Hypocrisy, thy name is Clinton

I guess you're only not paying your fair share when your not a rich liberal and can afford a tax dodge like The Clinton Family Foundation.

Clinton: 'The rich are not paying their fair share'

"Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a rare foray into domestic politics today, offering her view that--given America's high unemployment--wealthy Americans don't pay enough taxes," reports Politico's Ben Smith:

"The rich are not paying their fair share in any nation that is facing the kind of employment issues [America currently does]--whether it's individual, corporate or whatever [form of] taxation forms," Clinton told an audience at the Brookings Institution, where she was discussing the Administration's new National Security Strategy.

Clinton said the comment was her personal opinion alone. "I'm not speaking for the administration, so I'll preface that with a very clear caveat," she said.
Clinton went on to cite Brazil as a model.

"Brazil has the highest tax-to-GDP rate in the Western Hemisphere and guess what--they're growing like crazy," Clinton said. "And the rich are getting richer, but they're pulling people out of poverty."...

Looking to Brazil for a model is also nuts. Let's go to the CIA World Factbook for some relevant comparisons between Brazil and the America (figures are from 2009, except as noted):

• GDP per capita: Brazil $10,200, U.S. $46,400

• GDP per capita, rank: Brazil 105th, U.S. 11th

• Unemployment rate: Brazil 7.4%, U.S. 9.3%

• Population below poverty line: Brazil 26% (2008), U.S. 12% (2004)

• Share of nationwide household income or consumption, lowest 10%: Brazil 1.1%, U.S. 2%

• Share of nationwide household income or consumption, highest 10%: Brazil 43%, U.S. 30%

The U.S. does better on all these measures except 2009 unemployment--and a year earlier, the U.S. rate (5.8%) was considerably better than Brazil's (7.9%). The average American is more than 4.5 times as productive as the average Brazilian, and a Brazilian is more than twice as likely to be impoverished by Brazilian standards than an American is to be impoverished by U.S. standards.

Brazil's GDP actually shrank last year, by 0.2%, though it grew 5.1% in 2008 and 6.1% in 2007. For America, the figures were a 2.4% decline in 2009, 0.4% growth in 2008 and 2.1% growth in 2007. But developed countries seldom grow at 5% or 6% a year; developing ones experience such growth because their economies are smaller to begin with. Even if Brazil is "growing like crazy," for America to emulate it would be nuts.

The point to remember from the Washington Post article:

The foundation has enabled the Clintons to write off more than $5 million from their taxable personal income since 2001, while dispensing $1.25 million in charitable contributions over that period.

And again to see a couple of rich liberals complain about the rich not paying their fair share when whey have used multiple tax dodges to avoid taxes is typical...and disgusting.