It is no secret that Hillary Clinton is a close friend of Wall Street. In the 2016 presidential election, her relationship with Wall Street has been a major contention. A clear history of her rise to power is necessary for the public to understand Hillary as a complex, intriguing figure.
Hillary was not always a New York politician. Born Hillary Diane Rodham in Chicago in 1947, she was raised in Illinois during childhood. Then she attended Wellesley College, graduated in 1969, attended Yale Law School, and graduated in 1973. Hillary began dating Bill Clinton at Yale. After law school, she did a year of postgraduate study at the Yale Child Study Center, advised the House Judiciary Committee during Watergate, moved to Arkansas with Bill, and taught criminal law at the University of Arkansas. Hillary married Bill in 1975, joined the prestigious Rose Law Firm in 1977, and became Arkansas's First Lady in 1979 after Bill won the gubernatorial election. In 1992 Bill was elected as the President of the United States, and Hillary became America's First Lady. Finally, Hillary achieved her long-time dream of political office when in 2000 she ran for and won a US Senate seat in New York. In 2008, she ran for president herself, ultimately losing the Democratic primary to Senator Barack Obama. President Obama nominated Hillary to become Secretary of State; she was confirmed in 2009. Now Hillary is the Democratic candidate and one step away from the presidency.
Hillary has a long history of controversy, especially with finance. Her first public scandal was the cattle futures controversy. As Arkansas's First Lady, Hillary traded a series of cattle futures contracts in 1978 and 1979 and turned $1,000 into $100,000 in ten months-a spectacular return by any standard. With little trading experience, Hillary was guided by the veteran trader and friend James Blair. In 1994 the controversy surfaced after a New York Times article on Clinton financial records was published. Media scrutiny accused Hillary of conflict of interest and bribery. Finance experts concluded that the likelihood of the return was around 1 in 31 trillion and were skeptical of her story. Hillary ended the controversy by giving a special press conference in April 1994. In the end, no government investigation was conducted.
In 2008 Hillary advocated for Wall Street bailouts and voted for the Economic Emergency Stabilization Act. Seven years later, her relationship with Wall Street was attacked by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in the Democratic primary. Sanders attacked Hillary for being closer to big banks than the American people and demanded the release of transcripts of her post-Secretary speeches to institutions like Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), for which she was paid six figures each. Although Hillary won the primary, recent revelations have renewed the speech controversy. In October WikiLeaks released the transcripts to many of Hillary's speeches. One fiery point is a statement Hillary made that she dreams of open trade and open borders. Another is her claim to hold different private and public positions. The leaked speeches could hurt her credibility.
Hillary wants to be a good friend of Wall Street and progressive champion of the middle class. She is a complex, multifaceted person who might not be her true self until becoming president.
The author does not hold any positions in any of the stocks above.