Hillary Clinton: ‘Rich People . . . Do Not Contribute to the Growth of Their Own Countries.’

Hillary Clinton, speaking to an audience at the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2012: “There are rich people everywhere, and yet they do not contribute to the growth of their own countries.”

Over in the Corner, Andrew Johnson notes that Hillary Clinton continues to speak as if the term “rich” doesn’t apply to her:

Hillary Clinton and her husband have made millions on the speaking circuit since leaving the White House in 2000, but she explained to Diane Sawyer that they did it only to “pay off the debts and get us houses and take care of family members.” The former secretary of state also lamented the burden high taxes put on the family’s effort to pay off the debts.

“We came out of the White House not only dead broke, but in debt,” she said in an interview set to air on ABC World News on Monday night. “We had no money when we got there, and we struggled to piece together the resources for mortgages for houses, for Chelsea’s education — it was not easy.”

Clinton praised her husband, who has “worked really hard” to pay down the debts by making speeches, and noted that the former first couple had to make “double the money because of, obviously, taxes.”

We examined Hillary’s housing in Part Five of “The Better Homes and Gardens of Populist Democrats” series.

Bill and Hillary Clinton have an estimated net worth of $200 million.

In Washington, D.C., the Clintons own a five-bedroom, brick colonial-style house near Embassy Row that the District of Columbia assessed at more than $5 million.

In Chappaqua, N.Y., the Clintons own a Dutch Colonial that the Town of New Castle assessed at $1.7 million; Zillow estimates the property could sell for $9 million.