“My dream is a hemispheric common market, with open trade and open borders, some time in the future with energy that is as green and sustainable as we can get it, powering growth and opportunity for every person in the hemisphere,” Hillary Clinton told a powerful Brazilian bank in 2013.
The next year, she spoke to an American real estate group.
“I mean, politics is like sausage being made,” Clinton explained. “It is unsavory, and it always has been that way, but we usually end up where we need to be. But if everybody’s watching, you know, all of the back room discussions and the deals, you know, then people get a little nervous, to say the least. So, you need both a public and a private position.”
Also in 2014, she addressed a Goldman Sachs meeting.
“There’s nothing magic about regulations, too much is bad, too little is bad,” Clinton stated. “How do you get to the golden key, how do we figure out what works? And the people that know the industry better than anybody are the people who work in the industry.”
That same year, she revealed something to a group of San Diego investors.
“When I was a Senator from New York, I represented and worked with so many talented principled people who made their living in finance...I represented them and did all I could to make sure they continued to prosper,” Clinton related.
Not surprising in light of another gem she presented those Brazilian bankers.
“I think we have to have a concerted plan to increase trade already under the current circumstances...There is so much more we can do...businesses on both sides have to make it a priority and it’s not for governments to do but governments can either make it easy or make it hard and we have to resist, protectionism, other kinds of barriers to market access and to trade and I would like to see this get much more attention,” Clinton declared.
During 2013, she told Goldman Sachs that “part of the problem with the political situation...is that there is such a bias against people who have led successful and/or complicated lives. You know, the divestment of assets, the stripping of all kinds of positions, the sale of stocks. It just becomes very onerous and unnecessary.”
Say what you will about Hillary, but she is no opponent of living the good life.
“I do think there is a growing sense of anxiety and even anger in the country over the feeling that the game is rigged. And I never had that feeling when I was growing up...we had a solid middle class upbringing...So I lived that. And now, obviously, I’m kind of far removed because the life I’ve lived and the economic, you know, fortunes that my husband and I now enjoy,” she explained in 2014 to folks from Goldman Sachs and BlackRock.
Of course, she feels for you -- from a suburban New York estate funded by speeches such as these and Clinton Foundation cash. In order to keep this sweet deal running smoothly, those with really deep pockets must not be perturbed, to put it mildly.
Going back to 2013, Hillary told Goldman Sachs that “running for office in our country takes a lot of money...New York is probably the leading site for contributions for fundraising for candidates on both sides of the aisle, and it’s also our economic center. And there are a lot of people here who should ask some tough questions before handing over campaign contributions to people who were really playing chicken with our whole economy.”
Donald Trump’s trash talk from eleven years ago has dominated public discourse. He apologized on three separate occasions. Have you heard Clinton say anything meaningful about her speeches, brought to light only by the grace of Wikileaks?
If Americans care more about salacious garbage than the cold, hard facts of Clinton’s history, then our country does not deserve good leadership. A rudderless, willfully ignorant nation is its own worst enemy.
American unexceptionalism cannot be blamed on Vladimir Putin or Bashar al-Assad, so please do not waste time trying. , ,
Joseph Cotto is a historical and social journalist, and writes about politics, economics and social issues. Email him at joseph.f.cotto@gmail.com