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Clinton unveils economic plan for middle class

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By Dan Gearino | Monday, October 08, 2007 |

TODAY: (Updated 11:45 a.m.) CEDAR RAPIDS — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton released a plan this morning that aims to improve the financial security of the middle class.

On the second day of a four-day swing through Iowa, Clinton said the current tax system and labor laws have created a “trap-door economy.”

“This should not be zero-sum game where we have winners at the top and losers down the income scale,” she said, speaking at Cedar Rapids City Hall.

Clinton, a U.S. senator from New York, has a big lead in national polls and a narrow lead in most Iowa polls. She is traveling the state this week in a bus her campaign calls the “Middle-Class Express,” part of her attempt to solidify support from organized labor.

Her economic plan has the following elements:

1. The Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would make it easier for workers to organize unions.

2. A $50 billion package of grants and tax incentives for science research, with an emphasis on renewable energy. Clinton said this will lead to high-wage jobs for the middle class.

3. A series of reforms to deal with uncertainty in the housing market, including assistance for buyers and protections for people threatened with foreclosure.

Clinton said her plan would help revitalize the manufacturing economy.

“I think a country that doesn’t make things is on a slow slide toward income inequality,” she said.

She got the loudest applause for her comments about unions.

“Unlike the current president, I will appoint people to the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board who are pro-labor,” she said.

Ed Gillick of Cedar Rapids, a retired postal worker, said he is confident Clinton will follow through on her promises to organized labor.

“Her husband did, so I think she would, too,” she said.

Notably, Clinton took shots at the North American Free Trade Agreement, a pact signed by her husband when he was president. NAFTA is unpopular with labor leaders who say it has harmed American wages and sent jobs to Mexico.

“This agreement has some serious shortcomings,” Clinton said.

She didn’t get into details about what she would change in NAFTA

Dan Gearino can be contacted at 515-243-0138 and dan.gearino@lee.net. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.