Hillary Clinton Cleveland Speech: 376,000 New Ohio Jobs Promised Under Economic Plan

CLEVELAND, OH — Hillary Clinton shared details of her economic plan in a visit to Cleveland Wednesday at John Marshall High School, saying she could create 10 million new jobs in four years.

She said independent analysts conclude that would mean 376,000 jobs for Ohio.

Clinton toured the high school, a new $47 million building erected on the site of the old school, torn down in 2012. The new John Marshall opened in the fall of 2015 with a School of Engineering, a School of Information Technology and a School of Business and Civic Leadership.

"I want to thank the people of Cleveland for investing in a high school that is really all about the future," Clinton said. "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."

She said the high school is a symbol of the opportunity that should be afforded to all Americans to prepare themselves for a prosperous role in a new economy.

"We've got to get the economy working for everyone," she said. "Not just those at the top."

She spoke of her plans to improve the country's infrastructure, widespread broadband access in inner cities and rural areas, and an improved national electrical grid — all key components of a forward-looking 21st century digital economy.

She also wants to close tax loopholes, create a fairer tax system that taxes the super wealthy, corporations and Wall Street that have made all the financial gains in the last 15 years.

"They are going to have to invest in education, in skills training, in infrastructure," she said. "I will not raise taxes on the middle class. ... The middle class has to catch up to where they were before the Great Recession."

She poked Donald Trump, too, for his pessimism, noting he said "we never win anything anymore" during his nomination acceptance speech at Quicken Loans Arena last month.

"Tell that to the Cavaliers," Clinton said, to a roar from the crowd. "Tell that to our Olympic athletes who are cleaning up in Rio."

The gap between Clinton and Trump in Ohio polls has expanded this week, with Clinton leading by 2.6 points, according to the RealClear Politics average of polls. Clinton leads 45 percent to Trump's 42.4 percent. This is her highest lead in the Ohio polls since April, when she was ahead by 4 points.

With Ohio being a must-win battleground state, both candidates are spending a lot of time here.

Clinton's campaign is drawing a sharp contrast between her own economic plans and those of her Republican foe, whose economic plan includes tax cuts for the wealthy and nothing for working families.

His tax cuts and child-care tax credits wouldn't reach most working-class and working-poor families because their annual income is too low. Trump's plan, for example, includes what could be a $4 billion tax break to his own family. She's calling this the "Trump Loophole."

Clinton said her economic plan is designed to create more job opportunities for small businesses and working-class families. She said this begins with better early-childhood education and improved technical education at the high school — such as what's happening at John Marshall.

She drew upon her childhood experiences, how her grandfather worked hard and sent her dad to college, and how her dad worked hard to build his own small business in the textile industry.

"I am proud to be the granddaughter of a factory worker and the daughter of a small-businessman," said Clinton, a lawyer by trade who's spent her entire working life in public service and politics.

She also blasted Trump for his own personal business practices, stiffing painters and plumbers and other small businesses who've done work on his building projects.

"That violates the basic bargain," Clinton said. "What would have happened to my family if my father had taken a job like that ... and is told 'We're not paying you.'"

Watch Clinton's Cleveland Event

In recent weeks, much has been made of Republicans abandoning the Trump candidacy to vote for and endorse Clinton.

One prominent Ohio Democrat has flopped the other way. The Columbus Dispatch caught up with Brook Park Mayor Tom Coyne on Wednesday outside Clinton's event. Mayor for 25 years, he's a lifelong Democrat who's voting for Trump.

“I doubt that Donald Trump really has to worry about his own personal wealth. What I see it he made it, he wants others to make it, he consistently talks about others making it, so he wants to share wealth,” Coyne told the Dispatch. “This country is yearning for leadership. Donald Trump is challenging every fabric of everything institutional foundation of this nation.”

Coyne, whose city lost Ford's Cleveland Casting Plant and more than 1,000 jobs in 2010, endorsed Trump in March.

"Northeast Ohio has been decimated for the last 15, 20 years and continues to bleed manufacturing jobs, and you cannot have a middle class being revised in this country unless you make things in America again," Coyne said at the time.

Clinton was in Cleveland in June when she spoke at the Cleveland Industrial Innovation Center near Collinwood.

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