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Hillary’s Previous Scandals – Wonder What’s Next?

April 27, 2016 Leave a comment

For the record, I’m a conservative and I can’t imagine any circumstance under which I would vote for Hillary Clinton. Nevertheless, I saw the below article on a news site sidebar and, as a service to my friends “on the other side”, thought that it would be good to have something written down when questions come up as to why I might struggle (just a little bit) with Hillary Clinton’s character issues now that she appears to be wrapping up the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

http://www.lifedaily.com/16-most-notorious-hillary-clinton-scandals/2/

  1. Email Server Scandal

Hillary has always had email issues. Not that she’s not good with a keyboard but more to do with “privacy.” During her time as Secretary of State, she send some emails via a private server when she worked from her New York residence. As such, her aides were able to decide which emails to turn over to the State Department, when requested, and which emails they did not. Due to the secretive and often sensitive nature of some of those emails, this is one of many of Hillary’s scandals.

  1. Paula Jones Scandal

Paula Jones was a government worker in Arkansas, who alleged she was sexually harassed by Bill Clinton when he was a governor there. She filed a suit in 1994 looking for just under a million dollars in damages, although the case was settles out of court. Many years later, in 2015, the same Paula Jones told reporters that she believed that Hillary Clinton knew all about the sexual harassment yet did nothing and simply supported her husband.

  1. FBI Background Scandal

After the Clinton administration was found to have more than 700 FBI background reports on their rivals, the Republicans, all sorts of questions were raised. One big question was that of the director of the Office of Personnel Security, Craig Livingstone, and how he came to have that high-profile job. As the story goes it was Hillary who pushed for him to get the job as she was close buddies with his mother.

  1. Norman Hsu Scandal

For those of you who don’t know, Norman Hsu was a big contributor and fundraiser for the Democrat party during Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign of 2008. He was the man who collected contributions to the party, from a variety of “sources” and went a long way to promoting Hillary. However, Clinton was left with egg on her face when it turned out that HSU was a criminal, and more than that a fugitive, who had been scamming people and businesses for many long years.

  1. Vince Foster Scandal

This chap, a well-known Arkansas lawyer, was a childhood friend of Bill Clinton and also worked closely with Hillary at Rose Law Firm during the 1970s. When Bill became President he joined the administration as the deputy White House counsel. Foster was known to suffer from depression and in the July of 1993 he allegedly committed suicide in his Virginia Park home with a single gunshot. Most said it was suicide, while many claimed it had something to do with Hillary and Bill and some “foul play.”

  1. Jorge Cabrera Scandal

Jorge Cabrera was a supported of the Democrats in the mid-90s and even wrote them a personal check of $20,000. During that time he was even seen in pictures, taken by the press along with the then-First Lady. However, just a few short months later and Cabrera was arrested in a drug bust in Miami and was given 19 years behind bars.

  1. Sniper Fire Scandal

When she was First Lady as her husband sat in the Oval Office at the White House, Hillary went on an official visit to Bosnia and met with American troops stationed there. On her return she told the press that she had herself come under sniper fire and could have been killed at the airport when she arrived. Just one week later and Hillary took back those comments claiming she had “made a mistake” in the recounting of what actually happened.

  1. Personal Email Scandal

When she was Secretary of State, Hillary also used a personal email address but used it to conduct official business. She allegedly used her personal email to conduct all of her official business. She claimed she never used her personal email to send or receive “classified” information but no one is sure of the real truth about this scandal.

  1. Travelgate Scandal

Just a few months after Bill Clinton entered the White House the well-known Travelgate scandal ensued. It started in the spring of 1993 when seven White House employees were fired for questionable accounting practices. Apparently Hillary knew all about the sudden firings way before they actually happened and may well have had a part in them.

  1. Monica Lewinsky Scandal

Everyone remembers this one, as the relationship between Bill and Monica, who worked closely with him at the White House came out. She was only an intern at the time, and apparently had sexual relations with Bill, even though he was married. Hillary totally denied that her husband did anything untoward and said on the record that the whole thing had been a “vast right-wing conspiracy.”

  1. 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Scandal

When the Clinton administration handed over the keys of the White House to the incoming Bush administration, allegations of  “damage, theft, vandalism and pranks” were in abundance. When the Clinton’s moved from the White House to their New York home they allegedly took items from the White House which they shouldn’t have, totalling a shocking $190,000. The couple ultimately returned the items, but the scandal lived on.

  1. Whitewater Scandal

Whitewater is the generic term for a bunch of scandals attributed to the Clintons. For example, they purchased a few hundred acres of land with their personal friends Jim and Susan McDougal along the White River in the Ozarks. That deal failed and many shady business dealings came out. This scandal led on to the Lewinsky scandal and was seen as “the first domino” that plagued the Clintons for years to come.

  1. Clinton Foundation Scandal

Many people have heard of the Clinton Foundation, which was set up by Bill after he left the White House. The foundation was meant to be a nonprofit operation and was set to deal with issues like global warming and climate change. Many alleged at the time that the Clintons used the foundation to forward their own personal agendas. It culminated in allegations of back handers and dodgy dealings which prevail to this day.

  1. Benghazi Scandal

This is one of the most famous scandals that Hillary Clinton found herself embroiled in. Back in 2012, four Americans were killed during attacks on a US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, including the then-Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Hillary Clinton’s conduct as Secretary of State was bought into question due to her various email accounts and the way she used them.

  1. Cattle Money Scandal

This scandal dates back to the 1970s when Hillary Clinton made a tidy profit of $100,000 trading on the cattle futures market. She was in cahoots with a personal friend at the time who worked for Tyson Foods Inc. Apparently, according to a New York Times article from 1994, Tyson Foods received $9 million in government loans, deeming the whole sage very unsavory and questionable.

  1. Clinton Speeches Scandal

It’s not just Bill who made a packet for giving 45 minute speeches at various institutions, but also daughter Chelsea, and of course, wife Hillary Clinton. While Chelsea’s standard fee in 2014 was around the $65,000 mark, Hillary reported a personal income of a staggering $11 million for a total of 51 speeches she gave in just a year. If that’s not scandalous nothing is!

Categories: Hillary Clinton, Politics

They Never Say How Much More the Rich Should Pay

May 28, 2010 Leave a comment

I always love it when a politician with a net worth in the great gobs of millions lectures how the rich aren’t paying their fair share in taxes. For once, I just wish that anyone claiming the rich don’t pay enough in taxes would unequivocally state just what is a fair percentage of income that rich people should be paying in taxes.

Categories: Politics Tags: ,

When Peter Orzag Speaks, Does The Government Listen?

May 12, 2010 Leave a comment

According to White House budget director Peter Orszag, the United States must tackle its deficits quickly to avoid the kind of debt crisis that hit Greece.  Let’s see if I can make sense of the details from this article and put it into the perspective of someone earning, say, $50,000/yr.  Granted, my analogy will quickly break down as I can’t account (pun intended) for many of the details here.  Nevertheless, it helps me to better understand the nature and magnitude of the current deficit when the numbers are put it into the context of one earning $50,000/yr.  References to the article are bolded while my comments below are the bullet points. 

As was stated, the government has now posted 19 consecutive monthly budget deficits, the longest string of shortfalls on record.

  • This is obviously bad. 
  • Let’s put this in the context of an annual budget over 19 years to help make the point.  Our working stiff earns $50,000/yr.  For grins and giggles let’s just assume that our working stiff spends 2% more than he takes in.  In reality then, he spending $51,000/yr [50,000*1.02].  Multiplied out, our working stiff is conceivably ‘in the hole’ by $19,000 over the last 19 years.  [1000*19]. 

 

The first seven months of fiscal 2010 has a cumulative budget deficit of $799.68 billion

The first seven months of fiscal 2009 has a cumulative budget deficit of $802.3 billion

  • Assuming the same amount of income as the previous year, our budget deficit isn’t growing as fast in 2010 as it did in the same period of 2009.  However, that slower growth in the deficit only equates to a 0.33% reduction from 2009 to 2010 [1-(799.68/802.3)]. 
  • So, if our working stiff was spending $51,000/yr one year ago, now he’s only spending $50,831/yr. 
  • Alright, this is better as the rate of the deficit is slowing – albeit rather slowly. 
  • Still, that extra $831 has to come from somewhere – can you say borrow?  Assuming a favorable simple interest rate of 5%, the interest alone to service that $831 of debt will require an extra bit of outlay to the tune of $42/yr.  Granted, that added interest payment isn’t much in the scheme of things.  At least for the first year.  However, it’s a cumulative added expense for each year that money has to be borrowed.  And we haven’t even attempted to pay off the principle. 

 

Receipts in April 2010 were $245.27 billion. 

Receipts in April 2009 were $266.21 billion. 

  • In essence, that means our working stiff has taken a 7.87% pay cut [1-(245.27/266.21)]. 
  • So, our working stiff isn’t making $50,000/yr right now.  In fact, he’s only earning $46,065 [50,000*(1-0.0787)]. 
  • This then exacerbates the overall debt our working stiff is dealing with.  He’s still spending $50,831/yr but with his income reduced, he needs to borrow $4766 [50,831-46065]. 
  • So, for this last year, instead of paying $42/yr in interest, our working stiff will pay $238/yr [4766*0.05]. 

 

Consider, too, that over the last 19 years, our working stiff has amassed a cumulative a total debt of $19,000.  Our working stiff could have reasonably expected that there would have been a total debt of $20,000.  However, because of his reduced income, his total debt is actually $23766.  And, now our working stiff is at an 47.5% debt:income ration [23766/50,000]. 

How much longer can our working stiff continue to spend more than he earns.  At some point no one will loan him any additional money – the risk of him not paying back anything eventually becomes too great.  Unless, of course, he lives in Greece.  So, what if our working stiff decided to live within his means?  Well, he now has to reduce his spending to the point that he’ll also pay off his obligations.  He currently owe $23766.  Using a simple interest of 5% and paying off the loan over 10 years would mean a payment of $3565 [(23,766/10) + (23,766*0.05)]. 

Even if our working stiff should earn his old income of $50,000, the inclusion of the loan payoff gives him a net income of $46,435 [50,000-3565].  In other words, our working still will need to reduce his overall expenditure by about 7% just to repay the loan. 

The obvious implication is that the longer our working stiff waits to begin reducing his spending and start paying back the loan, the more difficult it will become to deal with his overall debt load later.  Mr. Orzag is correct; the United States must tackle its deficits quickly to avoid the kind of debt crisis that hit Greece.

Categories: Barack Obama, Deficit, Politics Tags: , , , , ,

General Motors and TARP Loans

May 2, 2010 2 comments

I thought it odd when recent TV ads from the CEO of General Motors claimed that the company had paid back its government loans.  I wasn’t aware that the company had been selling any additional cars thereby generating extra revenues.  Well, apparently through – oh, just a wee bit slight of hand accounting practices, GM is able to claim it has paid back the loan.  However, the truth is, GM hasn’t paid back anything.


Categories: GM, Politics, Uncategorized Tags: , ,