You know...there might just be a touch of bitterness on DU about the Clinton

wedding.

And for good reason.

During a depression, it's fucking tacky.

And no, I don't give a flying rat's ass about "whose money it is."

Ostentatious events during times like this generally will draw comments from the unwashed masses....we expected Rush Limbaugh to be a tacky son of bitch (but, not Elton, right?)... but our guy?

So...expect threads, and frankly...anyone in favor of this ludicrous, rock star, horseshit "we must keep everything secret" (why??? it's freaking Chelsea! Do you care? I could give a shit...but, I hope she's happy) Princess Diana-like event from hell....well, you can read the threads...and suck it.

That $2 million is going somewhere. Caterers, valets, etc. Some hard-working people are going to make that money.


What's wrong with that?


Think of it as a small-scale stimulus package for the wedding industry.

Are you?

Your little princess is getting married, so you would drop 2 million bucks so your guests could what?

Have a great couple of hours?

Would you wonder how many jobless/homeless/sick people there were within a hundred mile radius of your little shin dig? Could you sleep with that?

Are you really that stupid?


That money is going to regular working people... in the wedding-related industry.



How is keeping that money in their bank account helping anyone?

May I have another?

Yes, they are that tacky :)

What is the precise and relevant amount of money that should be spent on a wedding? On what objective basis is that figure derived from? Does that figure apply only to Americans or worldwide, and why?

Is there a precise and relevant moral difference between a multi-million dollar wedding in the same vicinity as the unemployed, sick and homeless as there is between someone who spends a few hundred dollars a year on dates, movies and video games as when people in Rwanda are actually starving to death? If so, what precisely is the difference (other than mere degrees)?

If the Clintons didn't have the means to pay for the wedding then yes, it would be tacky. But they have the money and for all I care spend away.

Personally the only thing I feel is jealous that I didn't get an invitation.

And seemed to forget that all of that money was going to people in the DC area who needed the work.

big deal.

no excuse for the kind of world where some people spend millions on a fucking wedding while others go homeless.

the clintons didn't go into the white house superrich, but they apparently came out that way.

Shame on the Clintons.

...and there would be no criticism going on.


I can't believe you folks have me defending the Clintons... LOL. ;-)

;)

2008 revenue: $193 million

Spending:

$34 million in salaries
$33 million in consulting fees
$10 million in foundation events
$13 million in travel
$11 million in occupancy costs, supplies, depreciation
____________________________________________________

$101 million = influence buying, graft, sinecures for relatives, etc.


direct program spending = $77 million


http://www.clintonfoundation.org/uploads/files/2008_audited_financials.pdf


oh, & btw: they don't do "starving children"


these are their initiatives:


Transforming Ideas Into Action

Combating Climate Change

Treating HIV/AIDS & Malaria

Fighting Childhood Obesity

Promoting Economic Opportunity

Creating Sustainable Development in Africa (this one is about marketization, same thing funded by bill gates. transforming tribal economies based on small scale production, barter, & relationship networks into fully monetized, marketized economies based on cold hard cash & the bottom line.)

Enabling Sustainable Development

:kick:

there goes another rubber tree plant....

kerplop.

Good work, as always.

Because that's where it's mostly going.

They certainly earned it by selling the American worker down the river.

Personally, a lavish wedding for their child is not what I would say one deserves for doing such a thing.

:shrug:

and are a million times smarter.

that's why they're rich. ;)

they deserve it! and we don't!

people have been involved, over many, many years with the Clintons? This is their only child, this is their money. The guest list most likely include Chelsea's friends, her fiancee's friends and those close to the Clintons. He was the POTUS and she is the SOS. Again, it's the media exacerbating this. It's their event and they can afford it. Good for them, thinking otherwise comes down to sour grapes IMO.

Wrath.

Wake up.

sorry. Put the thread on "ignore" if you need to.

Warmed my English teacher liberal heart!

Yes, that's the taxpayers' money.

ok, you got me with that one.

Ain't that the truth

nuf said.

The Kennedys are old money? :rofl: On what volcanic island formed yesterday?

When my late sis (a horse trainer) dated a Kennedy boy (even though my fam was upper middle class) she learned where she stood. The story I won't reveal. I'm not that dumb.

Plus, none of us have any idea how much they spent on the reception or anything else surrounding that wedding.

The costs involved in Chelsea Clinton's wedding are ESTIMATES, by the wedding planner that did not get hired.

Jenna Bush wore an Oscar de la Renta original for her "down home" wedding. It cost a hell of a lot more than $100,000.

:grr:

Sid

And Joe Schmoo would have never been able to get a wedding setting like he did. So the name did do something to help do the wedding.

for someone to think that they have the right to tell someone how they can spend money they earned. If they want to pile it up in the yard and have a bonfire...well.....it is their money. Not yours, not mine, not the public's, but, THEIR money. Get over it, or as you so eloquently put it, suck it.

So, let's get this straight...

Republican spends money...Bad! Tasteless!

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

St. Bill spends.....

Oh how sweet! I LOVE "OUR" rich folks!

Take a trip through NC and gander the closed mills...

That's how your boy got the dough for this shit.

thing in these threads you refer to. :rofl:

As far as NC goes, lived here the majority of my life. Watched the textile mills leave decades ago.....this is not the first time NC has lost mills and jobs. Tobacco is no longer king here but cotton seems to be making a nice resurgence. Hell, unemployment where I live now is right at 12%. You are preaching to the choir on the economy in NC being bad but, Bill Clinton was not solely responsible for this.

Bill is not 'my boy'....and I am sure Hillary made her fair share of money along the way too.

Again, no one has the right to tell anyone how to spend their money.

You mean, like the nineties? You mean when the furniture industry dried up with the trade agreements?

Apparently, you are OK with this.

I was actually referring to the early 80's when the Converse plant I was working at closed down the leather shoe lines to manufacture them in Mexico. I got laid off during that time but, rather than piss and moan, I found work in the fields picking produce. I did farm labor until I found better paying work with benefits.

As far as the furniture industry in NC, between 1990 and 2000, the furniture industry in NC lost 2,664 jobs or 3.4 percent when compared to the previous decade. This is far from drying up, the industry just lost the 3.4% of the 4% growth they experienced between 1980 and 1990. It has suffered more since 2000 than it did in the time period you are referring to.

All this sideline discussion is nice but, it all boils down to you trying to twist what I say. Again, no where have I said I am OK with any of this. If I am displeased with something, I try to be a player in bringing about change to whatever that may be, if I can.

Just be honest, you just hate the Clintons. See, I can twist your words too. :rofl:

on the refridge-- we actually like them.

You are dead wrong; the issue is the tackiness of a wedding like that during an economic downturn like this.

The happiest people I have met have very little.

Try again.

Its lonely down there.

and it's getting more crowded here. Come on up...the company's better.

in a job market exacerbated by many of the things Clinton did while in office have no right to comment on such ostentatious spending. :sarcasm:

Let's not forget that Clinton made so much money after his time in office BECAUSE of his policies that sold out the American worker while he was IN office. I don't see why are wasting their time defending such conspicuous consumption.

bellow on...

You're so busy worshiping the Clintons that you can't be bothered to look at what they did and what they've reaped because of it. I don't get paid to be up the Clintons ass. Do you?

And I don't get paid to be up the Freeper's ass.

Dems from birth, both of us.

We are sure as shit not freepers, but we aren't brown nosing jerks either.

Look at all the plebes kissing the ass of the man whose policies started us down the road to the death of the "Dream."
Christ, I am going to bed.

blatant sucking up to power. I don't like it when freepers do it and I don't like it when people like you who pretend to themselves they're different from freepers do it either.

your ass is showing. :hi:

And it's not pretty.

The idiocy of trickle down economics hasn't stopped bring idiotic because you want to sound like less of a hypocrite for sucking up to the monied elite.

But if you want to throw in your lot with freepers that's your business. But don't expect others to pretend otherwise.

Speaking. of. which.

I don't come here to pray on the altar of Bill Clinton.

...or, nothing at all.

Will it put money in their pockets and cause other brides to look at hiring them because of the publicity involved?

Uh, yeah.

:sarcasm:

Pathetic.

What I am going to argue, though, is the hundred or so small-to-medium businesses that are involved in providing services for this wedding.

>Pathetic.<

Only if you work for a living. They will get follow-up business from this event, too.

-MV
formerly owned a small business that depended on word of mouth and repeat customers

That's interesting, because we've recently had several threads where everyone had a good time excoriating Carly "Two Yachts" Fiorina.

:shrug:

people are doing it.

Forget the fact that the Clintons came into all that money after servicing the corporations and wealthy by selling the American worker down the river. Apparently pointing that out is tacky.

:shrug:

;)

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and not spending millions of stolen dollars on weddings to daughters of Presidents and Secretaries of State?

Just a guess :shrug:

do? Pay their dues to the corporate elite so their daughters can have $2 million dollar weddings.

I mean, coming from humble backgrounds gets you elected and removes you from the lives
of the unwashed masses. Except of course when one makes appearances in Haitian Relief photo ops.

So willing to believe ABC's guesstimate.

Real coup for ABC to get all the damn liberals hot & bothered even though they don't really know how much the wedding will cost.

illuminating at how little was learned over the past few days regarding taking deliberate, spurious speculation designed to be a hit piece, running with it and the dangers inherent in doing so.

makes a blip on their radar.

For my part, I'm hiding all those threads.

Clinton is a former President ... he has the money to give his daughter a great wedding.

Why would we on the left be pissed off???

We might as well argue that Obama should not be able to take a nice vacation because of the economy ... oh wait ... that's what the Tea Party does ... every 5 seconds.

Do you not pay attention? Clinton ran as a progressive and governed as a bloody Republican forcing through things Republicans wanted for years but couldn't get through because Democrats used to actually give a damn about the "little people" that is until Clinton decided that his future prospects and ambitions were more important than doing what was right for the people, and his future prospects required raising large sums of money from corporations. So instead of putting a halt to the supply-side economic fuckery that is Reaganomics, he continued to put the screw to the American worker by expanding it while slashing at the safety net and creating yet another level of slavery by having people "work" for a welfare check as though this bullshit was more likely to get people out of poverty than a fucking job that pays a living wage, something that became even harder to come by thanks to fucking NAFTA. And the shithole that is our banking system and the crap that banks can legally get away with can be dropped right on Clinton's corporate sycophantic policies as he never bothered to attempt to fight the repeal of Glass-Steagall. Our media, which was already going down the crapper thanks to Reagan, went even further down into the cesspool thanks to Clinton and the Telecommunications act of 1996. All of this and you see no reason why anyone would be pissed off to watch the family indulge in such a gross, ostentation display of wealth that he obtained AFTER selling the rest of us out?

Are you fucking kidding me? Have you been asleep for the last 20 years or are you just blind and/or ignorant? I know people who have been out of work for over 2 years because the companies they worked for decided it was cheaper to go out of the country and put those people out on the street. A policy that things like NAFTA made a hell of a lot easier to do without negative consequences. That alone makes me pissed off. I know whose backs Old Bill Clinton had to stick a knife in to be able to get that money. So I'm not at all inclined to make the argument that a large display of that ill gotten wealth at a time when people are fucking suffering is okay because he's a former President who claimed to be a Democrat.

Like I said, sucking up to those in power is NOT the answer. Unless it's only your own well being you give a damn about and not the larger society at large. Then by all means suck up to them, you'll be handsomely rewarded. Just as Bill Clinton.

he clearly didn't outlaw the run-on sentence.

I got the impression he was trying to demonstrate his utter hatred for Clinton via word count ...

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I'm sorry you're so angry with him, and the Democratic Party in general. I'm sure that when Ralph Nader crawls out of whatever cave he's been hiding in, he will present a far superior and ideologically pure option for you to support in 2012.

Oh is that an attempt to dismiss my opinion? Whatever, better to have voted for Nader than to have crawled up the ass of the DLC.

and deserves to be called a moron.

are jealous. At least as one poster said the money is going into the economy. It isn't being gathering mold in the bankers vaults and in the GOP's pockets. THE NETWORKS ARE DAMN JEALOUS OF THE CLINTONS and they are going to flame and spew crap at him every chance they get. So I tell them shut the hell up.

poor,
and jobless

with thanks to fucking NAFTA, for one thing.

you are the person on this board who wants to know about "change."

There's a lot of "change" after the masses get mad.

Quit being such a namby pamby TWIT.

including keeping the tabloids in their helicopters away.

That really puts the whole thing into perspective.

The actual wedding might not be all that over the top.

nt

?

Did you know that?

specualtion by the Media. The Media hate the Clintons--
need I say more.

Point of order.


We're not IN a depression... technically, we're no longer in a recession. We've had four straight quarters of growth.

In the winter and spring of '09, you could argue we were in a depression. We're not now.



And the reason we're not..... is Barack Obama and the Stimulus program.

Ummmmm yeah.

You just go back to the "Friends" reruns, OK?

Since what we're concerned with is appearances, the distinction is irrelevant among those people who not only don't have $2 million, but can't feed themselves.

Don't use inflammatory BS like "in a depression".

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Is it being televised? Are the Clintons sending out press releases?No and no. Doesn't sound like much of a "rock star" attitude on their part at all. Sounds like a good excuse for Clinton bashing on DU to me.

and having to have people ready to just go "somewhere" at a moments notice!

Rats! Got me there!

Seriously, spending $2 million on a fucking wedding during a depression is ridiculous. I agree.

Let's do some math here.

Just for the food, at oh 25 bucks a plate... that is 50K... just on food.

See how the cost can quickly go up?

Think of a dress... average 10K

Then add the music... it climbs, FAST.

Look on the bright side, that money is going to the caterers, the decorators and others in the local economy.

Oh and something is telling me that they are paying a smidgen more than just 25 bucks a plate. Thinks of the cooks that keeps employed for one more event.

*As someone already pointed out, we're not in a depression.

When I see like a restaurant that sells a $10,000 pizza for sale it doesn't bother me. I guess this shouldn't either.

I'll alert my grandparents. Living in sin all this time!

It is an economic phenomenon called "The paradox of thrift"

Of all the things to be upset about in this world. Lordy.

Right now, there is lots of infighting on DU about support for Obama ... is he progressive enough ... or is he a corporate shill ... blah blah blah.

What this thread suggests to me is that there are plenty of folks on the left who apparently hate Clinton. I mean hate him. And I didn't realize that.

And now seeing it in this thread ... and having had some one scream at me for "sucking up to the Clinton's" in an earlier post up the thread, it made me wonder what might be going on in DU if Hillary had become President instead of Obama.

My suspicion is that it would be almost exactly the same. Endless bickering about what a corporate shill Hillary is ... how Bill was really a Republican, and she is too, Chelsea would probably get attacked .... on and on.

to refer to the woman who is now Secretary of State. So, they keep trying to prove to themselves and others that the SOS is a "bitch".

I also think there is a lot of left over anger from the Shirley Sherrod event.

and paid $33,783,507 in taxes. Not to mention the 25 million President Clinton's foundation has raised for AIDS & Malaria research, medicines, and other causes.

They have earned quite a lot of money & have given more than their share.


If they can afford a two million dollar wedding...why not? Hell, this NY...everything costs more here. Besides, it's their only daughter, and after the Bush twins and Palin's trailer trash daughter, she is a daughter anyone would be proud of. She has grown into an intelligent, well educated, gracious young woman. She has always conducted herself with class. So much for the "Republican Family Values" bs. Hillary & Nancy Pelosi, also a millionaire, have done a wonderful job raising their kids. Yet Palin is treated like she is Mother Earth. What a joke.

So if you've got the cash, why not use it to celebrate a happy occassion?

I also think it helps to stimulate the economy here in NY, people got work because of it and I'm all for that. More jobs are needed everywhere right now.

Why others should have to tell anyone how to spend their money is kind of funny. Who cares? If it's not coming out of your pocket..why is it your business?


Smacks of jealousy. So turn green with envy & whine.

PS.. as for the "Secrecy" it's for security reasons..and other than that...why is it anyones business?

travel, fundraising, events, consulting fees, & other grafty items.

i could get 141 trucks & 24 tons of medical supplies to haiti a hell of a lot cheaper than that.

tax-free investment fund.

bill "nafta" clinton can suck it.

a foundation that is connected to the evil Pappy Bush no less! :puke:

best to donate directly to whoever's doing the work you like.

yes, the clinton-bush ties are interesting.

money SPENT on poor people can be an everlasting "job"...make people less POOR to start with, and those cushy feel-good jobs go away..

If you are willing to spend $40K a year to "take care of" a poor family, why not just GIVE them the $40K, and maybe they would cease to be poor.

Poor people are treated like naughty pets who crapped on the carpet.. they get their noses rubbed in it, and when they are sufficiently remorseful, they may get a crumb or two, but never enough to actually change their lives.

Too many charities are all wrapped up in the furtherance of their "mission", and in the care & feeding of their own missionaries, and if a few poor folks get a meal or two and some cast off Nikes, they feel as if their job is done.

Not even with all that money he took from Right-Wing Republicans in 2004.

About the money being spent and where would go spend all their surplus money and time helping the less fortunate.

They must not spend one penny on anything but the necessities. Then the rest goes to those with less.

I'm sure that must be the case.

...that we would NEVER think of of spending a penny to indulge ourselves!

I don't understand all the wedding vitriol directed at the Clintons, apart from the part of it that is political. And multiple threads? :shrug:

while so many people are being put out on the street.

You can glean whatever else you want.

It'll go straight back into the economy. I really have no problem with it.

No matter who has them.

In hard times, it is a gesture that says "we're filthy rich and can waste millions on this one day."

And God knows, jobs are not easy to come by these days. Think of it it this way...if nothing else, you have the right to return your invitation with "will not attend".

Anyone can use that logic to justify excess.

It's offensive, and if you don't see it, maybe your bias is blinding you.

wealthy decide to spend, you are happy?

You can be angry all you want, but it isn't going to change. The economy depends on how much economic activity there is. I would have thought this was obvious.

a decades old problem-

Anger worked during the French Revolution, btw.

Christ. Learn a little history, and a little economics. Economic downturns get perpetuated because people DON'T spend money. Hate and Envy the Clintons for being rich, fine, but the fact is they're going to be employing a lot of US workers with this shindig.

Trickle-down economics is when the government lowers tax rates under the premise that it will enocurage rich people to spend and invest. That is foolish, because lower tax rates on the rich do not change spending decisions nearly as much as putting more money in workers' pockets (since workers need to spend the money).

But this has NOTHING to do with that. We are talking about whether or not already-earned money is spent. That is simple economics. The economy improves when there is more economic activity (especially activity that employs and puts money in the pocket of working-class people).

If you want to attack this idea, you are going to have to disavow the entire science of economics.

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I live about as poor as one can while being lucky enough to have a roof over my head, and I couldn't give a wet fart about this.

Depressions happen when everyone saves money in a bank account, in a banking system that doesn't lend. The more money spent (especially to industries that employ non-wealthy people), the better. The Clintons would do better to make the wedding $4 million instead of $2 million.

"Ostentatious events during times like this generally will draw comments from the unwashed masses."

People may not like the truth, but just because people are ignorant about economics doesn't mean it somehow isn't the truth. To the extent that the "unwashed masses" comment negatively on the matter, they should be informed.

in a teapot.

The entire wedding industry is a shuck.

I'm a lot more concerned about working class families being suckered into overspending on blood-diamonds and ostentatious displays than I am about rich folks showing off.

But, I can't say I'm sleepless over anyone's wedding.

We wouldn't want that, would we?

mentality. Chelsea is richer than I'll ever be but I don't feel hatred or bitterness over it.

:wtf:

I can't believe the shit I'm seeing here on DU supporting this let them eat cake wedding when this country is in a depression!!!

Unbelievable!

And yes, I'd be pissed if this was Al Gore, Michael Moore etc!

Thank you. I can't believe the shit I am seeing on DU either.

when it comes to their money?

All of that money is going to caterers, designers, drivers, carpenters, decorators, etc. You would rather they all be unemployed?

Hey, spending money is a great thing in this economy. We need more of it.

Do you really want your economic "success" (in other words, do you want to be able to go to the damned grocery store comfortably) dependent upon how much rich folks spend when they are IN THE MOOD????

And anyone who contributes to it is okay in my book.

Really, it doesn't matter who you are, how much money you have; you have about a century on this planet, tops. We are all, all of us, only passing through. A jewel-encrusted coffin is still a coffin.

Get it? Life is too short. Certainly too short to spend on hate, ridiculous French Revolution fantasies and money envy.

I also don't want to see a repeat of the French Revolution here...what I want to see is anger, and change. Real change...not this watered down shit version we have been handed.

It's one thing to expect (as I do) that we should see real reform to the Health Insurance system, preferably a SPHC. Or that we should seriously increase our spending on infrastructure. Schools. The social safety net. That we should cut the military budget down to something sane, end the drug war, spend money on improving our country and helping our people...

it's something else entirely to think that enough grousing and tired dialectial materialist cliches are somehow going to make the American People stop wanting to make money and be rich. Not gonna happen.

We have to expect to have LaRouchies, NaderNuts, Teabaggers and other assorted misfits jumping on something like this.

Its part of their sickness. They just can't stop sniffing Bills Fruit Of The Looms. Its in their blood. It does something to arouse them. Makes them crazy or something?

Don

pretending to have socialist leanings? That I married one of the original DUer's for fun, and to further hide myself on the internet?

Are you fucking kidding me, dude?

I went to DC and met Skinner and Elad (or EarlG....can't remember which one)as JOKE?

Yeah. That's it.

in which "socialist" countries, exactly, would it be illegal for the Clintons to spend as much money as they want on Chelsea's wedding? :shrug:

?

Since when is tacky against the law anywhere?

But, then, it really doesn't have a helluva lot to do with "socialism", either, does it?

I gave a reason why there might be a lot of people here who would like nothing better than to get in on some of that Clinton bashing over a wedding here.

Do you disagree with what I said? You think only Democrats are posting on this site?

Don

Christ, I thought for a moment when I saw your post that you didn't recognize me.

No, I think there are definitely conservatives on this board. I started this post because I have seen a number of DUers...old ones at that (ones that I have met in person) jumping on the posters who think this is a horrible display of wealth during worse than shaky times in the US. My point is...that view is valid. A million dollar wedding right now is going to be taken as an "FU" to folks who still have not been able to find work following the passing of the god awful trade policies of the Clinton era. There is going to be anger...and it's righteous.

ONLY when the plebes get good and damned mad are we going to see any real "change."

Our warm fuzzies over a Dem family in the WH are only going to take us so far; we worshipped Clinton because he was a Dem...and it was our mistake.

And I'd do it again, in a heartbeat.

We need that to understand where you're coming from.

happening!

Totally cool....we met in NC, while I was up (from FL)for a work-related computer class. I posted on DU "does anyone want to get together?"

We met with a group at a restaurant, started visiting, and were married within 6 months. Justice of the peace in FL; The groom wore Khakis, and a blue button down, the bride wore a flowered skirt from Eddie Bauer, a white t-shirt, and taupe birkenstocks. The sun came out in the courtyard right as we were getting ready for the ceremony.

Afterwards, we went to see a movie...just to try to chill out...and then did the "honeymoon" thing later in Naples.

Pretty romantic. Like I said, if you had been here, you could have read about it, but now you have to search the archives.

another one re "giving" is ANONYMOUS . . . !!!

:)

You claim to not give a shit, but you feel it's necessary to whine on the internets about it.

and go away.

I don't give a shit what Bill Gates does during a "depression". I don't care what anybody does either.

if people can get worked up about the ostentatious behavior of a couple of apparatchiks why do they not tear the place down in the face of a class of unimaginably wealthy people who control their lives in ways that an absolute monarch would envy?

It's the same "well, somebody maybe I'll be rich!" mentality that used to be the province of the Pukes.