Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Hillary Clinton on the Economy in Cleveland

Hillary toured the John Marshall High School in Cleveland before she delivered an address on the economy that touched upon the many factors that affect the bottom line for Americans and for the nation.




08-17-16-Z-01 08-17-16-Z-02 08-17-16-Z-03 08-17-16-Z-03a 08-17-16-Z-04 08-17-16-Z-05 08-17-16-Z-06 08-17-16-Z-06a 08-17-16-Z-07 08-17-16-Z-08 08-17-16-Z-09 08-17-16-Z-10 08-17-16-Z-11 08-17-16-Z-12 08-17-16-Z-13 08-17-16-Z-14 08-17-16-Z-15 08-17-16-Z-16
DSCN7889 DSCN7890 DSCN7891 DSCN7894 DSCN7899 DSCN7901 DSCN7904 DSCN7905 DSCN7906 DSCN7907
DSCN7889 DSCN7890 DSCN7891 DSCN7894 DSCN7899 DSCN7901 DSCN7904 DSCN7905 DSCN7906 DSCN7907

In Cleveland, Clinton Contrasts Plan to Invest in Ohio with Trump’s Tax Loopholes for Millionaires

Following a tour at Cleveland's John Marshall High School on Wednesday, Hillary Clinton rallied her supporters and contrasted her tax plan designed to invest in Ohio with Donald Trump's, which would provide trillions in tax breaks for billionaires and millionaires like him at the expense of working Americans. While Clinton has a "100-Day Jobs Plan"targeted towards families and small businesses, Trump would eliminate the Estate Tax, which could give his own family alone $4 billion in tax breaks. We can't say for sure how much, however, Clinton reminded the crowd, since Trump refuses to release his tax returns.
Clinton also highlighted trillions of dollars of other tax breaks in Trump's plan for Wall Street and big corporations, such as the "Trump Loophole" -- a backdoor tax break Trump has proposed that lets the wealthy cut their tax rate in half on a substantial portion of their income. She promised to use that money instead for crucial investments including infrastructure, education, health care, and other priorities, adding, "Now, think of what we could do with $4 billion in Ohio.  We could build 280 new elementary schools. We could eliminate the outstanding student loan of 166,000 Ohioans. We could provide health care to 370,000 veterans […] Donald Trump doesn’t need a tax cut. I don’t need a tax cut. It’s time for the wealthiest Americans, whoever you are, as well as corporations and Wall Street, to pay your fair share in taxes."
Clinton said John Marshall School represents the type of investment we should be making rather than giving further tax breaks to those at the top. She believes the opportunities afforded to students there – a “small schools” model in which students choose between directed programs in engineering, information technology and business and civic leadership – can be afforded to all students, regardless of ZIP code or background.
Clinton’s remarks, as transcribed, are below:
“Hello. Thank you.  Thank you so much.  Wow.  I am so happy to be here.  It is great being in Cleveland.  Thank you all. I want to thank Kim Greytak, a teacher right here at John Marshall, for introducing me. And I want to thank all the teachers and educators, the staff, and the students of John Marshall. I am delighted to be here with your mayor, Mayor Frank Jackson. Also, with my longtime friend, your former governor, candidate for the Senate, Ted Strickland. With your county executive, County Executive Budish, I know is here somewhere.  And with my great friend who did an excellent job presiding over the Democratic National Convention, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge.
I always love being here, and today is particularly special, because I got a tour of this high school. And I first of all want to thank the people of Cleveland for investing in a high school that is really all about the future. What a stark contrast this high school poses to what happened here in Cleveland during the Republican Convention.  Because, honestly, they painted such a bleak, negative picture of America, I couldn’t recognize our country.  Listening to their angry speeches, the kind of negative view that they had of our people, Donald Trump saying we never win anymore – well, tell that to the Cavaliers. Tell that to our Olympic athletes, who are cleaning up in Rio.
There is nothing we can’t do if we put our minds to it.  And that’s how I want America to feel about itself, and how I want every American to feel.  And I saw the future.  The students and teachers who showed me what they’re doing here in robotics, in 3-D design, in laser design, in entrepreneurial and civic education – I for one am really proud of this high school and what it represents for the students here. And why is that so important for those of us who are no longer in high school?  Because we’ve got to get the economy working for everybody, not just those at the top.  And how are we going to do that?  Well, I know that too many families right here in Ohio are feeling a lot of financial stress.  Worrying about how they’re going to make ends meet, dealing with all the costs from childcare to prescription drugs.  I understand that.
That’s why I have laid out specific plans about how we’re going to get the economy working for everyone.  And I think it’s important, when someone comes to you and asks for your support, running for president, that maybe they tell you what they want to do, so that you can decide who you want to vote for. And sometimes, you know, I get criticized for doing that.  People say, oh, there she goes.  She has another plan.  Well, I do.  I’ve got an infrastructure plan to create millions of jobs fixing our roads, our bridges, our tunnels, our ports, our airports, our water systems, our sewer systems. As part of that plan, I want to start a national infrastructure bank so that we have public and private funds working together, so we don’t just wait on Congress to act, but we are building, rebuilding, maintaining all the time.
And it’s not just what we can see, as important as that is.  We need a new modern electric grid that can take and distribute clean, renewable energy across America. And we need to finally finish the job of connecting every home and business everywhere in America, from inner cities to remote rural areas to high-speed broadband access, so they can be part of the 21st-century digital economy. I was talking to a group of my friends who are teachers – I love teachers.  Thank you all for being here with me. And they were telling me there had just been a national survey done.  And the teachers were asked, do you ever assign homework that requires your students to go on the Internet?  And the answer was 70 percent, yes, they did.
Now, that makes perfect sense if you just saw what I saw.  You’ve got to have knowledge of the Internet.  You’ve got to be able to learn to use it.  It can spark your imagination, create new dreams.  I met young people – I said, well, what got you interested in computer design, 3-D design, robots?  They were interested in the arts.  They were interested in what they could do to design and make things.  So the answer was 70 percent of teachers, but here’s the problem: 5 million students – 5 million homes with students in them in America do not have access to the Internet.  And so we’re already creating a big gap.  A homework gap, which turns into an achievement gap, and doesn’t give every kid the chance to go as far as his or her hard work and talent will take them.
So when I talk about infrastructure, I’m talking about making our economy more competitive and creating more opportunities for more Americans willing to work for it.  Because I believe in the basic bargain: if you’re willing to work, you ought to be able to get ahead and stay ahead.  That’s how I was raised.  That’s what I want Americans to believe again. You know, this past Monday I was in Scranton, Pennsylvania with Joe Biden. And Joe was born in Scranton.  My grandparents – my father was born in Scranton.  I went back to Scranton every summer.  A lot of Christmas holidays.
My grandfather was an immigrant.  Came as a young child.  He worked in the Scranton Lace Factory making lace, which was a big deal back in those days.  I remember, we used to have lace curtains and lace tablecloths and things like that.  And my grandfather worked really hard, because he believed if he worked hard, he could provide a better life for his kids.  And he did.  My dad got to go to college.  He went to Penn State, where he played football. And then he took a job in the Midwest as a salesman, and then went into the Navy during World War II, and when he came out, he started a small business.  And he worked really hard.
And I used to go help him sometimes, because he printed fabric for draperies, and he had a print plant.  And he had two long tables.  And it was, you know, not a – it was just an old plant.  It was, you know, low ceilings, no windows.  And he would print that drapery fabric.  He’d take an old-fashioned silkscreen and he’d put it down, he’d pour the paint in, and then take a squeegee and then go from one side to the other, pick up the screen, keep going down the table.  And he provided a good life.  I grew up in a suburb of Chicago.  And so I know what the American dream is all about.  I am proud to be the granddaughter of a factory worker and the daughter of a small businessman, and standing here before you.
And so when I think about how hard my dad worked, and I think about him printing those fabrics and then loading them into his car, and delivering them to whoever had ordered them, and then expecting to be paid, because he had done the work, it just really hits me personally when people are standing up and telling their stories: they were small business people, they were plumbers, electricians, painters, who did work for Donald Trump, and he refused to pay them. That violates the basic bargain.  If you do your job, you’re supposed to be rewarded for your work.  Not stiffed.  Not told to go sue somebody.
And I can’t help but take it personally, because I think about, what would have happened to my family if my father had taken a job like that and put his heart and soul into it, bought the material, bought the paint, did the labor, shows up, delivers the product, and is told, we’re not paying you?  But person after person, small business after small business is telling the same story.  That they were not paid.  They were told to go sue Donald Trump.  Well, you’re a small business.  You can’t afford lawyers to go sue somebody.  That’s not the way it’s supposed to work.
So when I talk about creating new jobs in infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, clean, renewable energy, I also talk about creating more small businesses.  And small businesses that will actually grow and give more people a chance to fulfill their dreams, and will be part of the basic bargain, who will be paid for the work that they do, so they can stay in business.
Now, I’ve got to tell you, creating the jobs of the future means we’ve got to make sure that all Americans, not just young Americans, have all the education and all the skills that are needed.  That’s why I want to start with early childhood education, so that more young kids I saw right here in John Marshall across America, so that high school students can be better prepared. You know, when we stopped doing vocational education some years ago, we basically sent a message to so many young people: there’s only one way to be successful in America.  You’ve got to go to a four-year college.
That is so unfair, and it’s also untrue. Actually, if you look at job projections, more than half of the jobs that will be available in America in 2020 will not require a four-year college degree.  And so how are we going to get our people prepared?  We’re going to bring more technical education.  Not the old-fashioned kind, but what I saw here at John Marshall.  We’re going to bring computer coding, like I saw in a classroom just a few minutes ago, we’re going to bring engineering and design work, we’re going to give young kids in high school the chance to either get that education right in their own school, or go to a community college that will provide it, and give them credit to get a credential, an associate degree, or credit to go on to a four-year college.  So we’re going to do more on apprenticeship programs.
I want everybody who’s willing to work to be prepared.  I don’t want any excuses.  I’m a kind of no excuse person.  If you are willing to do the work, I want to make sure that we’ve got an economy that will produce the jobs.  And then I want to make four-year college affordable.  If you go to a four-year public college or university, it should be affordable. And we’re going to make community college free for everybody that wants to go to community college. And we’re going to help everybody with student debt pay down the debt. Get it off their backs.
Now, I think it’s – I think it’s fair to say, okay, well, how are you going to do all that?  That’s fair to ask.  Well, we’re going to do it in two ways.  Number one, we are going to tax the wealthy, who have made all of the income gains in the last 15 years – the super-wealthy, corporations, Wall Street.  They’re going to have to invest in education, in skills training, in infrastructure, because we have to grow this economy.  We do need to have the resources to do that.  And I’ve laid out what I want to do and how I would do it – closing the loopholes, creating a fairer tax system.  But I’ve made very clear I’m the only candidate who ran in either the Democratic or the Republican Primary who said from the very beginning, I will not raise taxes on the middle class. The middle class has to catch up to where they were before the Great Recession.
And so I’ve laid this all out.  And so independent analysts, economists and others, are looking at what I’ve said and what Donald Trump has said.  And in fact, according to an independent analysis by Moody’s Analytics, carried out by the man who was John McCain’s economic advisor, if you were to implement what I am proposing, we would create at least 10 million new jobs in the first term of my administration. By contrast, if you look at what Trump is proposing, and how he wants to give huge tax breaks to people who are wealthy like him, it would cost our economy 3.4 million jobs. Now, this is not me saying it.  This is an independent analysis saying it, that has tried to look at both of us very objectively.
But what does that mean for Ohio?  If we divide across the country by population, Ohio would gain 376,000 jobs under my plans and lose more than 123,000 jobs under Donald Trump’s plans. And it’s not hard to see why – because he wants to give tax cuts to big corporations, millionaires, Wall Street money managers.  He’s even created a new tax loophole that we call the Trump loophole – because it’s really good for Trump.  It would let millionaires and billionaires cut their tax rate in half on a lot of their income. Under his plans, Donald Trump would pay a lower tax rate than middle class families.  Of course, we have no idea what tax rate he pays – because unlike everybody else who’s run for president in the last four or five decades, he refuses to release his tax returns.  So the American people can’t really judge.
And then there’s the Estate tax, which he wants to eliminate altogether.  So if you believe Donald Trump is as wealthy as he claims – we can’t say that for sure, but let’s assume it – he would, by eliminating the Estate tax, save the Trump family $4 billion – and do absolutely nothing for 99.8 percent of all Americans.  Now, think of what we could do with $4 billion in Ohio.  We could build 280 new elementary schools. We could eliminate the outstanding student loan of 166,000 Ohioans. We could provide health care to 370,000 veterans. And we could sure rebuild every crumbling bridge in this state and fix a lot of the highways that are causing folks to incur expenses.
Donald Trump doesn’t need a tax cut.  I don’t need a tax cut.  It’s time for the wealthiest Americans, whoever you are, as well as corporations and Wall Street, to pay your fair share in taxes. You have been successful in this country because of everything this country represents. We’re going to stop giving tax breaks to corporations that outsource jobs and profits.  We’re going to reward those who invest in their employees again.  If corporations move their headquarters overseas, we’re going to slap an exit tax on them and try to persuade them not to move. We’re going to add a new tax on multi-millionaires, crack down on tax-gaming and close loopholes, and then use that money to make the kind of investments that will grow the economy for everybody.
So here’s the bottom line.  There are just 83 days in this election.  I keep track of them, cross them off. And for anyone waiting for Donald Trump to suddenly become more responsible, remember what a great American, Maya Angelou, said: ‘When someone shows you who they are, believe them.’ And I think it’s fair to say that Donald Trump has shown us who he is.  He can hire and fire anybody he wants from his campaign.  They can make him read new words from a teleprompter. But he is still the same man who insults Gold Star families, demeans women, mocks people with disabilities, and thinks he knows more about ISIS than our generals. There is no new Donald Trump.  This is it.  And you know, I hope you will talk to any of your friends who are flirting with the idea of voting for Donald Trump.  Friends don’t let friends vote for Trump.
So, now, here’s what I have to ask all of you.  I’m proud that we have run a campaign of issues, not insults.  That’s what I’m going to continue to do for the next 83 days. Because I think the details actually matter.  That’s why I sweat the details.  I really care a lot about what happens to the young people and the families and our seniors.  That’s why I’m going to do everything I can to raise the national minimum wage so that it is a living wage. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that you have the health care you need at an affordable price – and get the costs of prescription drugs down because they are once again getting out of reach.
I was at an event the other day and a very distinguished doctor, the head of a big hospital in New York, he said, ‘We got to do something about prescription drug costs.’ This is not a – this is not a patient or a family.  This is one of the most distinguished doctors in New York City.  He said, ‘It’s getting to the point where I can’t prescribe certain drugs that my patients need because the insurance won’t pay for them.  Medicare, Medicaid, nobody will pay for them because they are too expensive.’  And he mentioned particularly a drug by Gilead that will cure hepatitis C.  And it is so expensive that a lot of Americans are being left out.  And you know what really is upsetting about this is that drug company sells that same drug all over the world at a much lower price to everybody else.
Now, I’m proud, I’m proud, that our drug companies invent drugs to cure really terrible diseases and treat chronic diseases.  I’m proud of that.  But let’s be clear.  Your tax dollars helped support the research that is used to create those drugs in the first place. Your tax dollars support the Food and Drug Administration that tests those drugs to determine whether or not they are safe and effective to be able to go to market.  And then we end up in America paying the highest price for those drugs that we have helped to create.  We have got to take this on.  And we can do it without hurting research and discovery and new drugs and new devices.
And there are two other issues that I want to mention respecting health because I’ve been on the campaign trail now for, well, about a year and a half, ever since April of 2015.  So I have – I have talked with and mostly listened to thousands of Americans.  Now, people talk to me about their jobs.  They talk to me about education.  They talk to me about student loans and the high price of college.  They talk to me a lot about gun violence.  They talk to me about the things that are on their minds.
But the most emotional encounters I have are when families grab my hand and talk to me about mental health and addiction. We have got to do a better job.  We have too many families and too many individual Americans whose lives are being either totally undermined or shortened because of mental health and because of addiction.  So I’m going to work on those things, too, as your president because we’ve got to tackle these two problems.
And I also want to defend the rights that Americans now have from all of the various attacks that people are waging.  That’s why I support human rights and civil rights.  I support women’s rights. And yes, I will defend Planned Parenthood against all of these partisan attacks. I support gay rights. Voting rights, which are under attack across America, including right here in Ohio. I support workers’ rights, the right to form and organize a union and bargain collectively. I support the rights of people with disabilities, who deserve more chances to be integrated into the economy and society. And yes, I will take on the gun lobby and try to get common-sense gun safety measures passed.
And you know, I know how difficult this is.  But here’s what I want to say.  I want to say what I said at the convention in my speech.  I am not at all advocating the repeat of the Second Amendment.  I am not at all advocating any program that would in any way take people’s guns away.  Here’s what I’m advocating: I want to help you stay alive so that nobody who shouldn’t have a gun in the first place gets one and hurts you or other people.
Because when I think about the three big challenges the next president faces: getting the economy to work for everybody, not just those at the top; keeping us safe and leading the world with steadiness; and unifying America, it’s not just a job for the president.  We all have to do our part. And when it comes to keeping Americans safe, I want to keep you safe in your own communities and your homes from gun violence, I want to keep us safe from terrorists no matter where they’re from or what they’re after, I want to make sure that we keep our alliances strong.  Because I know how important it is that we work together to defeat the terrorist threat.  And I will bring all the experience I had as a senator serving on the Armed Services Committee, as a Secretary of State, to make sure that America remains the most free, the most safe, the most important leader in the world.
But I also want to unify our country.  You know, I bet if we had the time, we’d find something that every single one of us disagreed about with everybody else.  We have different experiences, different backgrounds.  I think that’s part of the American DNA.  You know, our founders had some big arguments.  We have a lot of impassioned people who care about the future of our country and what we should do.  But at the end of the argument, we’ve got to come together.  We are the greatest example of freedom and opportunity and justice that the world has ever known, and we can’t do anything that ever undermines that.
And that’s why it is so important that we seek and find common ground together.  I did that as a First Lady.  I worked with Republicans to create the Children’s Health Insurance Program that now covers 8 million kids, I worked with Republicans to reform the adoption and foster care system, which I care deeply about. I worked with Republicans after 9/11 to rebuild New York and to make our country safer, to get healthcare to National Guard men and women.  I worked with every Republican I served with, just about.  I worked with Republicans as Secretary of State.  We got a new treaty with Russia to lower the number of nuclear weapons, and that took 67 votes, and we had to get Republicans as well as Democrats to agree with that.
I happen to believe I don’t have all the answers.  I happen to believe we are stronger together in charting a course toward the future. So I need your help. ‘Stronger Together’ is not just a slogan for our campaign, it is what I believe in my heart.  I will get up every day in the White House trying to figure out how we’re going to create more jobs, more opportunity, keep us safe, unify us.  And that’s where you come in.  I hope you will join this campaign.  You can do so today by texting ‘JOIN’, J-O-I-N, at 42746.  Or you can go to HillaryClinton.com.  We’re hiring organizers in Ohio.  So if you’re interested in working as an organizer, see one of our people who will be at the doors as you leave.
This is a consequential election.  I understand a lot of the concerns that many Americans have, wondering and worrying about our country.  About their lives, about their kids’ lives, about their retirement, about the purpose and dignity of their work.  So I know we’ve got challenges that we have to address.  But I am absolutely sure we can do this.  I believe America’s best days are still ahead of us.  If you will join this campaign, join our cause, together, we […] win an election, but chart a course of confidence and optimism. Getting results for the American people.  Come, join me please.  Thank you all very much.”


STAND