Two Simple Questions RE: Clintons, the DLC/3rd Way and Social Security.

[99th_Monkey]

A) Is there any denying the Clintons deep involvement and long-time identification with DLC/3rd Way?

Democratic Leadership Council
The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) was a non-profit 501(c)(4) corporation] founded in 1985 that, upon its formation, argued the United States Democratic Party should shift away from the leftward turn it took in the late 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The DLC hailed President Bill Clinton as proof of the viability of Third Way politicians and as a DLC success story.

The DLC's affiliated think tank is the Progressive Policy Institute. Democrats who adhere to the DLC's philosophy often call themselves New Democrats. This term is also used by other groups who have similar views on where the party should go in the future, like NDN and Third Way.

On February 7, 2011, Politico reported that the DLC would dissolve, and would do so as early as the following week.[4] On July 5 of that year, DLC founder Al From announced in a statement on the organization's website that the historical records of the DLC have been purchased by the Clinton Foundation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Leadership_Council

New Democrats - Origins
After the landslide electoral losses to Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, a group of prominent Democrats began to believe their party was out of touch and in need of a radical shift in economic policy and ideas of governance.[1][2] The Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) was founded in 1985 by Al From and a group of like-minded politicians and strategists. They advocated a political "Third Way" ...

The first-wave of New Democrats, from the 1980s to 1990s, were very similar to Southern and Western Blue Dog Democrats. Al From, the founder of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) and its leader until 2009, had been a staffer for Willis Long, a Democratic representative from Louisiana. Among the presidents of the DLC were Al Gore, senator from Tennessee, and Bill Clinton, governor of Arkansas. The first-wave New Democrats sought the votes of white working-class Reagan Democrats.[9]

In the 1990s, the New Democrat movement shifted away from the South and West and moved to the Northeast. In the 1992 United States presidential election, Bill Clinton was elected president.[9]

The second-wave of New Democrats, from 1990s to president, came into existence after the 1994 election. After 1994, the Democrats were much more dominated by urban areas, minorities and white social liberals. The New Democrats shifted from the South to Wall Street.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democrats
[/div class="excerpt"]

The Third Way
In the United States, "Third Way" adherents embrace fiscal conservatism to a greater extent than traditional social liberals, and advocate some replacement of welfare with workfare, and sometimes have a stronger preference for market solutions to traditional problems (as in pollution markets), while rejecting pure laissez-faire economics and other libertarian positions. The Third Way style of governing was firmly adopted and partly redefined during the administration of President Bill Clinton. The term "Third Way" was introduced by political scientist Stephen Skowronek.[40][41][42] "Third Way" presidents 'undermine the opposition by borrowing policies from it in an effort to seize the middle and with it to achieve political dominance. Examples of this are: Nixon’s economic policies, which were a continuation of Johnson's "Great Society", and later Clinton’s welfare reform.

Clinton, Blair, Prodi, Gerhard Schröder and other leading Third Way adherents organized conferences to promote the Third Way philosophy in 1997 at Chequers in England. The Third Way think tank and the Democratic Leadership Council are adherents of Third Way politics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Way

B) Is there any question that DLC/3rd Way has a record of wanting to weaken SS, if not do away with SS?

Third Way desperate in its quest to cut Social Security
Third Way is reaching the point of desperation in its quest to cut Social Security and protect its Wall Street, K Street lobbyist, and GOP donors from paying their fair share. As Third Way has become more and more marginalized, its public outpourings have become more and more extreme and, quite frankly, head-scratching.

In a 2011 Politico column, "Progressives: Wise Up," Third Way's president and vice president for policy lectured advocates for Social Security to stop fighting a Grand Bargain that would have cut Social Security's modest benefits - cuts that are opposed by 93.8 percent of Americans.

In 2013, the duo took to the Wall Street Journal where they attacked Senator Elizabeth Warren for proposing to expand Social Security as a solution to the nation's looming retirement income crisis. This time, they lectured not just progressives; they warned the entire Democratic Party not to "follow Sen. Warren...over the populist cliff." Since Senator Warren was standing with the 90 percent of Democrats (and 73 percent of Republicans) who want to increase Social Security benefits, it was no surprise that Third Way admitted that they represented, "no people," beholden only to their wealthy paymasters.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-altman/wall-streets-third-way-ab_b_9125786.html

Wall Street Uses the Third Way to Lead Its Assault on Social Security
Third Way, lobbyists for and from Wall Street who are leading the effort to enrich Wall Street by privatizing Social Security, was created by Wall Street to fool some of the people all of the time. I have written previously to expose their fictional claims to be a moderate or liberal Democratic group.

Eric Laursen documented Wall Street’s effort to become even wealthier by privatizing Social Security in articles and his recent book ("The People’s Pension: The Struggle to Defend Social Security Since Reagan" (AK Press)).

I showed that Third Way makes itself useful by providing a faux “liberal” or “moderate” “Democratic” quote machine that can be used to discredit Democrats and Democratic policies such as the safety net. I gave examples of how Third Way gave aid and comfort to the effort to defeat Elizabeth Warren and the effort to unravel the safety net. Third Way continues to prove that you can fool some of the people all of the time.

The National Journal ran an article on November 8, 2012 entitled “Left Divided over ‘Grand Bargain.’”
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/12778-wall-street-uses-the-third-way-to-lead-its-assault-on-social-security

THIRD WAY SAYS CUTTING SOCIAL SECURITY AND PUBLIC HEALTH CARE A SIGN OF “LEADERSHIP”
I know the world-weary journalist pose is to huff that the catfood commission will go nowhere, that the recommendations released today are politically impossible, and that it’s not worth getting worked up about. Indeed, any proposal that both Grover Norquist and Paul Krugman can take time beating about the face and mouth doesn’t appear to have a constituency.

But there is a constituency for this, and it begins and ends with Third Way, who wastes no time in telling the world that they can only be real manly men if they support cutting Social Security and health care for the poor, the elderly and veterans:

"With huge deficits projected for decades to come, it’s now time to put up or shut up, in short to lead or leave. This is the first real leadership test for both parties in a divided capitol: will they embrace the Fiscal Commission recommendations, or cop out and pick the plan apart?

No plan will be perfect, but without a serious, long-term commitment to balance the budget, we’re going to stifle economic growth for decades and ultimately have to make draconian cuts in spending. Only by acting aggressively now do we avoid a budget doomsday. President Obama, Democrats, and the new House Republican majority all campaigned on a pledge to get the deficit under control and reform entitlements.

The moment of truth is here. The Commission report is the only game in town – and if this wasn’t just a campaign slogan, the parties must come together and demand a vote on the Commission’s recommendations."
https://shadowproof.com/2010/11/10/third-way-says-cutting-social-security-and-public-health-care-a-sign-of-leadership/

[Hoyt]

1. Yet, Clinton does not support cuts to Soc Security, but does support increasing benefits for poorer

beneficiaries.

[99th_Monkey]

3. Campaign rhetoric is so different from decades-long 3rd Way associations. e.g. Al From

Talk about believing in "magic & unicorns"

[Hoyt]

4. Decades long association with 3rd Way. i bet you have tons of proof of that, not.

[99th_Monkey]

5. Good job totally ignoring 6 links & text in the OP

LA LA LA LA

[dchill]

13. Do you read before you jerk your knee?

Didn't think so.

[Hoyt]

14. Don't see a bit of evidence Hillary Clinton supports 3rd Way, just a bunch of speculation by

political opponents willing to skirt the truth.

[great white snark]

21. Come on, a little sympathy....it's all they have left.

DNC/DLC/third way/conservadem charges are their security blanky. It gets recs & slaps on the back from the purity pouters and after yesterday they probably need a little comfort.

[dchill]

26. My opinion of HRC has not changed in 13 years.

[sulphurdunn]

22. Stand outside and look up.

It's obvious that the earth does not move but that all other celestial bodies do. There isn't much evidence to suggest otherwise.

[stillwaiting]

35. Bye Hoyt. Your disingenuousness is too much.

I don't believe many of your posts are in good faith, and I am tired of being subjected to them.

I don't believe you believe the clintons aren't associated with third way, and you openly and repeatedly state you think it's a good thing to continue shifting wealth and income from Americans to other countries (while never acknowledging this money and wealth would never come from the financial elite but from working and struggling Americans).

You are not my political ally. You don't support average Americans. This was long overdue really.

[Armstead]

36. You must know better than that

The Clintins ARE the Third Way....

The Frontman and Friontwoman

Their rise was funded and the wheels greased by the DLC/New Democrats/Third Way whatever they call themselves this week

The Trojan Horses for Big Bidness and Wall St.

If you think that's a good thing, then support her.

But please don't pretend the sun does not rise in the east..

[fredamae]

2. Fwiw - Clinton (Bill) comments

on Soc Sec between 1993 - 1998

https://www.ssa.gov/history/clntstmts.html

[LiberalArkie]

15. But that is Bill Clinton and we are told that Bill and Hill think entirely different.

[fredamae]

25. What is true is that they are two

different people with closely aligned political positions in my observation....that's what -imo-makes them such a Power Team..politically speaking. Perhaps there might be some old docs/news somewhere that demonstrates HRC absolutely opposing POTUS Bill back then....so far I've mostly only read about her Support for his policies.

[LiberalArkie]

33. It always amazed me how he became the hero of teachers after his teacher testing law.

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/17/us/teachers-up-in-arms-over-arkansas-s-skills-test.html

[grasswire]

6. thoughtful, documented post, Monkey.

thanks

[99th_Monkey]

7. Thank you grasswire

LOL - my spell-corrector always tries to make you "grassfire" .. as in bern.

Amazing how many crickets there are out tonight.
I guess Hillarians are all 'meh' about this shit. Amazing but not amazing really.

[UglyGreed]

8. K/R

thanks 99th

[CharlotteVale]

9. i have no doubt Hillary will cut/means test SS. Bernie will protect

and expand it.

[Octafish]

10. President Clinton and the Chilean Model: Midnight at the House of Good and Evil

The author was a Chicago Boy helping implement the scam for Pinochet:

President Clinton and the Chilean Model.

By José Piñera

Midnight at the House of Good and Evil

"It is 12:30 at night, and Bill Clinton asks me and Dottie: 'What do you know about the Chilean social-security system?'” recounted Richard Lamm, the three-term former governor of Colorado. It was March 1995, and Lamm and his wife were staying that weekend in the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House.

I read about this surprising midnight conversation in an article by Jonathan Alter (Newsweek, May 13, 1996), as I was waiting at Dulles International Airport for a flight to Europe. The article also said that early the next morning, before he left to go jogging, President Bill Clinton arranged for a special report about the Chilean reform produced by his staff to be slipped under Lamm's door.

That news piqued my interest, so as soon as I came back to the United States, I went to visit Richard Lamm. I wanted to know the exact circumstances in which the president of the world’s superpower engages a fellow former governor in a Saturday night exchange about the system I had implemented 15 years earlier.

Lamn and I shared a coffee on the terrace of his house in Denver. He not only was the most genial host to this curious Chilean, but he also proved to be deeply motivated by the issues surrounding aging and the future of America. So we had an engaging conversation. At the conclusion, I ventured to ask him for a copy of the report that Clinton had given him. He agreed to give it to me on the condition that I do not make it public while Clinton was president. He also gave me a copy of the handwritten note on White House stationery, dated 3-21-95, which accompanied the report slipped under his door. It read:

Dick,
Sorry I missed you this morning.
It was great to have you and Dottie here.
Here's the stuff on Chile I mentioned.
Best,
Bill.

Three months before that Clinton-Lamm conversation about the Chilean system, I had a long lunch in Santiago with journalist Joe Klein of Newsweek magazine. A few weeks afterwards, he wrote a compelling article entitled,[font color="green"] "If Chile can do it...couldn´t North America privatize its social-security system?" [/font color]He concluded by stating that "the Chilean system is perhaps the first significant social-policy idea to emanate from the Southern Hemisphere." (Newsweek, December 12, 1994).

I have reasons to think that probably this piece got Clinton’s attention and, given his passion for policy issues, he became a quasi expert on Chile’s Social Security reform. Clinton was familiar with Klein, as the journalist covered the 1992 presidential race and went on anonymously to write the bestseller Primary Colors, a thinly-veiled account of Clinton’s campaign.

“The mother of all reforms”

While studying for a Masters and a Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University, I became enamored with America’s unique experiment in liberty and limited government. In 1835 Alexis de Tocqueville wrote the first volume of Democracy in America hoping that many of the salutary aspects of American society might be exported to his native France. I dreamed with exporting them to my native Chile.

So, upon finishing my Ph.D. in 1974 and while fully enjoying my position as a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University and a professor at Boston University, I took on the most difficult decision in my life: to go back to help my country rebuild its destroyed economy and democracy along the lines of the principles and institutions created in America by the Founding Fathers. Soon after I became Secretary of Labor and Social Security, and in 1980 I was able to create a fully funded system of personal retirement accounts. Historian Niall Ferguson has stated that this reform was “the most profound challenge to the welfare state in a generation. Thatcher and Reagan came later. The backlash against welfare started in Chile.”

But while de Tocqueville’s 1835 treatment contained largely effusive praise of American government, the second volume of Democracy in America, published five years later, strikes a more cautionary tone. He warned that “the American Republic will endure, until politicians realize they can bribe the people with their own money.” In fact at some point during the 20th century, the culture of self reliance and individual responsibility that had made America a great and free nation was diluted by the creation of [font color="green"] “an Entitlement State,”[/font color] reminiscent of the increasingly failed European welfare state. What America needed was a return to basics, to the founding tenets of limited government and personal responsibility.

[font color="green"]In a way, the principles America helped export so successfully to Chile through a group of free market economists needed to be reaffirmed through an emblematic reform. I felt that the Chilean solution to the impending Social Security crisis could be applied in the USA.[/font color]

CONTINUED...

http://www.josepinera.org/articles/articles_clinton_chilean_model.htm

It's like Grand Tragedy meets Grand Theft America, reading this stuff.

[jwirr]

23. This may sound stupid but how is Chile's social security

system working today?

My objection to privatized welfare is that greed trumps people. Our bankers would have it in their greedy hands.

[Octafish]

30. I believe it has been extensively overhauled since Pinochet got the boot.

Since its inception in 1981, Chile's system of mandatory individual retirement accounts has become a model for pension reformers around the world. A March 2008 comprehensive pension reform law made major changes that address some key policy challenges including worker coverage, gender equity, pension adequacy, and administrative fees. The cornerstone of the new law sets up a basic universal pension as a supplement to the individual accounts system.

-- https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v68n2/v68n2p69.html

[jwirr]

34. Thank you.

[99th_Monkey]

29. Great background piece. thanks. nt

[MisterP]

11. facts don't matter: PP and SEIU will spend millions on flyers saying she wants what Sanders

wants for the issues voters, and discourage enough issues voters so that the "she'll win November" voters dominate

that's the plan (if any)

[ucrdem]

12. The Clintons will never privatize SS or reduce benefits.

Never ever. Non, nein, nicht. Hillary especially. Third way is a think tank and doesn't have to worry about elections.

[99th_Monkey]

17. Nope. I'm sure all this 3rd Way nonsense is just "RW talking points" right?

[ucrdem]

20. It gets lip service like ground troops in Syria get lip service.

Nobody gets hurt and the bucks keep rolling in. If you have a better way to do it I'm all ears.

[Thespian2]

16. Excellent Post...

Thank you, 99th...

[99th_Monkey]

18. You're most welcome Theplan2.

Thanks for the rec. Now that it's trending a bit, Clinton peeps can't ignore it anymore.

[Duppers]

19. K & R

Bookmarking.

[FangedNoumenom]

24. I'd also love to know what Hillary supporters think of the TPP.

Or if they even know what it is.

[99th_Monkey]

28. They know it's "free trade"

who in their right mind would be against that?

[stillwaiting]

37. They believe she has evolved and is now against it.

The Chamber of Commerce believes she is simply saying things to win the primary and that she will eventually support the TPP.

I agree with the Chamber of Commerce (which basically never happens, but stopped watch and all that).

[Peace Patriot]

27. K&R 1,000x!

Plain truth.

[TIME TO PANIC]

31. K & R!

[kristopher]

32. A: No; B: No.