Bill Clinton is working to unwind himself from Yucaipa partnerships in which he is a principal, largely in order to distance himself from the Dubai government which also is a principal in one of these partnerships. Clinton got involved in Yucaipa through Ron Burkle, grocery store buyer and seller extraordinaire. http://online.wsj.com/... Bill's payout from this unwinding is estimated at $20 million.
What makes Bill Clinton's position at Yucaipa any different than the Bush family involvement in the Carlyle Group? OK, the Bin Ladin family did not invest in Yucaipa. But the Bush and Clinton families are involved in international crony capitalism. And like with George and W, there should be no doubt the problems of wealthy international investors have a higher visibility to the Clintons than do the problems of average Americans.
In the case of both Bush I and Bill, this access to money is the result of high faluting influence peddling - crony capitalism - since they brought no money to the deals. As the WSJ article linked reports, no one knows what work Clinton actually does at Yucaipa.
International capitalism is taking a tumble right now because of the unregulated greed of many of its key players. Ordinary people have been preyed upon at home by usurous interest rates, purposely misleading mortgage finance, credit card profligeracy all of whose value was supposed to be firewalled by the bankruptcy bill that encouraged citizens to "work out" their debts instead of walking away from them. On the job front, American companies were brought, their factories were closed, and manufacturing under these nameplates was transferred overseas without a nary concern about the consequences at home and with huge payoffs to the executives who did these things.
It is ironic that we are to look at the 1990s as a golden age that Hillary is supposed to be bringing back. While the Clintons ran good fiscal policy - which was good for all of us but particularly good for investors - they also enacted policies that exacerbated the hollowing out of America's economy, its businesses and its infrastructure.
In light Citi's complete crash and burn - whose saga included the around the world flight of Robert Rubin to Emirates to beg for money - it is not surprising that the economic hero of Bill's administration is not being featured on the campaign trail. The other hero, the self-promoting Alan Greenspan, is also keeping low despite his recent book praising free market economics except that the government needs to step in on behalf of speculators and international financiers when they screw up.
The Clintons do not live in the world most American now live in, an economic world that is deteriorating fast. Barack Obama, as a community organizer, and since, has represented the losers not just of free trade but also of crony capitalism. Jonathan Edwards in court has dealt with the amorality and immorality of American corporations so he too understands the consequences of this sort of capitalism.
The Clintons have become the geldings of international investors and of the American rich who no longer care about Americans. You expect this "power" couple to advocate on behalf of the majority of Americans? Really? Last time around they folded to the insurance and drug companies but did a good job of caging welfare recipients.
Hillary has the nerve to say Reagan did not represent ideas when her husband's Administration furthered Reagan's ideas - just like Richard Nixon futhered the objectives of the Great Society.
And to those gentle folk who would cry for the Clintons by saying how terrible it is the Clintons had to run around to shake money from rich people for their own campaigns and for Bill's library in Little Rock, I would argue no one forced them to get in bed with folks who do not have this nation's welfare as their primary priority.