Hillary Clinton: Businesses Don't Create Jobs (Just Speaking Fees)
Hillary ClintonsOctober 24speechsupporting Martha Coakley, the Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial candidate, covered standard progressive themes urging a larger state, as well as this attention-grabbing remark:
Dont let anybody, dont let anybody tell you that, ah, you know, its corporations and businesses that create jobs. You know that old theory, trickle-down economics. That has been tried, that has failed. It has failed rather spectacularly.
The New York Times didnt see anything alarming in the statement, calling it a variation on a popular [Elizabeth] Warren theme.
But this attitude shocked many people in the trenches, those pulling the economic wagon, those looking for work. The condescension in the way Clinton articulated it was noteworthy also, and the blogosphere lit up brightly.
Official portrait of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Most people who hold jobs or are looking for work do so at, you know, businesses, which, as it happens, are often incorporated. People were not amused.
Naturally its being said that Clintons statement wastaken out of context, that she was talking about corporate tax breaks or something. Perhaps she was referring to her speaking bureau or toChelseasformer employer NBC News? Perhaps those corporations and businesses arent creating jobs, and thats her reference point.
Policies that flow from disdain for private enterprise will likely advance a trickle down federal government, and, unfortunately, trickle up poverty, if that term is going to be dredged up again.
A Google Google search of Hillary Clintonbusiness jobs is kind of funny, in that most of the initial hits were from right of center venues. This reflects the New York Times-style attitude that there was nothing to see here, the other worldly viewpoint that sees business and enterprise as an aberration, a wart, and that the normal and preferred iswhat? The eeriness echoes President Obamas You didnt build that. Somebody else made that happen, which enjoyed renewed attention this week in the wake of Clintons remark.
The only way that the un-self conscious utterance of a statement like Clintons makes much sense to an outside observer who has to earn a living is to use Occams Razor. Its easiest toacknowledge that a sizable chunk of the left wing does not care much for free private enterprise and actually does prefer that the state be in charge of lives. They really mean what they say.
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Hillary Clinton: Businesses Don't Create Jobs (Just Speaking Fees)