Excerpt
GWEN IFILL (NewsHour): Now; a conversation with former President Bill Clinton about economic growth, inequality, health care, and foreign policy.
I sat down with him earlier today in Washington as part of a fiscal summit run by the Peterson Foundation. And the economy was naturally the place to start.
Here is a portion of our nearly hour-long conversation.
I’m going to plunge right in, because one of the interesting conversations we have been having lately in Washington and around the world is about inequality. It’s back again.
I went back and looked at a conversation we had on this stage three years ago, and we were talking about it then. Why do you think now? Why is Thomas Piketty (see post on book) suddenly such a big deal?
FMR. PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: Well, first of all, it is severe constraint on growth for the country.
And it is evidence of a loss of social mobility. The median real middle income, adjusted for inflation, is still slightly lower than it was the day I left office. And the cost of education and health care and other things has gone up.
The average walking-around person is having a pretty tough time. And it’s also really put a crimp in the whole idea of the American dream, that, if you work hard, you can do better than your parents did.
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