantly surprised if he beats Hillary. I supported Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern back in the day. I’ll be stunned if the country elects a Democratic Socialist.

choicelady
Member

I have to disagree about Bernie. His policy proposals are what President Obama is DOING, but he gives no credit. He proposes ideas that are also in play with this administration but held up by the same damned Congress that Obama faces.

He has nothing in hand that addresses anything but generalities. His own record is pitiful – three bills passed in the Senate. Two were renaming post offices. He has NOT walked the walk, and he has no policies, only slogans. I am so fed up with his ilk I could spit. We have a chance for a real progressive maybe – and he’s not it.

I am appalled at his tin ear on race. So what if he marched with Rev. King 52 years ago? He has done NOTHING on racial justice since. He was MIA on Ferguson, NYC, and especially Charleston going so far as to interrupt a memorial service for the 9 victims on the Capitol lawn while he pounded the lectern for pension reform. That’s white effing privilege at play, and I am furious he cannot and will not give us better.

I have no idea where Hillary will be as president. I have reasons that are deeply personal to like her and reasons that are deeply worried on policy to NOT like her. But she’s far more focused than is Bernie. He either needs to grow up and stop with the rhetoric or I’m done. Until he tells us HOW we will get what he wants – and how he would build on the Obama legacy – he’s just another Emo with no substance, no capacity, no juice, no chops.

Nirek
Member

CL, because I respect you I am going to let my son’s post speak for me. AdLib also made many of my points. Suffice to say I agree to disagree with you on Bernie.

Peace

Nirek
Member

AdLib, this article is not your usual satire. You make excellent points about the candidate and her history. I believe she has been purchased! She now belongs to Monsanto and othe corporations like BIG banks.

Bernie on the other hand, can’t be bought! He is not taking money from the corporations or the billionaires! To me that is the ethical way to run a grassroots campaign. Bernie is NOT beholding to corporations like Hillary is.

Thanks Ad, for this article. #BernieCares

NirekJunior
Member
NirekJunior

Good article, and this is exactly why Bernie supporters are so invested in him – a politician with ethics. (On par with a lawyer telling the truth, if you ask my father.) Hillary doesn’t mean what she says. She isn’t going to bite the hand (er…wallet) that feeds her. She is pandering in a most obvious fashion, and that tells me that even though she won’t mention her primary opponent, she is legit worried about the excitement Bernie is drawing from actual people, not corporations. Heck I am even strongly considering donating to a political campaign, something I never would have believed. Bernie is genuine though, his record proves it, the crowds sense it, and he may just get the political revolution he wants. #FeelTheBern

Nirek
Member

Son, this is one of the many reasons I am so proud of you! #BernieCares

sillylittleme
Member

Ad, On DKos today staunch Hillary supporters were going after Bernie supporters for pointing out that her corporate speak in a tweet reflects her true intent.

I expect them to be much like the McCain supporters, two time losing candidate whiners. I hardly expect her to be able to follow through on her platform as she would have to sign legislation that overrides her husband’s signature.

funksands
Member

SLM, have you been as surprised as I have at the level of vitriol already being exhibited by supporters of Bernie and Hillary? I am.

sillylittleme
Member

Who knew Ds could be so vicious?

It’s the “I want to see a woman president before I die” crowd vs the New Deal/Second Bill of Rights crowd.

It saddens me, the other party is supposed to be the stupid party…

funksands
Member

Ad, while she did come out and say that she wouldn’t be in favor of Glass-Steagall re-appearing during her term in office (disappointing to say the least), I was gratified to hear her say how she’d be more than willing to jail actual people that have committed crimes in TBTF institutions.

This would be a monumental improvement over the utterly shameful record of the Obama administration with regard to global financial criminal activity.

There are very very few black marks on the Obama report card, this is absolutely one of them.

Personally I would be pleasantly surprised, considering how cosy the Clintons are with the financial industry, but she definitely is saying things I want to hear!

choicelady
Member

Funk – Glass-Steagall did one thing: it put the firewall between our money in our accounts and the money banks could use for their own investments. That’s it. And that’s what the Volcker Rule does in Dodd-Frank. It was adopted by the regulatory agencies in December 2013 and has begun reducing the amount of risk WE have no matter what the banks do.

Obama has NO negative record – once again, while we were all sleeping, the banks in the 90s and 2000s, made what they did LEGAL. What banks did that was not WAS prosecuted at the federal district court levels. But if anyone is to blame for 2008 it is the American people who just tuned out to the changes in the law. There is almost NOTHING – and Krugman agrees – that this administration could do. The time to act was under Bill and W – and we paid no attention until it was too damned late. YOU can call it fraud – but the vast majority of fraud was perpetrated by mortgage brokers who were unregulated, not by banks that bought the lousy loan paper. The brokers HAVE been prosecuted – I get the notices from our US Attorney about what has happened to those craven brokers here in the Eastern District of CA.

This is not on Obama for following the law. This is on us for letting it happen.

funksands
Member

Choice, I was not necessarily referring to pre-meltdown activities, nor the Volker Rule which goes into effect just this very month, (which therefore has not been reducing any risk of any kind)

Nor was I referring to the untrue fact that what banks and people at those banks did pre-2007-8 wasn’t illegal per say.

Nor was I referring to the Justice Dept and SEC almost 100% of the time simply acting as fine extractors rather than enforcement divisions.

Rather I am referring to the actions of our justice dept in cases where clear and demonstrable fraud and crime of the most obvious and brazen led to no filing of charges against anyone nor any admission of wrongdoing.

I would forgive an earnest effort that found itself up against the best attorney a bank could buy, and simply could not obtain a conviction. In some of the greyer cases, facts likely would have emerged that what happened wasn’t illegal but simply unethical. But even in the most obvious case, that attempt was not made.

The HSBC case is simply the most absurd of the lot. Here is a bank that knowingly and aggressively laundered drug cartel and weapons trafficker money as a routine business model. They were caught red-handed helping North Korea and Iran avoid sanctions as well as laundering money for Al Queda and Hezbollah.

You couldn’t make up situation like this in fiction, yet it was very real?

The result?

A $1.9 Billion fine – This is equal to 5% of their annual profits
A program of oversight and monitoring, that they have nelglected to comply with. The head of that division was reassigned after not cooperating with the DOJ
A partial clawback of deferred compensation arrangements of executives at the firm

Why wasn’t anyone prosecuted? Because according to Lanny Bruer “HSBC would almost certainly have lost its banking license in the U.S., the future of the institution would have been under threat and the entire banking system would have been destabilized.” Which is utter nonsense.

Plenty of small fish are charged and convicted of money laundering all the time in the US, but not bankers and financiers at large institutions. They aren’t even charged.

Loretta Lynch ignored whistleblower documents exposing additional tax fraud by HSBC and signed off on the deferred prosecution deal.

Eric Holder said it best: “I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if we do prosecute – if we do bring a criminal charge – it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy. I think that is a function of the fact that some of these institutions have become too large.”

Now this (I think very honest and very telling) statement exposes many things on many levels.

Don’t even get me started on Credit Suisse and BNP Paribas.

Whether the kid gloves are a deliberate wholistic administrative approach to dealing with the powerful, yet ultimately fragile banking sector (my opinion) or simply a Justice Dept that feels it doesn’t have the firepower or will to tackle these behemoths (less likely) the end result is that individuals working at these firms have no fear of personal responsibility for their actions.

KillgoreTrout
Member

Good points, all, Ad, but what does she mean if she is saying she’ll, “go after Wall Street?” Are those her exact words, or was she more specific in her promise?