Fear and Loathing at the Clinton Foundation

Fear and Loathing at the Clinton Foundation

“We believe that for a real economic development to occur, people must have opportunities for education and employment.  By increasing access to these resources, as well as to investment capital and markets, we aim to give individuals the opportunity to work their way out of poverty and uplift their communities.”  - Clinton Foundation

By J.M. Hamilton (4-10-2015)

To be elected POTUS, a nominee, under current rules, has to gather so much money that they are compromised from the very beginning.

Assembled below is a partial list of Clinton Foundation patrons, in the $250,000 and higher contribution range.  These were basically, the names, entities, and sovereigns I recognized; there are many more.  And before we launch into today’s piece, some initial observations about this list.  The list is comprised of monopolist, multinationals, Big Oil, the Wall Street cartel, billionaires, and foundations funded by billionaires.  Booz Allen Hamilton, who owns and operates the N.S.A., made the list.  There’s also a few state universities who are Clinton Foundation contributors, which I don’t completely understand.  Wouldn’t it be better for state universities, more aligned with their presumed mission, to be contributing to qualified students in need, rather than donating to the Clinton Foundation (ditto the State of Arkansas)? 

Aside from that, the list is comprised of the global and multinational aristocracy, not to mention a handful of the planet’s most repugnant Middle East monarchies/dictatorships.  It’s important to note that the asterisk (*) denotes those entities that made 2014 contributions.  Which, to me anyway, denotes that the fix is in.  Better to jump on President Hillary Clinton’s bandwagon now.

Note too, that many of these individuals and institutions, Big Oil and Wall Street in singular fashion, have long supported the GOP.  Which just goes to show that Mrs. Clinton isn’t very far off the GOP’s core positions in catering to the plutocracy’s needs (particularly on economics, Fed policy, government opacity, free trade/globalization, foreign policy, and the tsunami of money unleashed by SCOTUS within the political process).  Either that, or these GOP supporters are holding their nose and hedging their bets, as the GOP continues to implode and burn its every opportunity to reenter the White House.  (In the GOP’s most recent debacle, they pandered to their Evangelical base with bigotry and homophobia in Indiana and Arkansas, only to be told to stand down by their corporate masters.  When push came to shove, the GOP predictably told the Evangelicals to pound sand, and toadied up to moneyed interests.  Oops.)  Yeah, the GOP has a serious conflict between their base, and their owners.

Of course the Clintons with skins made of highest grade Teflon and Kevlar have had their own issues.  Hillary is so addicted to secrecy that she opted for her very own email server while conducting the affairs of state.  And when the House asked to see the contents of the Clinton server, Hills allegedly had the contents wiped clean.  So if the voters are looking for a more inclusive/more transparent regime under the Clintons, after all this is a government by and for the people (or so the Constitution says), than dream on.  There’s that and the issue that some Clinton Foundation contributors are morally destitute, spread fundamentalist Islam (Wahhabism) that is antithetical to democracy and Western ideals, and treat women as something lower than chattel.  This makes it awkward for the prospective first female President, and an alleged, women’s rights champion.  It’s all part and parcel of the scandal and double-standards that often surround the global elite and the plutocracy.  Best characterized by Mr. Lawrence Summers admonishment to then future Senator Warren:  Insider don’t criticize other insiders.  Indeed.

Many of the global elite, who contribute to the Clinton Foundation, are counting on the continuation of the crony American and global economies, where the skills of lobbying, pandering to elected officials and dictators, and showering candidates with money, are a far more important than sound business fundamentals.  The global elite rely upon: monopoly and oligopoly to mint profits; collude through “trade associations;” where authorized by law, create barriers to entry to keep competitors at bay – again insuring monopolistic profits; and utilize globalization and arbitrage to play nation states off upon one another, in a race to a regulatory/tax/social welfare/wage policy bottom. 

And Mrs. Clinton appears to be the plutocracy’s gal.  Are Clinton Foundation donors expecting access and favors once the Clintons reenter the White House, or were these gifts provided with no intentions of artifice or expectations of reciprocity?  No wonder the GOP, continuously, foams at the mouth.  How dare Dems service the global elite - that’s the GOP’s job.

J.M.H. has been writing for several years about the highly deleterious affect monopolies, cartels, M&A, private equity, and the limitless flow of money into the political process, has had upon the U.S. economy, employment opportunity, aggregate demand, and the nation’s tax base.  And J.M.H. has noted, as well, the Clintons have played a significant role in cratering into globalist and Wall Street demands (Yes, President Clinton repealed Glass –Steagall.  Is that why the Weills are on the Clinton Foundation list?).  The insiders are counting on another Clinton Presidency to keep the insider/crony economy humming, and the public in the dark. 

Thomas Edsall at the NY Times wrote a recent piece, Has American Business Lost its Mojo?, in which he notes that the number of American business deaths is exceeding the number of business births.  Mr. Edsall goes on to write the root causes of this phenomenon are industry consolidation, regulatory barriers to entry for new startups (created by the plutocracy and Congress), and Washington politics (aka the crony economy), et al.  You see, “the haves” can’t stand the thought of losing a single penny to a competitor, and hence, crony relations between Washington and the plutocracy.  The trend as noted by Mr. Edsall is bad news for America.  Fewer businesses and crushing entrepreneurial initiative is harmful to workers, investors, the tax base, the quality of products and services, innovation, and the American dream.  Katrina vanden Heuvel, at The Post, writes that the pending Pacific Rim Free Trade agreement or TPP, that the President is seeking fast track authority for, has a provision within it that may require participating governments to reimburse corporations and commercial interests – through litigation - for any profits they might lose, as a result of changes in government regulation or policies. 

As such, this free trade agreement or TPP, negotiated behind closed doors, basically front load profits, regulatory capture is guaranteed, and it will further kill U.S. jobs and opportunity (just like NAFTA under the Clintons).

This is the global plutocracy in action:  Allow us to make monopolistic profits, destroy opportunity for many in America, dodge paying taxes, and we’ll donate to the Clinton Foundation and assorted charities.  After all, the plutocracy knows best.  As J.M.H. has said before, there is no greater threat to America, her economy, and free enterprise, than monopolies and cartels.

The list of contributors to Clinton Inc. (aka The Clinton Foundation) is the very reason it is very important that Mrs. Clinton receives a challenger from the Left, during the Democratic primaries.  Without a challenger, such as a Warren, Sanders or O’Malley (or preferably all three), there will be nothing to hold in check the Clintons, their foundation, and the foundation’s patrons.  Mr. Paul only becomes a threat to the crony economy if he’s nominated, and, as disappointing as it maybe to some, the odds and the GOP base are stacked against him (despite the fact that he polls best against Mrs. Clinton, among the Republican field).

If unopposed, don’t look for Hillary, or her Republican rival, to bring up or debate solutions to the following problems confronting the nation:

·      Wage and wealth inequality and a stagnating economy – driven by cartels and monopolies;

·      A MIC and a surveillance state that has run completely off the rails, and beyond the reach of U.S. politicians;

·      U.S. tax policy that is riven with favors for the global elite;

·      U.S. foreign policy that is a complete failure, resulting in: an unacknowledged U.S. bankruptcy created by the Neo con-men, a lack of progress in global democratic reform, and serious blowback;

·      An unregulated private equity industry that plays a very large roll in business consolidation and in killing jobs and opportunity; and a Wall Street banking cartel that is seeking to overturn regulatory reform and the Dodd-Frank law, a law that the cartel actually played a large role in writing;

·      Real campaign finance reform, complete with term limits for all elected officials and judges, caps on spending and contributions, and a separation between moneyed interests and the state;

·      The Federal Reserve’s role in the bubble economy, asset inflation, interest rate suppression, and the effect of its easy money policies on job killing M&A and the private equity industry (in the latest acquisition, Shell paid a 50% premium, another sign we are perhaps near a market top);

·      Time to end a failed forty year old – plus - war on drugs, that only benefits the MIC, police unions, the criminal justice industrial complex, Big Pharma, and beer, liquor, and nicotine distributors (and purveyors of same);

·      Environmental controls and regulation over carbon, oil and coal; and perhaps the question of our time,

·      How is it that U.S. multinationals have the full rights of U.S. citizenship, and more; and yet, continuously and surreptitiously, advocate regulatory, tax, environmental policies, and foreign policies, that are inimical to U.S. and the ninety-nine percent’s interests?

The game is rigged, as best exemplified by the list of Clinton Foundation contributors.  Without a Democratic Party challenger, the game will assuredly remain rigged under yet another Clinton presidency.  And that’s exactly the way the plutocracy likes it.  After all, if Hillary is nominated unopposed, the plutocracy will have won, as the American public will be forced to choose between two right of center candidates: Clinton Inc. 4.0 and whatever doomed atavistic candidate the GOP nominates.

At some point, the American people may discover that the biggest socialists, and welfare queens, are also some of the members of the Fortune 500, and foreign governments… you know, more than a few Clinton Foundation benefactors.

Such irony, after having lived through 25 years of the Cold War, that it’s not the communist who threaten capitalism, but the unmitigated greed of monopolist, multinationals, foreign despots, and our crony government.  Clinton Foundation cadres would do well to remember that high unemployment creates a vacuum, nature and power abhors a vacuum, and that vacuum is likely to be filled by a more socialist U.S. government.  After all, the socialism, bailouts, and money printing that are good for bourgeoisie will eventually be perceived to be good for the proletariat.

 

Do svidaniya!

Companies, Individuals, Non-Profits, Philanthropies, Sovereign States, and Public institutions... patrons of the Clinton Foundation:

AIG

Banco Santander Brasil S.A.

Deutsche Bank AG *

Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund

Intel Corporation *

McDonald's Corporation *

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Global Impact Funding Trust, Inc

Philip R. Munger *

Noble Energy, Inc. *

Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee *

Denise Rich

State of Arkansas

The Blackstone Group L.P. *

The Weill Family Fund

United Automobile Workers of America

United Nations Foundation * Walmart *

Arizona State University *

Bank of America Foundation *

Barclays PLC *

Chevron Corporation

Citigroup Inc *

Energy Developments and Investments Corporation

General Electric *

HSBC Holdings *

McKinsey & Company *

Monsanto Company *

News Corporation Foundation

Nike, Inc. *

PricewaterhouseCoopers *

Soros Foundation

Sanyo North America Corporation

The Allstate Corporation

The David Geffen Foundation

The Harrah's Foundation

The John C. Armitage Foundation

Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch *

UBS Wealth Management USA *

University of Southern California *

Visa Inc. *

100 Women in Hedgefunds

Nasser Al-Rashid

American Federation of Teachers *

Anheuser-Busch Foundation

Barclays Capital

Booz Allen Hamilton *

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina *

Cisco *

Citi Foundation

Dubai Foundation

Duke Energy Corporation

Entergy

ExxonMobil *

Friends of Saudi Arabia

Hewlett-Packard Company *

Humana Inc. * Inter-American Development Bank * Microsoft * James R. Murdoch

Pfizer Inc *

PGA Tour, Inc. *

Presidential Inaugural Committee

Princess Diana Memorial Fund

Procter & Gamble *

Standard Chartered Bank *

State of Qatar

Swiss Reinsurance Company *

Tenet Healthcare Corporation *

The Annenberg Foundation

The Boeing Company

The Dow Chemical Company *

The Ford Foundation *

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. *

The Government of Brunei Darussalam

The Sultanate of Oman *

The Walmart Foundation

The Zayed Family

Thomson Reuters

Toyota Motor North America, Inc. *

United Arab Emirates *

The Walton Family Foundation *

State of Kuwait

The Coca-Cola Company *

The Rockefeller Foundation

The Swedish Postcode Lottery *

Commonwealth of Australia, DIICC *

Elton John AIDS Foundation

Government of the Netherlands

Irish Aid S. Daniel Abraham Sheikh Mohammed H. Al-Amoudi Government of Norway Kingdom of  Saudi  Arabia* Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation * Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2015