failed repeatedly to pass NAFTA Clinton picked it up and got it passed. Even though he passed it
with Republican votes the Republicans have tied it around our necks for decades.

Clintons are great.
redumbliCONs are horrendously bad.

We need a history refresher.

The economy does better under a Democrat.

Reagan/Bush Senior: Recession.

Clinton: Surplus.

Dubya: Recession.

Obama: Steady economic growth and deficit reduction.

Trump: Benefiting from the Obama economy. TBD.

1980 and 1984. Reagan also got the youth vote.

Michael Moore film Roger and Me was in 1989. It detailed the miserable state Flint, Michigan was in as the auto industry had been already fleeing pre-Nafta.

First there were the runaway shops-fleeing the industrial unionized north for the cheap labor of the south's right to work states. That began in the fifties and sixties. (Prior to that the industry north was recruiting labor from the Southern state anyway).

Then industry fled further south down to Mexico and from there to other countries. That was happening in the 70s. The American brands already had their office towers that accompanied their manufacturing plants in 1973, visible from El Paso.

Manufacturing was 53% of the US economy in 1965, 39% in 1988, and 9% in 2004.

This has been a longterm trend.At the end of WWII we were the industrial powerhouse. It was our golden age. Competition came in as countries rebuilt.
The search for cheaper labor is not limited to American corporations, it also is sought by the U S's international competitors.

Additionally trade treaties are not just done for business reasons-they are done for geopolitical reasons.

I come from a union family and have gotten tired of the many false narratives concerning American labor issues.

So the Clintons were power couple but Bill Clinton was not the Colossus of Rhodes. He did not single-handedly set out to destroy American manufacturing.

I also come from a multi-generational union family here and in Canada.

As to labor issues, labor, especially unionized labor, is a non-concern for modern Democratic Presidents.

No one said that Clinton single-handedly set out to destroy American manufacturing.


That was your rhetorical framing. But NAFTA made it much easier to outsource manufacturing, as well as tax policy that rewards such behavior.

However, there was 7 million fewer Americans in poverty during the 1990s and minimum wage was up 20%. Sooo...???

But when policies are consistently pursued that lead to the same consequences, the word unintended might not be the correct one.

And the minimum wage never approached a living wage, and the bubble of the 1990s was not sustained. Gramm, Leach, Bliley was one of the prime causes of the financial meltdown of the Bush Presidency.

What Bill Clinton said on signing the ACt:

It still increased and was more proportional to the cost-of-living. 7 million were lifted from poverty due to a fairer tax system in the 1990s. We grew from the middle out, not the top down.

Bush plunged us into trickle-down economics yet again.

We could have kept the Clinton tax-rates and kept our surplus.

Bill’s budget had lots of middle-class investments and tax credits.

be president when he ran for the office?

He was basically a governor of a small state-did not have much experience beyond that-

He is always credited with being highly intelligent, a great communicator, an a kind of charismatic personality . (I myself have never seen him as either great communicator or charismatic personality-but it seems to be the popular view.

or a center right Democrat, much like my own Representative in Illinois, Dan Lipinski. And intelligence is not a factor here, but a general center right corporate friendly philosophy. In my view.

It was an enormous giveaway to the 1%. Free movement of capital and increased regulation of workers.

Increasingly, workers are not.

Amazing post - and welcome!

You're the kind of people we need here!!!

I am bookmarking to remind myself how prosperous those years were. I brought my home and put away a sizable amount of money in my 401k. Liquated my stock funds in 2006 and went to cash. I knew things were going to get worst under bush.

I hope you make it a regular stop in your day. Truly.

Things like catering to corporate leaders at the expense of actual workers who comprise the vast majority of US citizens.

But we all have our own take on history.

Bush has Turd Blossom to thank for that. From every fiscal year from '04 to '09, you have to add around $170 billion to each deficit.

And a very warm Welcome to DU, TreeStarsForever. Keep'em coming!

This sounds pretty straightforward to me.

that has convinced 40% of Americans that the Clintons are corrupt.

the smartest two people in just about any room they're in.

Dumb people just don't like it.

and still can do. Launch a massive lawsuit for defamation and compel the harassers to testify under oath. All televised, of course. Publishing and spreading false information that causes damage to one’s career is illegal.

"part of the old guard" tag.

Hillary did have the most progressive platform of all-time and worked with Bernie on a debt-free college plan. Not her fault the media never covered policy. Hillary had comprehensive, vetted plans for literally everything.

lets not get into reliving the primaries, it was brutal. And reliving the primary is also against the rules here.

She got robbed in the general election and we all are the worst for it. Now lets deal with 2018, I believe she has a lot of good to contribute in reversing a do nothing/Teapublican Congress.

I'm not talking about the primaries. I'm saying after the primaries Hillary worked on a debt-free college plan with Bernie and had the most progressive platform of all-time.

no rehashing the primaries. Please reread the terms of service regarding the primary.

...????

But some here can't let go. They accuse anyone who supported Clinton of rehashing the primaries regardless of the subject of the thread.

Nice post. A few facts are always welcome.

The 90s were really good years, and Clinton's NAFTA was part of the picture. Expect pushback but please hang in there as I'd hate to see this OP automatically obliterated!

about being centrist and third way. There is a lack of historical realism in those accusations. People need to remember that before Bill and the third way we were steadily and regularly losing elections. I see a lot of posts that would like us to go back to that "way".