Your friend Jim George thinks you'd be a great addition to Ricochet, so we'd like to offer you a special deal: You can become a member for no initial charge for one month!
Ricochet is a community of like-minded people who enjoy writing about and discussing politics (usually of the center-right nature), culture, sports, history, and just about every other topic under the sun in a fully moderated environment. We’re so sure you’ll like Ricochet, we’ll let you join and get your first month for free. Kick the tires: read the always eclectic member feed, write some posts, join discussions, participate in a live chat or two, and listen to a few of our over 50 (free) podcasts on every conceivable topic, hosted by some of the biggest names on the right, for 30 days on us. We’re confident you’re gonna love it.
There was a weird moment during Hillary Clinton’s big-think
According to the IMF, for 2013 the income per capita for the USA was $53,101, for Canada $43,472.
According to the World Bank, for 2011-2012, USA $51,749 and Canada $41,298.
According to the CIA (!?) for 1993-2013, USA $52,800 and Canada $43,100.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita
It is true that if you are willing to reduce the rate at which people on the whole
grow more wealthy, you can narrow the distribution. You can do all sorts of things
if you don’t care about or are unaware of the existence of the market.
It looks like she – and most likely the other Dems – will be hanging their hats on the dreaded phrases ‘income inequality’ and ‘social justice.’ Several of us have noted this in previous threads, and as James Lileks said, we mustn’t follow suit and use these phrases ourselves. But we do need to get creative and develop some arguments that people can easily understand in order to show that it is the free market that helps the most people. That and some creative destruction of the morass of regs that stifles innovation.
I think it is far too late for that. One has to consider what the average swing “independent” voter understands, and how they operate. Basically, they understand nothing. They operate on the bases of “I have to look out for #1.”
Simple populist messages like “you will get richer, remember the 90s?” are perfect for this sort of demographic. There’s little the GOP can do to get to this level of “absurdity”, while all Hillary has to do is not screw up and say “remember the 90s.” She doesn’t need complicated economic arguments. She’s talking to a certain type of demographic which wouldn’t understand anyway.
Yes, the economy is recovering – despite what Barry has done. Yes, her husband was president during a time of economic growth – after HillaryCare was shot down and a tax reduction package was foisted on a President who knew a veto would be overturned.
So, yes, please continue the standard Dem talking points about the economy. Soon she’ll tout the stat about increased oil production that has zero to do with federal policies, and in fact her administration has done all it could to prevent additional capacity from coming online.
I like to call these things politicians say “lies”. Because that’s what they are. And these idiots’ balloons need to get popped every chance they float another stupid statement skyward.
Do you know if they’re comparing mean income or median income?
Also – are claims like Hilary’s based on a view that factors in what the middle class in each country pays for a basket of goods and services? Meaning if they earn less in Canada but can buy more than the average person in the US (or vice versa) then it should be relevant.
The numbers given are PPP, so they capture precisely that.
Has anybody questioned the premise that Hillary really understands economics? Obama doesn’t and I don’t think the philanderer-in-chief did either. This idea that she’s so smart is ludicrous. Somebody, please show me any accomplishments that she did on her own? Please show me how smart she is. What has she done as Hillary Rodham? She’s a celebrity, not a leader. I think she’s a fraud in the same mold of Obama.
They are simply dividing GDP by population, I believe.
And he won two presidential elections. Imagine what she can do.
Old 1990s Joke Alert
The good news is that Bill Clinton is building a bridge to the future. The bad news is that Ted Kennedy is going to drive us across.
2014 Update
…and Hillary is the backseat driver who only figures out that someone took a wrong turn AFTER we got hopelessly lost.
I tried to listen to the whole speech but could only take it for a few minutes. It’s the same old claim that the poor are poor because the rich are hogging all the money. Greedy business owners are underpaying their employees. Blah, blah, blah.
Here’s the solution, Hillary. Forget about government. Open your own business. Not a law firm, something that employs low skilled people. Make it your policy to pay yourself and any other executives no more than say seven times what the lowest paid employees get. Make sure that the men are paid no more than the women, even if they do put in 10-20% more hours. Make sure that even a high-school kid with no experience, living at home gets paid a “living wage”. Run it the way lefties say businesses should be run. I don’t care if it’s a chain of gas stations, coffee shops, or dry cleaners, just DO IT. Don’t tell us the right way to run a business, Hillary. Show us. Put your own money on the line.
But you argue against yourself, James. Hillary is sensitive to things that haven’t worked. She’s not campaigning for a third term of Obama’s policies, and she ought not to be, if she wants to give herself a real shot at the presidency. Her words indicate more moderate policies than Obama, meant to attract independents and moderates. But I think those independents and moderates will have a hard time taking the bait, now that the Obama administration has illustrated all the worst outcomes of Progressive policies. I think they’ll be more comfortable choosing Republican at every level until we’ve rebalanced the country, reigned in the run amok bureaucracies and unleashed America’s economic engine once more.
7 years of hard work? Has that chick ever lifted a shovel, other than a ceremonial one?
Hard work in tripling record deficits and hard work in setting a record for national debt, and hard work in, well, an abdication of your sworn duty to protect the people under your care as SecState.
Hillary’s got huge clankers if she thinks she can go on TV and tout things she clearly doesn’t understand and then thinks she has the moral authority to lecture us on what we should do. What we should do is rid ourselves of people just like her, and let Americans lead the country – and you don’t need a Senate, House, or WH to do that. People do that every day without the patriarchy’s leave – it’s called living their lives. We don’t need her to do that. We need her and people like her to get as far away from us as possible so we CAN live our lives.
Galling. She can’t go away fast enough. A caterwauling hack.
The themes of the Clinton 2016 campaign are competence and consolidation. Get used to hearing variations on both.
Hillary and her veteran team will promise to consolidate the awkward gains made by the current administration of youthful novices. They will promise a “return of the grown-ups.” Compromise. Reasoning together. Reaching across the aisle.
Conflict and partisanship, Hillary will tell us, do not define America. That is not who we are.
Get ready, folks. A billion dollars will bring that message to a big-screen near you.
Obamaism: She will mend it, not end it.