Just three days after Donald Trump gave his first major economic address of the general election campaign, Democratic rival Hillary Clinton today will be giving her own speech, laying out her economic vision. According to a report from Business Insider, Clinton will not only be reiterating her plans to improve upon President Obama’s record but will be offering a sharp critique of Trump’s major proposals.
Trump, a billionaire real estate developer, typically has had the edge on Clinton in polls on the question of who would be best to handle the economy. But Clinton now has a commanding lead overall in most polls — the latest poll of polls from Real Clear Politics has her up by almost 8 points nationally—in part because of Trump’s propensity for inflammatory rhetoric.
Here are three things you can expect to hear from Clinton when she speaks Thursday afternoon at in Warren, Michigan. Clinton is expected to tour the Futuramic Tool and Engineering Factory, likely reiterating her support for unions and American-made products — a dig at Trump whom she has criticized for making products in China.
1. Hitting back on Trump’s tax cuts
Trump has proposed to cut taxes and simplify the tax system by reducing the number of tax brackets from seven to three.According to Business Insider, a memo from the Clinton campaign says the former Secretary of State will call this “regurgitated trickle-down economics of the typical Republican, but worse.” She’ll also rip his plans to eliminate the estate tax as a move that benefits people like Trump and his rich friends, and she’ll claim that Trump’s proposal to cut the rate on “pass-through” income– income that “passes through” a business to the individual returns of the business’ owners — is a benefit for businesses like Trump’s. (Trump has claimed it would help small businesses; Clinton and her supporters say it will go mostly to the very wealthy.)
2. More talk about reducing college costs
During the primary campaign season, Bernie Sanders drew a lot of support for his proposal to making public colleges and universities tuition-free. Clinton is proposing a plan to enable students to attend in-state colleges without borrowing for tuition and make college debt-free. (Read the details in Money.) Business Insider says the Clinton campaign memo suggests that she will elaborate on her vision in her speech.
3. Proposing targeted spending
Clinton is expected to propose that the government invest in infrastructure, manufacturing, and scientific research. Although Trump didn’t discuss in his speech what his spending priorities would be if he were elected president, he did tell CNBC on Thursday morning that he thought the US should tap low interest rates and borrow heavily to upgrade America’s aging bridges, roads, airports and hospitals. “We have to fix our infrastructure,” he told CNBC, creating what might be a rare moment of agreement for the two candidates.