Right on the money

Reader question:

Please explain this sentence, with “right on the money” in particular: Bill Clinton’s campaign was right on the money when it coined the famous “It’s the economy, stupid” phrase in 1992.

My comments:

Former US President Bill Clinton and his presidential campaign were the ones to use and popularize the expression “It’s the economy, stupid”.

And they’re exactly right, of course, as the economy is what most voters care about. The economy is what wins or loses elections. If the economy is good, the incumbent President may likely win reelection, If it’s bad, the current President may likely be toppled by the other candidate.

In other words, it’s the state of the economy that counts. Don’t be stupid – and think other issues are more important.

And that’s right on the money, of course, meaning that’s exactly right.

Well, it certainly was right on the money in 1992, as Clinton beat George H.W. Bush in a landslide, i.e. by a big margin.

By a gigantic margin, as a matter of fact, with 370 electoral votes to 168.

That is then. Nowadays, more issues seem to take center stage in US elections. In addition to the economy, the border, abortion, race and gender issues are also bothering American voters.

Race and gender, for example, are old issues but one friend of mine pointed out that he thinks Donald Trump was able to defeat Democratic candidate Kamala Harris precisely because she’s a woman – plus, she’s of Indian and Jamaican origin.

On the other hand, Trump is rich, white and male.

Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016. So, as this friend points out, it’s now Donald Trump 2, women 0.

A simplistic analysis, perhaps, but on the last point, my friend is spot on.

Or, of course, right on the money.

“Right on the money” means, literally, right on the spot or spot on – the spot being the center spot of a target. In target shooting, if you hit the tiny center circle or spot on the target, you get a perfect score of 10.

And if you are gambling with someone, hitting the center spot means you wins a bet and the money that’s being wagered.

Hence, you can look at “right on the money” as “right on the (center spot which leads to your winning a bet and therefore all the) money (involved)”.

Sorry for this mouthful, but you get the point.

Right on the money, in short, is a gambling term that means your bet is the exact winning bet.

And “right on the money” is widely in use in other walks of life as well, meaning exactly right and accurate.

Here are a few media examples:

1. Closing arguments in New York’s civil fraud trial against Donald Trump took place on Thursday, and despite having been officially barred from personally delivering his defense’s closing statements, the former president launched into an unauthorized rant before the court and Judge Arthur Engoron.

Sources told Rolling Stone that Trump had been rehearsing what he thought would be a blistering, dramatic conclusion to the case that will determine the fate of his business empire.

On Wednesday, the theatrical plan by Trump and his attorneys fell apart after Trump’s legal team, led by Chris Kise, refused to agree to conditions that would restrict him from going off-topic or attacking individuals involved in the trial.

Trump didn’t care.

Without waiting for Engoron’s permission, Trump began delivering a grievance-laden tirade from the defense table after asking once again if he could address the court, calling the trial a “political witch hunt,” and saying that “we should receive damages for what we went through.”

“This is a fraud on me,” Trump raved at the judge. “What’s happened here, sir, is a fraud on me.” The former president added that “We have a situation where I’m an innocent man I’ve been persecuted by somebody running for office and I think you have to go outside the bounds.”

Engoron allowed the former president to speak for several minutes, before cutting him off and instructing Trump’s attorneys to “please control your client.”

According to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to Rolling Stone, in recent weeks Trump had told several close allies of his intention to personally deliver a closing argument, and at times previewed some of the things he wanted to say before the judge. One of the sources describes it as the ex-president informally “rehearsing” his spite-filled court monologue for his friends.

Based on what the two sources relay to Rolling Stone this week, it appears Engoron’s assumption that Trump would use the forum to rave about his own grievances was right on the money. The former president’s private “rehearsing” of what he planned to say included haranguing the judge’s staff, railing against the New York attorney general as “racist” and soft on crime, claiming that the trial was an example of the Democratic Party and Biden administration supposedly trying to “rig” the 2024 election, and gratuitously boasting of the values of his sprawling business and real-estate empire, among other jabs and bluster.

- Trump ‘Rehearsed’ His Unhinged Fraud Trial Rant for Days Before the Judge Shut Him Up, RollingStone.com, January 11, 2024.

2. He might be one of the biggest, most bankable, and most successful directors Hollywood has at its disposal, but Christopher Nolan hasn’t been completely impervious to criticism throughout a career that’s well on its way to going down in the history books as among the finest ever.

Not that there are a huge number of flaws in his game, but many have pointed to the perceived emotional coldness, needless over-complication, and narratives that are unconventionally structured to the point of overindulgence. That’s not to say the dissenters are right on the money, but when all art is entirely subjective, everything remains open to personal preference and interpretation.

It’s been one of Nolan’s signatures since he first broke through with Memento, which carried a storyline so complex that the filmmaker has been forced to explain it several times through the years. It’s a hell of a mystery thriller, though, and set the stage for the director to move up the ranks to his current position of being able to do whatever he wants for however much he needs it to cost.

The nonlinear investigation of Leonard Shelby into the murder of his wife demands undivided attention, and while the cast are uniformly excellent across the board, Nolan admitted to The Guardian that were it not for the strength of his leading man’s performance, Memento may not have hit quite the same way.

“On the page it was a very cold script and that was the risk I was running; that it would be a puzzle that would only appeal to that hardcore audience who are fascinated with that kind of tale,” he explained. “What Guy Pearce brought to the character was a much greater degree of emotion, so that other people less interested in the plot could still get something out of the film.”

A concept as ambitious as Memento was always destined to win plaudits for its artistry, but it’s an entirely different thing to win over audiences and keep them invested throughout. Thanks in large part to Pearce’s work in the central role and the way he takes the viewer along on his journey without giving too much away ahead of time, it’s a gripping exercise in misdirection and subverting expectations, something that wasn’t lost on its director.

“Guy’s performance in Memento is often not appreciated,” Nolan suggested. “He certainly never got the recognition for his performance that I did for my screenplay, which is unfortunate because he brought so much to it.” It’s undoubtedly one of the best turns in Pearce’s entire filmography, with the Academy Award-winning Oppenheimer auteur fully aware that it might not have turned out quite so successfully had he not been firing on all cylinders.

- “That was the risk I was running”: the movie script Christopher Nolan admitted was “very cold”, FarOutMagazine.com, June 15, 2024.

3. Ryan Seacrest is holding down the fort at Wheel of Fortune.

There has been much discussion about how the American Idol host, 49, has been doing since taking over for Pat Sajak, who retired after 41 years hosting the show. Since he debuted as host on September 9, for season 42, Seacrest has found praise from his fans, as well as a host of criticism from detractors who miss Sajak.

However, according to Nielsen data, Seacrest is right on the money. The beloved game show averaged 7.99 million viewers during Seacrest's first month as host, per a post by Variety containing the numbers. Between September 9 and October 6, Wheel of Fortune was “the most-watched entertainment series across broadcast, cable, and syndication.”

When you remove sports and news shows from those Nielsen numbers, more people watched Wheel of Fortune than any other program on traditional television (rather than streaming). The good news kept coming for Seacrest, because the data also showed that the TV personality helped get Wheel of Fortune its biggest season premiere in three years.

Per TVLine, Seacrest’s debut was Wheel of Fortune’s most-watched season premiere in nine years. His first week boasted 8.31 million viewers, making it the No. 1 show in syndication that week. Wheel of Fortune “reached 40 million total viewers in its premiere month” and the show is “up 3 percent in the adults 25-54 demo versus last year,” a Sony Pictures TV producer for the show told Variety.

- New Stats Show How Ryan Seacrest Is Really Doing as Host of ‘Wheel of Fortune’, Newsweek.com, October 29, 2024.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：张欣）