Hillary Clinton’s Plan for a Fair Economy


Hillary Clinton said on Thursday that she wanted “to make our economy work for everyone, not just those at the top.” It’s a philosophy she put forward over a year ago at the start of her campaign. Since then, her proposals to achieve this goal — mainly through tax fairness, job creation and higher wages — have become much more detailed and offer an even sharper contrast to Donald Trump’s economic ideas, which she ripped apart in her speech.





For young people and workers hoping to gain new skills, Mrs. Clinton would subsidize college costs, refinance and cap student loan repayments and develop job-training programs. None of these proposals would be affordable under Mr. Trump, given the size of his tax cuts.

Child care is another area of sharp contrasts. Mrs. Clinton would use child tax credits and subsidies to cap child care costs at 10 percent of a family’s income, ensuring that the biggest benefits flow to the lowest-income families. Mr. Trump would make child care costs tax deductible, which means the biggest benefits would flow to the highest-income households, while doing little or nothing for low-income families that can’t afford child care.

The sharpest contrast was on the economic importance of immigration reform. Rather than demonize undocumented workers, Mrs. Clinton acknowledged their work and their payment of taxes, and said that the goal was to end their exploitation that keeps wages low throughout the lower rungs of the economic ladder.

She also left no doubt about her differences with Mr. Trump on trade. She vowed to stop any deal that costs jobs and depresses wages. But she was also clear that to “cut ourselves off from the world” would only kill more jobs. She pinpointed currency manipulation and intellectual-property theft as areas that need more reform.

Mrs. Clinton’s economic plan is not comprehensive. On corporate tax reform, for example, she has proposed piecemeal tax penalties to prevent corporations from moving abroad, as well as other measures to prevent corporate tax avoidance, but details on comprehensive change will probably depend on the composition of the next Congress.

The plan Mrs. Clinton does have, however, is a good one. It is largely paid for. It is incremental, not sweeping, which is in keeping with political reality. And in contrast to the Trump plan, which has few details, it is specific enough that the “everyday Americans” she has pledged to help can actually hold her accountable for what she has promised.


A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A22 of the New York edition with the headline: Mrs. Clinton’s Plan for a Fair Economy. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe