Thomas Frank: Bill Clinton's Five Major Achievements Were Longstanding GOP Objectives

[Purveyor]

Thomas Frank, author of Listen, Liberal, discusses the Hillary Doctrine's basis in neoliberalism, how the Democratic Party stopped governing on behalf of the working class and how President Bill Clinton's major achievements actually enacted conservative goals, and ultimately hurt working people.

Mark Karlin: The innovation class, the creative class, the wealthy class, the professional class with Ivy League degrees: How did President Obama become the avatar for believing these groups should be the decision makers in government?

Thomas Frank: Obama thinks such people should be in charge because they came up through the same system as him. "Because he himself was a product of the great American postwar meritocracy," his biographer Jonathan Alter writes, "he could never fully escape seeing the world from the status ladder he had ascended."

Most of our other Democratic leaders (the Clintons, for example) came up the same way and believe the same thing. Indeed, what Alter describes is standard-issue stuff for Democrats these days. The Democrats are a class party in the fullest sense of the phrase, and the class whose perspective they reflect and whose interests they serve is the highly educated, white-collar professional class. Theirs is a liberalism of the rich.

Can you describe a little about what you call "The Hillary Doctrine," including how microlending is a good example of her belief in opening doors of entrepreneurship to solve the world's economic problems?

more...

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/36035-thomas-frank-bill-clinton-s-five-major-achievements-were-longstanding-gop-objectives

[NewImproved Deal]

1. Meet the New Democrats...

Let 'em eat "Diversity"!

[link:|

[libdem4life]

7. I just love this photo. Let them eat cake !!!!

[CorporatistNation]

14. Thomas Frank Is All Over IT!

We all remember WHAT they said to describe Bill Clinton as President don't we?

[libdem4life]

15. I believe there is an important chasm developing.

And not a moment too soon. The New Deal Bernie Style and the Third Way Dem/Republican Lite Style. That's quite a huge tent there.

Funny and ironic, it may be Bernie who preserves the Democratic Party. Now it's not so much politics as it is societal class separation. We all know it...no secret. It's just who, what, when, where and how that remains to be seen.

[Ferd Berfel]

17. The best Republican President since Eisenhower?

[oldandhappy]

28. Thank you. Have been thinking a lot recently

about the French revolution.

[snagglepuss]

2. knr

[Karmadillo]

3. K & R

[pdsimdars]

4. Yes, it's mostly been myth.

If you look at the mess we are in now in the country, Clinton laid the foundation.

Free trade
wall street deregulation
media deregulation
bank deregulation
welfare mess
biggest prison population in the world
etc.

All Clinton, all the time.
But I guess all that mattered to them was all that money and power.

[Ferd Berfel]

18. Yes he did

[pdsimdars]

20. Love the graphic. . . copied it. I'll probably post it often.

It is so much easier to post the picture than write it all out. Good job.

[Ferd Berfel]

22. Pleasure

[appalachiablue]

32. +1

[Scuba]

5. Clinton had five major achievements as president:

Clinton had five major achievements as president: NAFTA, the Crime Bill of 1994, welfare reform, the deregulation of banks and telecoms, and the balanced budget.

All of them -- every single one -- were longstanding Republican objectives.

His smaller achievements were more traditionally Democratic (he raised the earned-income tax credit and the minimum wage), but his big accomplishments all enacted conservative wishes, and then all of them ended in disaster.

[jwirr]

13. And even that was just the growth of a bubble that burst.

[Human101948]

30. A boom which increased productivity and in the end eliminated millions of jobs...

Certainly those at the top of the economy laud that era, but for too many it meant losing good paying jobs.

At least the IT people should have benefitted. But no, they were too expensive and had to be replaced by foreign scabs. To add insult to injury they had to train their replacements. A process that Hillary has endorsed with her enthusiastic support of H-1B visas. It is absolute crap that they couldn't fill jobs with Americans.

The fix is in: Proof that H-1B visa abuse is rampant

Major outsourcers, largely based in India, are obtaining the lion's share of the 85,000 H-1B visas issued each year and are paying salaries far below the prevailing wages for American IT workers -- a violation of the spirit, if not the letter, of the H-1B rules. New information from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency that oversees the H-1B program, finally proves what critics have long suspected: H-1B abuse is real and rampant.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/3004501/h1b/proof-that-h-1b-visa-abuse-is-rampant-in-tech.html

[libdem4life]

6. Thus, I'm not With Her.

I couldn't bear to read it all...how far our Party has slid down the Corporate Rabbit Hole.

One thing I do fervently believe...is that regardless of the outcome in November, the Democratic Party as a lot of soul-searching to do. Like the Republicans, we're getting into the uncharted territority of thrusting forth unfavorable candidates.

The R's...I'm not even sure how the traditional candidates fared so poorly. Maybe it's a powerless RNC. But the D's...I do know and it has all to do with the usurption of the entire Establishment going All In for Hillary because it was Her Turn...regardless of who said that exactly. All the others bowed out...except one Independent.

Will the rank and file ever get it? Do they care? Or does Bernie and his supporters create a party of inclusion...even the 1% if they so choose.

[KoKo]

9. ..!

[Blue_In_AK]

8. That was a good piece.

I often don't read the links all the way through, but that was well thought out.

[AzDar]

11. K & R & ...

[senz]

12. K&R -- so her DINO supporters shout: "Bernie isn't a Democrat!"

Shameless hypocrisy.

[libdem4life]

16. He's the Democrat that represents the Party I joined decades ago.

In fact, the reason he had a chance is due to the complete lockdown of all of the Estabslishment Dems in order to pave the way for HRC. That must have been a caucus he missed.

[snowy owl]

19. How the Other Fifth Lives from NY Times - disparity in wealth greater than perceived by most of us.

Article in NY Times reflects this disparity and increasing "class" society. The numbers are here and regaining our democracy will become even more difficult than most people know.

For years now, people have been talking about the insulated world of the top 1 percent of Americans, but the top 20 percent of the income distribution is also steadily separating itself — by geography and by education as well as by income.

This self-segregation of a privileged fifth of the population is changing the American social order and the American political system, creating a self-perpetuating class at the top, which is ever more difficult to break into.

The accompanying chart, taken from “The Continuing Increase in Income Segregation,” a March 2016 paper by Sean F. Reardon, a professor of education at Stanford, and Kendra Bischoff, a professor of sociology at Cornell, demonstrates the accelerating geographic isolation of the well-to-do — the upper middle and upper classes (a pattern of isolation that also applies to the poor, with devastating effect).

In hard numbers, the percentage of families with children living in very affluent neighborhoods more than doubled between 1970 and 2012, from 6.6 percent to 15.7 percent.

At the same time, the percentage of families with children living in traditional middle class neighborhoods with median incomes between 80 and 125 percent of the surrounding metropolitan area fell from 64.7 percent in 1970 to 40.5 percent.

Reardon and Bischoff write:

Segregation of affluence not only concentrates income and wealth in a small number of communities, but also concentrates social capital and political power. As a result, any self-interested investment the rich make in their own communities has little chance of “spilling over” to benefit middle‐ and low-income families. In addition, it is increasingly unlikely that high‐income families interact with middle‐ and low‐income families, eroding some of the social empathy that might lead to support for broader public investment in social programs to help the poor and middle class.

Geographic segregation dovetails with the growing economic spread between the top 20 percent and the bottom 80 percent: The top quintile is, in effect, disengaging from everyone with lower incomes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/27/opinion/campaign-stops/how-the-other-fifth-lives.html

These are are the Clintons now. But I doubt the supporters of Clinton will care to read. I did send this to a fairly well-to-do friend, money made off Microsoft stock, and he quarreled with the writers instead of the data. That's how deep Clinton-love goes.

[bigtree]

21. what a dishonest article, right from the title

try these:


Longest economic expansion in American history

The President's strategy of fiscal discipline, open foreign markets and investments in the American people helped create the conditions for a record 115 months of economic expansion. Our economy has grown at an average of 4 percent per year since 1993.

More than 22 million new jobs

More than 22 million jobs were created in less than eight years -- the most ever under a single administration, and more than were created in the previous twelve years.

Highest homeownership in American history

A strong economy and fiscal discipline kept interest rates low, making it possible for more families to buy homes. The homeownership rate increased from 64.2 percent in 1992 to 67. 7 percent, the highest rate ever.

Lowest unemployment in 30 years

Unemployment dropped from more than 7 percent in 1993 to just 4.0 percent in November 2000. Unemployment for African Americans and Hispanics fell to the lowest rates on record, and the rate for women is the lowest in more than 40 years.

Raised education standards, increased school choice, and doubled education and training investment

Since 1992, reading and math scores have increased for 4th, 8th, and 12th graders, math SAT scores are at a 30-year high, the number of charter schools has grown from 1 to more than 2,000, forty-nine states have put in place standards in core subjects and federal investment in education and training has doubled.

Largest expansion of college opportunity since the GI Bill

President Clinton and Vice President Gore have nearly doubled financial aid for students by increasing Pell Grants to the largest award ever, expanding Federal Work-Study to allow 1 million students to work their way through college, and by creating new tax credits and scholarships such as Lifetime Learning tax credits and the HOPE scholarship. At the same time, taxpayers have saved $18 billion due to the decline in student loan defaults, increased collections and savings from the direct student loan program.

Connected 95 percent of schools to the Internet

President Clinton and Vice President Gore's new commitment to education technology, including the E-Rate and a 3,000 percent increase in educational technology funding, increased the percentage of schools connected to the Internet from 35 percent in 1994 to 95 percent in 1999.


Enacted most sweeping gun safety legislation in a generation

Since the President signed the Brady bill in 1993, more than 600,000 felons, fugitives, and other prohibited persons have been stopped from buying guns. Gun crime has declined 40 percent since 1992.

Family and Medical Leave Act for 20 million Americans

To help parents succeed at work and at home, President Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act in 1993. Over 20 million Americans have taken unpaid leave to care for a newborn child or sick family member.

Higher incomes at all levels

After falling by nearly $2,000 between 1988 and 1992, the median family's income rose by $6,338, after adjusting for inflation, since 1993. African American family income increased even more, rising by nearly $7,000 since 1993. After years of stagnant income growth among average and lower income families, all income brackets experienced double-digit growth since 1993. The bottom 20 percent saw the largest income growth at 16.3 percent.

Lowest poverty rate in 20 years

Since Congress passed President Clinton's Economic Plan in 1993, the poverty rate declined from 15.1 percent to 11.8 percent last year — the largest six-year drop in poverty in nearly 30 years. There are now 7 million fewer people in poverty than in 1993. The child poverty rate declined more than 25 percent, the poverty rates for single mothers, African Americans and the elderly have dropped to their lowest levels on record, and Hispanic poverty dropped to its lowest level since 1979.

Lowest teen birth rate in 60 years

In his 1995 State of the Union Address, President Clinton challenged Americans to join together in a national campaign against teen pregnancy. The birth rate for teens aged 15-19 declined every year of the Clinton Presidency, from 60.7 per 1,000 teens in 1992 to a record low of 49.6 in 1999.

Lowest infant mortality rate in American history

The Clinton Administration expanded efforts to provide mothers and newborn children with health care. Today, a record high 82 percent of all mothers receive prenatal care. The infant mortality rate has dropped from 8.5 deaths per 1,000 in 1992 to 7.2 deaths per 1,000 in 1998, the lowest rate ever recorded.

Deactivated more than 1,700 nuclear warheads from the former Soviet Union

Efforts of the Clinton-Gore Administration led to the dismantling of more than 1,700 nuclear warheads, 300 launchers and 425 land and submarine based missiles from the former Soviet Union.

Protected millions of acres of American land

President Clinton has protected more land in the lower 48 states than any other president. He has protected 5 new national parks, designated 11 new national monuments and expanded two others and proposed protections for 60 million acres of roadless areas in America's national forests.

Paid off $360 billion of the national debt

Between 1998-2000, the national debt was reduced by $363 billion — the largest three-year debt pay-down in American history. We are now on track to pay off the entire debt by 2009.

Converted the largest budget deficit in American history to the largest surplus

Thanks in large part to the 1993 Deficit Reduction Act, the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, and President Clinton's call to save the surplus for debt reduction, Social Security, and Medicare solvency, America has put its fiscal house in order. The deficit was $290 billion in 1993 and expected to grow to $455 billion by this year. Instead, we have a projected surplus of $237 billion.

Lowest government spending in three decades

Under President Clinton federal government spending as a share of the economy has decreased from 22.2 percent in 1992 to a projected 18.5 percent in 2000, the lowest since 1966.

Lowest federal income tax burden in 35 years

President Clinton enacted targeted tax cuts such as the Earned Income Tax Credit expansion, $500 child tax credit, and the HOPE Scholarship and Lifetime Learning Tax Credits. Federal income taxes as a percentage of income for the typical American family have dropped to their lowest level in 35 years.

More families own stock than ever before

The number of families owning stock in the United States increased by 40 percent since 1992.

Most diverse cabinet in American history

The President has appointed more African Americans, women and Hispanics to the Cabinet than any other President in history. He appointed the first female Attorney General, the first female Secretary of State and the first Asian American cabinet secretary ever.

[idlisambar]

25. Talking about different things

Frank was talking about the biggest legislative accomplishments that were initiated or at least significantly advanced by Clinton himself. Basically, he is referring to his signature legislative achievements.

By contrast, the big list above mainly consists of things that happened during the years he was president. There is no arguing that he presided over a period of relative prosperity but it is not clear at all how much of the credit for this should go to Clinton. It is not 0 credit of course (at the very least he did not get in the way), but especially in retrospect the great numbers were probably more about great timing than anything else - he came in during a recession and got out right before the Internet bubble burst.

Clinton did a lot of good things (who can argues with getting rid of nuclear warheads), but the only legislative accomplishment listed above that is at or near the same importance as NAFTA or other items on Frank's list is Clinton's 1993 deficit reduction legislation. That taxes were raised in this legislation and the boom happened anyway at least offered a great counter to those who exaggerate the importance of tax rates and insist that such a thing is not possible.

In the end it is difficult to point to anything Clinton did to lay a foundation for continued prosperity after the internet boom. On the other hand the time bombs he helped plant are easily identified and Frank does -- Wall Street deregulation, the trade agreements, Welfare reform, Crime bill.

[Skwmom]

27. Clinton did not create those jobs.

[Blanks]

31. It went to shit after he left...

Of course there is still a contingency that is too young, or was too uninvolved in politics, or lacked any interest in current events so they didn't notice that things stopped going well when Dubya took over.

Apparently rewriting history is more fun than being accurate.

Thanks for stepping in and pointing out the facts.

[appalachiablue]

23. K & R. Great article, thanks. I reposted.

[vintx]

24. K&FUCKING R

[RufusTFirefly]

26. A-Fucking-men! n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

29. "and whose interests they serve is the highly educated, white-collar professional class"

Exactly.