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No, Bill Clinton Does Not ‘Know How’ To Fix The Economy
FiveThirtyEight ^ | MAY 20, 2016 AT 7:00 AM | By Ben Casselman

Posted on 05/20/2016 7:49:48 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines

Whatever Bill Clinton’s exact role in a Hillary Clinton administration would be, it’s no surprise that she is looking to tie herself to his economic legacy. Bill Clinton’s second term was the last time the U.S. economy was unequivocally strong; for most voters this November, it was the best economy they’ve ever known. But while Hillary Clinton wants voters to look back fondly on the first Clinton presidency, she should hope they don’t remember too much about what happened next....

the Clinton boom, and even some specific Clinton policies, also helped sow the seeds for the far more severe Great Recession of the late 2000s. Mortgage-backed securities and subprime loans weren’t invented in the 1990s, but they expanded greatly during the period, part of a broader “financialization” of the U.S. economy that contributed directly to the severity of the Great Recession...

The reality is, presidents have at best limited influence over the economy. Clinton’s economic policy was determinedly centrist: modest tax increases, free trade (including the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement) and limited government regulation and spending (the latter due in part to the Republican Congress). Those policies no doubt affected the economy, for good or bad. But their impact pales in comparison to that of forces beyond Clinton’s control...

It is a stretch, then, for Hillary Clinton to argue that her husband — or anyone else — “knows how” to ensure a good economy.

(Excerpt) Read more at fivethirtyeight.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 1990s; clinton; economy; trump
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Ben Casselman is FiveThirtyEight’s chief economics writer. This is In Real Terms, a column analyzing the week in economic news.
1 posted on 05/20/2016 7:49:48 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

They just need to ask Al Gore to invent the internet.

Again.


2 posted on 05/20/2016 7:53:01 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Nation States seem to be ending. The follow-on should not be Globalism, but Localism.)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

Of course he does.

He fixed Haiti.


3 posted on 05/20/2016 7:57:02 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

Basically Clinton had the benefit of the bank crashes from Carter still being paid through Bush 2 and Ross Perot sucking votes from the Republican Bush that he hated.
Clinton gets in and Internet stock goes up irrationally, then crashes into s recession when he leaves.
Signed NAFTA.
Did reform welfare due to pressure from our future Vice President Newt Gingrich.

Still about the worst President ever allowing Loral to give China rocket and guidance technology to advance their nuclear missiles to the point of complete accuracy anywhere in the world instead of just blowing up on their launch pads.

About the worst, maybe the trouble Pbama caused and debt are worse.


4 posted on 05/20/2016 7:57:43 AM PDT by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God Bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

Oh yes he does.

Just say you are inheriting the worst economy ever.
Have the previous guys give you a peace dividend.
Get Algore to invent something big like the interwebs.
Create a housing bubble.
Get a fiscally conservative Congress that you can berate as you wink-wink.
Have somebody create a dot com bubble.
Treat youself to a Y2K bubble.
Walk away before anyone notices that you left us with the worst recession ever.


5 posted on 05/20/2016 7:58:21 AM PDT by Zuse (I am disrupted! I am offended! I am insulted! I am outraged!)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

If he knows, he should tell Obama and the rest of us now. There’s really no time to lose.


6 posted on 05/20/2016 7:58:43 AM PDT by Genoa
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To: Genoa

Exactly. “Mrs. Clinton, you have stated that your husband ‘knows how’ to fix the economy. Why hasn’t he shared this information with the current Administration?”

Hillary: “Cough. Cough cough. I’m sorry, but we don’t have time for any more questions.”


7 posted on 05/20/2016 8:02:49 AM PDT by Interesting Times (WinterSoldier.com. SwiftVets.com. ToSetTheRecordStraight.com.)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

He just needs a couple of things to duplicate the economic conditions of the ‘90s.

1. - Create another Dot-Com boom

2. - Hope another gargantuan socialist state collapses.


8 posted on 05/20/2016 8:03:37 AM PDT by Iron Munro (If liberals were in charge of the oceans, in 5 years they would be vast water-less deserts)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

Bill had a great formula for fixing the economy. Go full socialist for two years, inspire a backlash that gets voters to install the first GOP House in 40 years, oppose that Congress but finally give in, and take credit for all the things they did, which would have been better if you hadn’t fought them.


9 posted on 05/20/2016 8:04:40 AM PDT by Defiant (Cruz and Kasich are just wings of the GOPe. Ryan is their leader,)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

He will give it as much effort as he gave the Haiti Earthquake relief effort.


10 posted on 05/20/2016 8:05:17 AM PDT by castlegreyskull
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
IIRC, Bubba increased the Fed gas tax....which hurt everyone...but the poor more.

I also thought he raised taxes and said afterwards that he thought he raised it too much.

I also believe he was the first to use the SS "trust money" to balance the budget....making it just a bunch of IOU's

11 posted on 05/20/2016 8:06:07 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

Bill will do the same to our economy as he has done to every woman who trusted him.


12 posted on 05/20/2016 8:06:25 AM PDT by Grampa Dave ( http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3432051/posts?page=12#12 for latest delegates count!)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

Not to mention the fact that this Bill Clinton does not have the mental acuity of the 80’s Bill Clinton. Despite his flaws, the old BC was smart and energetic(that’s another discussion). The current BC needs his diapers changed and his pills dispensed.

Plus, what the hill is Hellary thinking handing the economy off. That is probably her single worst idea since she started the campaign. It shows massive weakness on so many levels.


13 posted on 05/20/2016 8:06:36 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

The best, and only way to fix the economy, is to leave it the hell ALONENESS. Get rid of the high taxes on business and the myriad of useless, liberal regulations, and the economy will right itself. That’s how capitalism works.


14 posted on 05/20/2016 8:06:48 AM PDT by FrankR (You're only enslaved to the extent of the charity that you receive!)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

Wasn’t it Clinton and Gore who famously said they “didn’t know how to keep Reagan’s boom going” .. or something like that.

Well .. if Clinton didn’t know that when he was President; why on earth would Hillary believe her husband would know anymore now .. especially with all his womanizing issues.


15 posted on 05/20/2016 8:07:40 AM PDT by CyberAnt ("Peace Through Strength")
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To: Behind Liberal Lines
If The Bent One is the man we need to 'fix' the economy why would we need Hillary?


16 posted on 05/20/2016 8:07:44 AM PDT by Iron Munro (If liberals were in charge of the oceans, in 5 years they would be vast water-less deserts)
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To: BenLurkin
He fixed Haiti. ...

He can fix the economy just like Jimmy Carter and Barack the destroyer Obama have started the fix.

17 posted on 05/20/2016 8:12:24 AM PDT by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
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To: mountainlion

Guy doesn’t even know what sex is. How can he possibly know anything about the economy?


18 posted on 05/20/2016 8:15:09 AM PDT by refermech
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To: All

The economic “boom” during Clinton’s second term was “in spite of Clinton”...Newt Gingrich’s “Contract for America” and the republican majority in Congress was the cause...


19 posted on 05/20/2016 8:20:37 AM PDT by JBW1949 (I'm really PC....PATRIOTICALLY CORRECT!!!!)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines

The economy will fix itself if government simply gets out of the way.


20 posted on 05/20/2016 8:28:47 AM PDT by JimRed (Is it 1776 yet? TERM LIMITS, now and forever! Build the Wall, NOW!)
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