Clintonomics is destroying America, especially the
Afro-American community, and the world.
This week the European Central Bank reduced interest rates
to near zero in a desparate attempt to drive up growth. That’s pretty much an indication of how bad things
are, due to the world’s governments following the Hooveresque Clintonite
policies of privatization, austerity, and surrender by governments of control over
economic policy to the greed and avarice of the 1% and their agents in the
world’s banking and finance industry.
And yes, I mean Hoover as in Herbert and Clinton as in Bill
and Hillary.
(Bill Clinton and friends as he gleefully destroys Glass-Steagall)
The ECB action and the stock market roller coaster in China
are signs of what I and what many economists have been saying for years, that
the Great Recession never ended, just entered temporary uplift. Another crash is coming, one that will be
even worse than 2008. Hopefully by that
time there will be no Obama to protect Wall Street and the Fourth Branch of
American government, also known as Corporate America from the people with the
torches and pitchforks.
More racist than Wilson
To find a more white supremacist administration than that of
Bill Clinton, we have to reach back to Woodrow Wilson. Wilson’s administration was actually more
racist than that of Harding, who was initiated into the KKK inside the White
House. Upon taking office in 1913,
Wilson made segregation official policy of federal civil service and the rest
of government. Two years later, watching
1915’s mega-blockbuster The Birth of a
Nation at the first-ever movie screening in the White House, this
“progressive” literally wept at its conclusion, saying, “It’s all too true”.
Only in the sense that the Democrat Woodrow Wilson was
“progressive” can Democrats Bill Clinton and current presidential candidate
Hillary be considered progressive.
More anti-poor than Hoover
The Clinton administration was not only the most racist
since Wilson’s, it was the most anti-poor and most anti-empathetically pro-business
since Hoover’s. That adminstration can
be accurately said to have begun on a de
facto basis with Harding’s inauguration, since as Secretary of Commerce Hoover
demanded full control of the administration’s economic policy, a state of
affairs which continued under Coolidge, fully justifying the designation of Great
Depression homeless camps as “Hoovervilles”.
Clinton called his faction of the formerly great party the
“New Democrats” (while yet trying to claim the legacy of the president , FDR,
whose legacy they have together destroyed), but I call them what they are,
Trickle-down Democrats, both because of their economic policies and because
under them democracy has only barely trickled down. And that assessment includes the incumbent
president, Barack Obama.
The “New” Democrats are little more than old, pre-Great
Depression Republicans. In fact, Alan
Greenspan, the “supply-side” neoliberal chairman of the Federal Reserve
appointed by Reagan and reappointed by Bill, said of him, “I think Bill Clinton
was the best Republican president we’ve had in a while”.
Reaganomics
Ronald Reagan’s main assault against the middle and working
class and poor people came in the form of the drastic reduction of the top tax
rate from its Johnsonian-level 70% to 50% in 1981, his first year in office,
then in 1987 to 38.5% and to 28% in 1988, while raising the rate for the lowest
incomes from 11% to 15% in the same time frame.
Of course, he also destroyed the old and spectacularly
effective GI Bill as well as beginning the withdrawal of funding from higher
education and students that has been tuition at public colleges and
universities climb 1000% and saddled college and university students with over
one trillion dollar of collective debt.
Reagan may have turned the War on Poverty into War on the
Poor and changed the struggle for civil rights into the struggle against equal
rights, but Bill Clinton made those shifts “cool”. By “cool”, I mean to liberals, specifically
white liberals, along with those Afro-Americans who had already made it into
the power structure. With the Clinton
“New Democrats”, dog-whistle racism and denigration of the working class and
poor became acceptable.
The Clintons begin
Upon their arrival in Washington, Bill and Hillary Clinton, the
real-life Frank and Claire Underwood, began the task of almost completely
dismantling nearly every aspect of FDR’s New Deal, from destroying one of its
most significant programs for social welfare to dismantling the protections put
in place from citizens against rapacious corporations, in the process not only
harming vast sections of the American populace but dismantling the
long-existing coalition upon which the strength of their own party was based.
* * * * *
Step one was the begin to eradicate the trade barriers which
protected American labor by ensuring fair rather than “free” trade, the more
accurate term for the latter being “conscience-free” trade. Reagan dealt organized labor a critical blow
with his handling of the PATCO strike (as well as getting hundreds of airplane
passengers killed), but it was Clinton who delivered the coup de grace to the
back of the head.
The North American
Free Trade Act (NAFTA) of 1993 which was pushed through Congress with support
from the Republican Party despite opposition from Clinton’s own Democratic
Party and organized labor, this legislation paid the way for outsourcing of
American jobs, downgraded standards of living for working people in both the
USA and Mexico, and set up means through which financial and commericial
interests became superior to national governments.
* * * * *
The gunsights of the Clinton administrations aimed next to
start dismantling the Great Depression era laws and regulations protecting
consumers and citizens and the national economy from the unrestrained greedy
speculation which helped cause the crash of 1929.
Step one in this line of attack destroyed one of the basic
foundations upon which many of the other protections were built.
The Interstate
Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994 abolished the Bank Holding
Company Act of 1956 prohibition against a bank holding company in one state
acquiring a bank headquartered in another state. This action laid the groundwork for the
mergers and acquisitions of the 1990s and 2000s, but since commercial and investment
banks still remained separate, the mergers stayed within those lines for the
time being.
* * * * *
Reagan’s major legislation on violent crime, particulary
drug crime, came in two pieces of legislation.
First was the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which established mandatory
minimums for drug crimes, including a 100:1 disparity in length of sentence
between crack cocaine and power cocaine, the former mostly sold and used by
blacks and the latter by whites. Second
was the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, which provided cover for law enforcement
agencies at all levels across the country to seize untold millions of dollars
in assets even without a defendant being convicted, or in some cases charged,
of a crime. But never in his wildest
dreams would the Gipper have thought to have inflicted upon the citizens of the
United States the onerous provisions contained in the Omnibus Crime Bill, of
which Bill and Hillary are both so proud.
The Violent Crime
Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, written by Clinton ally Sen. Joe
Biden (D-DE) and sponsored by Rep. Jack Brooks (D-TX) reaffirmed and
expanded several provision of Reagan’s Anti-Drug Abuse Acts, eliminated higher
education for inmates, prohibited Pell grants and other education assistance
for felons, increased money for new prisons, prohibited felons from residing in
public housing even if their families lived there, gave money to states for
keeping prisoners inside longer, supported the private prison industry, and
allowed for states to pass three-strikes laws.
The economic
devastation to the black community this one act alone has caused the black
community makes me wonder why effigies of the Clintons are not being burned in Afro-American
neighborhoods from sea to shining sea on a regular basis.
* * * * *
The next bit of tinkering by Clinton with legal protection
for consumers from a rapacious credit industry may not have taken direct aim at
FDR, but it was in that same spirit.
The Truth in Lending
Class Action Relief Act of 1995, sponsored by Clinton ally Rep. Bill
McCollum (D-Fla.), eased regulations on creditors and made it more difficult for
clients to sue firms for securities fraud.
This was a foreshadowing of Clinton’s bill to restrict the
ability of consumers—i.e., non-1% citizens—to avail themselves of bankruptcy
protection.
* * * * *
The Economic Growth
and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, sponsored by Sen. Richard
Shelby (R-AL), loosened supervisory
regulations over financial institutions and lessened creditor liability, to the
significant disadvantage of clients and consumers.
A Republican bill, it nonetheless had the support of the
Clinton administration.
* * * * *
Another assault against the economic well-being and justice
for average Americans came wholly from the Clinton administration, though
doubtless the faux Democrat consulted with his Republican allies ahead of time.
The same year as Shelby’s bill became law, the federal
Office of Thrift Supervision, which is part of the executive branch, added to
its regulations the Preemption Rule of
1995 overruling all state laws that regulated savings and loan credit
activities.
Because Reagan’s de-regulation of the S-and-L industry had
worked out so well in the 1980’s.
* * * * *
The Clinton administration’s most profoundly vicious attack
against the nation’s most helpless and defenceless came in the one single
promise Bill kept from his 1992 campaign.
But then, the progressive in Arkansas who nicknamed him “Slick Willy”
could have predicted that.
The Personal
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, introduced into Congress by Rep. Clay Shaw (R-FL) with support
from the Clinton administration, destroyed
the New Deal era Aid to Families
with Dependent Children (AFDC) by placing a lifetime limit on welfare benefits,
devolving responsibility for welfare to the states, instituting a punitive,
demeaning “workfare-for-welfare” program, and greatly restricting the food
stamp (now SNAP benefits) program in addition to adding similar “work” for the
people receiving those, “public service” (chain gang) and “job search”
requirements. The destruction of AFDC
also resulted in many citizens losing their Medicaid covereage as well.
Never in their wildest dreams of avarice and casual cruelty
had any Republican president thought it possible to destroy so completely one
of the most basic bedrock protections of the New Deal.
Both Bill and Hillary touted this atrocity as good for poor
and working people. Their version of
saying they had to destroy the village that was raising the child in order to
save both.
* * * * *
The next piece of legislation does not so much play a part
in the economic devastation which the Clintons inflicted on the country as it
shows their willingness to bully minorities to score political points, though
it did cause around 10% of our population economic as well as emotional and
spiritual hardship.
The Defense of Marriage
Act of 1996 defined marriage as between one man and one woman, thereby
necessarily prohibiting same-sex marriage and giving legitimacy to bigots.
Hillary vociferously defended the legislation as late as
2004.
* * * * *
Among some good provisions, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 included Title 3 which allowed for media cross-ownership (broadcast media companies being allowed to buy print media and ice versa) ad deregulated broadcast and telecommunications markets, leading to the current situation of all media in the U.S,A. being owned by just four corporations. The effects of that situation on our freedom of choice, on our right to be accurately informed, and upon our economy shoudlbe readily apparent.
* * * * *
The next year, Clinton pandered to his Republican allies by
bringing to life one of their long-term talking points and at the same time
attacking a significant Great Society program.
The Balanced Budget
Act of 1997 required a balanced federal budget by 2002, cut Medicare by
$112 billion.
This set the stage for every government shut-down fight of the
current century.
* * * * *
While Republicans had talked for decades about privatizing
vast swaths of the federal government, it was Bill Clinton who put some of that
talk into action, but few Americans know just how deeply this could have
impacted were it not for a certain blue dress.
The would-be Privatization
of Social Security and Medicare Act
of 1997, at least initially on a
partial basis, nearly came about as a result of a secret agreement between President
Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich, but plans were aborted by the outbreak
of the Monica Lewinsky scandal and Bill’s subsequent impeachment.
What state, I wonder, would Social Security and Medicare be
in this year, 2016, had those two programs been subjected to the same forces
released by Clinton era laws that caused so much devastation to so many.
* * * * *
Sponsored by Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) and Rep. Jim Leach
(R-Iowa), the next legislative initiative nonetheless had the full support of
the Clinton camp.
The Financial
Services Modernization Act of
1999 repealed the remaining provisions of Glass-Steagall that distinguished
between investment banks and commercial banks.
Glass-Steagall was the centerpiece of FDR’s legislation
regulating the banking and finance industry from corruption and uncontrolled
speculation. Its loss set off a wave of
megamergers among banks, as well as insurance and securities companies, reduced
the number of separate institutions to six and created the “too big to fail”
monsters that brought on the market crashes of 2008 through 2011 and sparked
the Great Recession, which many correctly argue is still ongoing, except for
the 1%.
* * * * *
The Commodity Futures
Modernization Act of 2000 deregulated OTC (over-the-counter) derivatives
trading.
This gave rise to the Enron debacle, and opened the door to
an explosion in new, unregulated securities, including the credit default swap.
* * * * *
The American
Homeownership and Economic Opportunity Act of 2000 made it harder for
consumers to get out of lender-required insurance accompanying mortgages.
This is usually much more expensive than that which
consumers can acquire on their own and often means the institution is
double-dipping into consumers’ pockets.
* * * * *
The Bankruptcy Abuse
Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, sponsored by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), made it far harder
for consumers (but not businesses) to discharge debts through declaration of
bankruptcy. The first bill was initiated
by the Clinton camp in 1997, but when it was finally passed in 2000, then First
Lady Hillary, with an eye on her race for a seat as a Senator from New York,
convinced President Bill to pocket veto it.
When the same legislation came up for a vote the next year, Sen. Hillary
voted affirmative, though it failed due to opposition from other
Democrats. It is listed here because as
passed in 2005 it is essentially the same as that drafted in 1997, and because
of Hillary’s reversal.
* * * * *
Bill Clinton was not content for his political philosophy to
destroy the social welfare protections of American citizens alone. He enlisted Tony Blair of the UK’s Labour
Party and Eric Schroeder of Germany’s Social Democratic Party to help spread
his “Third Way”, which is the cause of global inability to deal with the Great
Recession the way that FDR and his political allies world-wide dealt with the
Great Depression.
William Jefferson Clinton was the second coming not of Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, but of Herbert Clark Hoover. Bill’s “Third Way” equals
Greenspan’s neoliberalism, equals Reagan’s supply-side economics, equals
Hoover’s trickle-down economics, equals the 1890’s horse-and-sparrow
economics.
This is the “sick and detested
status quo “which Hillary, along with Bill, symbolizes, because more than any
First Lady before or since, she was at the heart of every major action of Bill’s
adminstration just as much as the fictional Claire has been at the heart of the
fictional Frank Underwood’s. It is the
same status quo which led to the fictional Democratic Senator Jay Bulworth (see
the movie Bulworth) to take out a
contract against himself out of guilt over and disgust at what he and his fellow Democrats had
become.
Should Hillary gain the nomination and win the subsequent
election, this is the status quo for which those who vote for her will be
approving, and she will no doubt be, in the eyes of Greenspan and his ilk, the
“best Republican president we’ve had” in the 21st century.
The lesser of two evils is still evil, no matter how banal
and mundane.
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