The Clintons made more than $6 million in 2015, with Bill raking in over $100 million between 2001-2013 by giving 542 paid speeches. But remember the Clintons were dead broke after leaving the White House. So broke that they were making $24,000 a day (again, thanks to speeches) in the first few months of leaving 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. She’s not middle class, and she’s been disconnected with the concerns of these families since the couple starting living in government housing on a consistent basis in the 1980s. Clinton hasn’t driven herself since 1996.
Yet, her tax returns also show that she could’ve taken deductions, but opted not to. Therefore, she’s acting like a middle class taxpayer, so she’s just like us “with a couple of extra zeroes at the end,” according to CNN. Tom Blumer at Newsbusters transcribed this exchange from CNN’s Inside Politics panel yesterday, featuring Kate Bolduan and Errol Louis:
ERROL LOUIS: Well, I think we learned that, as is, in keeping with her past practices, it's a document that could be fairly called I think a somewhat political document.Uh, she didn't seek out tax, uh, breaks that she was clearly eligible for, and almost nobody at that level of, of income, and $10 million is a whole lot of money — which she made while campaigning by the way, she wasn't really doing very much work — um, she didn't, she didn't buy farms, she didn't buy rental property, she didn't set herself up for passive income. She basically treated herself like a middle-class taxpayer with a couple of extra zeroes at the end of her, of her income for the year.
And I think that is intended to sort of make her more like the rest of us. We remember four years ago —
BOLDUAN: More middle-classy. (Panel laughs.)
LOUIS: More middle-classy.
Bolduan noted that no one asked for Clinton to release her forms, “though we all love more transparency than less,” she said. In all, the Clintons made over $10 million in 2015, $6.7 million coming from speeches, which is below the $20 million mark they hit previously:
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The Clintons primarily made their money in two ways: speaking and writing.Together they made $6.7 million in speaking fees. That's well below the roughly $20 million they made the year before.
They also made close to $3.1 million on their various books.
And Bill Clinton's consulting business brought in nearly $1.7 million.
The couple also received $226,000 in pension and annuities. As a former U.S. president, Bill Clinton is entitled to receive a pension north of $200,000 a year.
They made another $109,000 in interest and dividends, and claimed $3,000 in capital losses carried over from prior years.
The couple gave $1 million to their private Clinton Family Foundation, which is different than the Clinton Foundation that has been the subject of scrutiny.
“She basically treated herself like a middle-class taxpayer with a couple of extra zeroes at the end of her, of her income for the year.”
Then, she’s just a rich lady paying a lot of taxes. Folks, the Clinton income is not middle class. It’s not even “middle classy.” It’s super-rich. And we all know this. Just because she doesn’t buy up property, or indulge in other aspects of rich lifestyle-behavior that’s mostly just Hollywood dramatizations, doesn’t negate the fact that the Clintons have no clue what’s going on in Middle America. Donald Trump isn’t that much better, but at least he’s honest about where he is on the economic food chain. Maybe that’s because he ran for a party’s nomination that encourages entrepreneurism, free markets, and economic freedom, while the other is waging a grotesque crusade to punish success and harness and encourage envy for political gain.
Americans don’t envy - we are inspired by the success of others. It shows that there’s a window to reach a standard of living that, yes, many don’t see in their lifetime. But it’s possible—and they know that. It’s the reason why we don’t have far left parties, like those in Europe, though the Democratic Party is becoming more radicalized in that regard. For conservatives, they need to focus on winning the messaging battle concerning free stuff v. freedom. It’s an argument that can be easily won, and if we lose it; the fault is entirely on us. As Andrew Breitbart once said, if you can’t sell freedom, you suck.
Nevertheless, let’s drop the fiction that Clinton is, or acts, like a middle class taxpayer. It’s just ridiculous.
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