Hillary Clinton hosted a tele-town hall today with small business owners where she discussed her new comprehensive plan to jumpstart small business startup and strengthen small business growth.
“I believe when you succeed, families thrive and our nation prospers,” Hillary Clinton said on the call. “But I also know that in lots of ways, the odds are stacked against too many of you too many times. It’s clear that big corporations get a lot of the breaks. It’s much harder for you to get a loan, to file taxes, to offer health care to your workers. And from everything I’ve heard and know, you aren’t looking for special breaks. You want commonsense policies that will make life a little bit easier, and that’s why I am releasing our plan today.”
Clinton’s plan is a comprehensive, job-creating package of reforms and innovations to jumpstart small business startups, and strengthen small business growth.
On the call, Clinton highlighted Trump’s record of putting himself first and leaving small businesses hanging. Excerpts of the transcript are included below:
Hillary Clinton: “Donald Trump has made a career of stiffing small businesses, driving some of them actually out of business. He refused to pay them for the work they’d already done – not because he couldn’t pay them, but because he chose not to pay them. ”
- Associated Press: ‘Little guy’ contractors still angry at Trump Taj bankruptcy
- “Juan Carlos Enriquez, owner of The Paint Spot, in South Florida, has been waiting more than two years to get paid for his work at the Doral.”
- Former Mayor of Atlantic City, Jim Whelan: “The fact is, there were a lot of small contractors and vendors who got hurt, who went out of business because Trump did not pay contracts on time.”
- Paul Friel, on how his family’s business was stiffed by Trump in Atlantic City: “That began the demise of the Edward J. Friel Company… which has been around since my grandfather.”
Hillary Clinton: “Even his new campaign manager said that Trump, and I quote, “built a lot of his businesses on the backs of the little guy.”
- Kellyanne Conway: “[Donald Trump] says he’s for the little guy, but he’s actually built a lot of his business on the backs of the little guy.” [Kellyanne Conway interview on CNN Newsroom, 2/10/16]
Hillary Clinton: “In fact, according to an independent analysis, Trump’s ideas would result in a prolonged recession that would cost 3.4 million jobs. That same analyst analyzed my plan and found that the economy would create more than 10 million new jobs. “
- Moody’s Analytics: “By the end of his presidency, there are close to 3.5 million fewer jobs and the unemployment rate rises to as high as 7%, compared with below 5% today. During Mr. Trump’s presidency, the average American household’s after-inflation income will stagnate, and stock prices and real house values will decline.”