The video below highlights a conversation between former President Bill Clinton and Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and CEO of Chobani, reportedly the world's leading all-natural yogurt. The video begins with Ulukaya recounting his rags to riches story, and how he not only employs refugees but provides assistance to help them integrate into American society. The conversation is primarily about the plight of refugees, with Ulukaya doing most of the talking--how incredibly special America is, how he hires refugees, how his company assists them in integrating into American society, why others should follow his lead in hiring refugees, and towards the end he makes an appeal for 100 CEOs and entrepreneurs to help create opportunities for refugees in Turkey.
The Clinton/Ulukaya conversation happened in February and has largely gone unnoticed. But what has caused the internet to heat up over the past few days is what Bill Clinton had to say. He spoke specifically about Syrian refugees coming to the United States. Clinton said this is an enormous opportunity for Americans. (10:35) "Detroit is just coming out of bankruptcy and having 10,000 empty, structurally-sound houses, and a lot of jobs could be had repairing housing, and the mayor is trying to do some sort of innovative urban homesteading project...it gives you an example of what could be done. Any of us that have had any experience with Syrian Americans or Syrian refugees...I think it's a pretty good deal." He then asks Ulukaya how many should we take and how many could we take. Ulukaya's round about answer seems to be 90,000.
Like I said, short and sweet...Has it occurred to Bill Clinton that unemployed Americans might like to have those jobs? Has he even considered that Detroit natives, people who have lived through the good, bad and ugly might like to be a part of the revitalization of a once great city? And while I completely understand Mr.Ulukaya's passion for people of the Middle East and Eurasia, I mean come on now, he was able to buy the shuttered Kraft factory in no small manner because of taxpayer dollars, American taxpayer dollars and has utilized other local, state and federal government resources in building his business. So it would be nice to see him appeal to his peers to make a commitment to failing American communities (urban and rural). Sure, he can do his global refugee humanitarian work (of course he can do whatever he pleases), but making a greater investment in this land of opportunity would be wonderful . To be fair, from what I've read, Ulukaya is a good employer, paying his factory workers above minimum wage, offering full health benefits and a 401k plan. As for his personal wealth, he has pledged to donate his $1.4 billion fortune to help refugees around the world
Ulukaya is obviously a major donor to the Clinton Foundation (come on now, you don't really think that anyone with an idea and a cup of yogurt gets to sit and chat one-on-one with Bill for free do you?). If November proves to be a great month for Hillary, I think it's pretty safe to say that we'll be seeing a significant number of Syrian refugees settling in the Motor City. Of course, they won't be vetted, but at least they'll have jobs waiting and newly constructed homes to move right into. As for those long-suffering Detroit natives? Well, I'm sure that Hillary will thank them for helping her make history and for sparing the country from having to endure that crazy isolationist from New York.
