Posted on 07/08/2014 9:37:52 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated this week that she and her husband, President Bill Clinton, had trouble getting a home loan after they left their taxpayer funded digs at the White House. Speaking to Der Spiegel magazine in Germany, the former First Lady quadrupled down on her attempts to identify with average voters by explaining the financial hardships of being American political royalty.
You recently described your financial situation during the presidency of your husband Bill Clinton as dead broke, says Der Spiegel.
Well, when we came out of the White House, we were deeply in debt because of all the legal bills that we owed because of the relentless persecution of my husband and myself, and he had to work unbelievably hard to pay off every single penny of every debt we owed. And we did, Clinton responds.
The magazine posits, Today, you are multimillionaires. Your husband has earned $104 million with his speeches since 2001.
To which the former secretary of state responds, We are very grateful for where we are today. But if you were to go back and look at the amount of money that we owed, we couldnt even get a mortgage on a house by ourselves. In our system he had to make double what he needed in order just to pay off the debt, and then to finance a house and continue to pay for our daughters education.
This is Clintons fourth attempt at clarifying this statement, and it is not getting any better. She had about 20 years to come up with a satisfactory answer to it. Now, shes had four chances in the last month, presumably surrounded by advisers who specialize in answering such questions well. Even Bill Clinton, who we can all acknowledge has better political skills than his wife, has botched this. Rich Democrats have painted themselves into a (luxurious) corner (with the finest of paints) by facilely portraying wealth itself and wealthy people as the countrys problem. Indeed, some wealthy people inherit large sums, which I dont find terribly objectionable or indicative of a lack of character. Some make gains through some sort of shady or unappetizing practice something like, say, politics. But that is a small percentage of the wealthy, American population. Even at the greatest heights of American wealth, on the Forbes 400 list, almost 70 percent are self-made billionaires. Having turned the story of American financial success into a hallmark of moral failing, a rich Democrat is stuck explaining why his wealth is not a hallmark of just that. And, as weve heard many times, when youre explaining youre losing. Hillary Clinton has lost her fifth round with this trap her party set for her. Color me surprised the press keeps asking about it, but shes made it damn near irresistible with the ludicrousness of her statements.
Lets review them.
Take 1: June 9, 2014, to ABCs Diane Sawyer.
You have no reason to remember, but we came out of the White House not only dead broke, but in debt. We had no money when we got there, and we struggled to piece together the resources for mortgages for houses, for Chelseas education. It was not easy. Bill has worked really hard. And its been amazing to me. Hes worked very hard.
Take 2: June 10, 2014, Good Morning America
In her interview with Roberts this morning, Clinton acknowledged that she and her husband, who have both earned millions in speaking fees since leaving public life, have been blessed in the last 14 years.
I fully appreciate how hard life is for so many Americans today, Clinton told Roberts. Its an issue Ive worked on and cared about my entire adult life.
She added, We have a life experience that is clearly different in very dramatic ways from many Americans, but we also had gone through some of the same challenges.
Take 3: June 11, 2014, with Rahm Emanuel
During an interview in Chicago this morning for her book Hard Choices, Emanuel asked Clinton directly about her recent remarks to ABC News.
Dead broke, Emanuel said. Really?
To some audience laughter at the event for Chicago Ideas Week, Clinton admitted her word choice was not ideal.
That may have not been the most artful way of saying that Bill and I have gone through a lot of different phases in our lives, she told Emanuel, a longtime friend and former adviser to President Clinton. That was then, this is now. Obviously, we are very fortunate. Weve been given great opportunities.
Take 4: June 21, 2014, The Guardian
Americas glaring income inequality is certain to be a central bone of contention in the 2016 presidential election. But with her huge personal wealth, how could Clinton possibly hope to be credible on this issue when people see her as part of the problem, not its solution?
But they dont see me as part of the problem, she protests, because we pay ordinary income tax, unlike a lot of people who are truly well off, not to name names; and weve done it through dint of hard work, she says, letting off another burst of laughter. If past form is any guide, she must be finding my question painful.
And, today is Take 5.
When youve lost Harry Shearer
Harry Shearer ✔ @theharryshearer
From "Hard Choices", p. 363: "The Lear jet or the
Gulfstream? I'd toss a coin, but I don't carry money."
9:39 AM - 7 Jul 2014
33 Retweets 22 favorites
Oh, and shes telling the truth about not reading all of Piketty, but shes lying about the defense of the child rapist.
Sorry, the wife of a former president doesn’t struggle to get a mortgage. She doesn’t struggle to get anything. I emphatically state “BS”.
Their credit score must suck.
No wonder they want to make loans accessible to everyone. They could not even lower their sights to buy a home they could afford. Besides all this, I agree with the BS statement.
Terry McAuliffe secured their entire mortgage up front with profits made from insider trading with Global Crossing stock.
Thank goodness Chelsea was old enough to co-sign for them.
bump
Please, let there be a GMA segment in the next two years where Hillary and Michelle swap war stories about hard it was to make ends meet when they were only making a few hundred thousand dollars a year.
That's what happens when you've never had to pay for anything out of your own pocket. When you're a leech, you don't need to establish credit.
And THIS just might be the most troubling line for all who read the interview.
"persecution"?
Was she not paying attention during the Reagan and both Bush presidencies? Those fine men were constantly under (verbal) fire, and none ever whined about "relentless persecution".
Mrs. Clinton, one suspects, is a true score-settler.
If elected, would she see GOPers as bad and evil people who must be gotten even with?
Recalling her "vast rightwing conspiracy" statement, one worries if Mrs. Clinton might be dwelling a bit too much on possibly imaginary "persecution" (I would love to be wrong here, and freely yield to any psych expert to set this worry straight.)
.
I was going to speculate that they probably had “Zero” credit since they’d never owned a house before, probably never even owned a car since they’ve spent their entire lives on the public dole, and after finally being evicted from the Peoples House, had to get a mortgage for the first time (until the millions started rolling in).
Of course it’s grossly unfair that we the taxpayers didn’t just GIVE them a house or two, and some going-away cash, isn’t it? /s
I may remember wrong, but during the 1992 campaign I remember the media treating Quayle as the rich kid, but when the two tickets released their personal financial statements, that he was the only one who was not a millionaire of the 4, (HW, Clinton, and Gore and Quayle).
At one point we also learned that Bills modest $35,000 salary as governor, was supplemented by $35,000.00 annual cash that the legislature gave him, for his personal management, that I remember as amounting to a hidden salary.
NYT Published: February 5, 1992
Mrs. Clintons career has produced most of the familys wealth. She is not required to disclose her income, and Mrs. Clinton would not answer questions on the subject. But press reports in Arkansas, based on the Clintons tax returns, said her law firm salary for 1989 was $92,000. The couples net worth is between $350,000 and $1 million, according to Mr. Clintons report to the Federal Election Commission, which requires only that assets and liabilities be listed in ranges. Broad Financial Support
Their holdings include bank accounts, bonds, mutual funds and investment partnerships. The largest asset is Mrs. Clintons share of her firms profit sharing and retirment plan, valued between $100,001 and $250,000.
Chart: The Clintons Financial Picture ASSETS Real estate and investments (mainly in Hillary Clintons name): $416,000-1,167,000 1990 Income His salary as Governor: $35,000 His fees for appearances: $5,500 Her salary: Disclosure not required Her fees for appearance: $10,337 Other income (mainly from investments): $37,620-101,900 LIABILITIES: $65,000-150,000 TOTAL NET WORTH: Between $315,000 and $1,100,000 (Source: Federal Financial Disclosure Reports)
If you go shopping for a home worth $1.33 million (I checked and that’s the value of the NY home of the Clintons)...most banks would handle the loan as long as you put down roughly half the down-payment. In this case, I’d take a guess that they absolutely didn’t want to put down more than $200k (absolute max), and wanted to make significant monthly payments. I’d suggest that some banks might look at the situation and automatically approve it, but some banks might frown (even if he was an ex-president) and just suggest another bank might be better suited for them.
One of the great shocks occurred in the initial months of the Clinton period in DC....when various small-town players from Arkansas were brought into DC to participate in high-stakes politics. They were used to Little Rock home prices and were not exactly believing in the DC value of $250k (at the time) for an upscale four-bedroom. I had an individual describe the meeting between himself, the realtor and the Clinton-appointee for a nice upscale home over in Arlington. The wife was all charmed by the place, but the husband just quietly sat there and fumed at the pricing level. He didn’t have $75k to put down and keep the monthly mortgage within reason. Whatever he was paid in salary....was going to be eaten up drastically by the mortgage.
so she’s trying to play poor AGAIN!??????????????
wow! she must have a (guilty, of course) conscious after all!
amazing!
who’d have thought?!
so she’s trying to play poor AGAIN!??????????????
wow! she must have a (guilty, of course) conscious after all!
amazing!
who’d have thought?!
If they struggled to get a mortgage, then was she a bad credit risk? If so, then she shouldn’t be president because she can’t even manage her personal finances.
Her buddy, Senator Chris Dodd, probably got her a sweetheart deal with Countrywide.
Hillary and Michelle swap war stories about hard it was to make ends meet...
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http://www.cmoore.com/funstuff/humor/mp.script.weweresopoor.php
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