Throughout my campaign, I have been listening to the voices
of people across America. I met one man who told me, "I don't know what I
did wrong. I got my education and I worked hard. I've been at the same
company for 12 years now, but I've just been asked to train my successor
because my job is moving to another country."
Another woman said to me, "I just can't make ends meet. My
health care premiums have doubled, college tuition is up. How am I
supposed to make it as a single mom?"
I am running for president to bring those voices to the
White House and give people a chance to achieve the American Dream: having
a good job, owning their own home and living with financial security. That
means tackling our toughest challenges -- rising inequality, stagnating
wages and a growing sense that too many middle class families are just one
pink slip away from financial devastation.
My measure of economic success will never be a single, dry
statistic. Rather, success means an economy that allows those at the
bottom to work their way into the middle class, without pushing anyone
out. It means leaving people better off when I finish than when I start.
In short, success means an economy that shares its prosperity with
all.
In the 1990s we saw how smart economic plans could help
spur the economy to create 22 million new jobs and income growth across
the board. For the past seven years we've seen the opposite. Corporate
earnings have been impressive, but the average income of workers has
declined. The typical household is paying $2,000 more in energy costs.
Health care is nearly twice as expensive, with the number of uninsured
rising to 47 million. Five million Americans have fallen into
poverty.
Because of the Bush administration's neglect, the forces of
globalization and technological change -- which should represent
opportunities for economic growth -- have weakened America's great middle
class.
Simply put, since 2001, our economy has failed the shared
prosperity test, and we need decisive, experienced leadership to get us
back on the right track.
As president, I will not hesitate to take swift, bold
action to address our immediate challenges, starting with a strong
stimulus package and a comprehensive solution to our housing crisis. And I
will have a long-term economic plan that creates jobs, strengthens the
middle class, and allows everyone to share in our economic growth.
- Shared prosperity means providing greater economic
security and opportunity for middleclass families.
American families don't need new government bureaucracies;
they need new tools to help them climb the economic ladder. This begins
with health care, because rising costs erode workers' savings, make
insurance less affordable, put businesses at a competitive disadvantage,
and threaten our fiscal future.
And let's be clear: Unless we cover all Americans,
we will never end the hidden tax that the uninsured pass on to the rest of
us when they end up in the emergency room and we wind up footing the bill.
Of all the candidates in either party, I have the most aggressive plan to
lower health-care costs. It steps up prevention and chronic-care
management, cuts unnecessary spending, creates electronic medical records,
and ends health discrimination by insurers. And by providing sensible and
generous health-care tax credits, I will ensure that everyone can afford
to be covered.
Shared prosperity also means doing something about the cost
of education. My plan will make college affordable again by more than
doubling the Hope tax credit, increasing Pell grants, enacting more
sensible loan repayment schedules, returning to direct loans with stable
and low interest rates, and allowing those who perform community service
or pursue a public interest career, like teaching, to get a break on
college costs.
We must also encourage America's families to save. Research
confirms that when you make savings easy and automatic, and give generous
incentives to save, more people will save. So my American Retirement
Accounts plan will offer up to $1,000 in matching tax cuts, and will give
employers new incentives to automatically enroll their employees in
savings accounts.
- Shared prosperity means addressing the root causes of
poverty.
I thank John Edwards for his role in making poverty a
central focus of this campaign. Ensuring that all Americans, especially
our children, have a decent life is central to the goal of shared
prosperity.
The cause of children in need has been the passion of my
life, fueling my interest in early childhood education, foster care
reform, and children's health care and combating poverty. It will be a top
priority for my presidency.
We will fight for universal pre-school to close gaps in
cognitive development. We will improve our schools by ending the unfunded
mandate known as No Child Left Behind, investing in mentoring programs for
at-risk middle schoolers, and cutting the black and Hispanic high-school
drop out rate in half.
We will raise the minimum wage, expand the Earned Income
Tax Credit (EITC), and pass the Employee Free Choice Act. We'll take on
the issue of homelessness, particularly for our veterans. And I want to
say directly to the people of New Orleans: We will not forget you. So long
as any of our neighbors remain in poverty, our nation's commitment to the
"pursuit of happiness" for all cannot be fulfilled.
- Shared prosperity means restoring a strong climate for
investment, innovation and job creation.
As president, I will foster job creation by restoring
America as the world's innovation superpower. I will double investments in
basic and applied research, extend broadband throughout our country, and
encourage more women and minorities to pursue careers in math, science and
engineering.
In the face of high energy costs and a climate crisis, we
can turn a grave challenge into a historic opportunity by developing green
technologies and energy-efficiency solutions. That will drive productivity
gains and help create at least five million new "green-collar" jobs over
the next decade.
And finally, to restore a climate of investment, we must
end the culture of waste. That is why I believe in making government more
efficient and restoring fiscal responsibility so we can pay down the debt,
quit borrowing money from countries like China, and deal with long-term
challenges like Social Security. As a sign of that commitment, you can go
to hillaryclinton.com and see exactly how I plan to pay for my economic
plan.
If we listen to the voices of the American people, we can
find common ground on solutions to provide economic security, fight
poverty and move toward balanced budgets.
With shared responsibility we can have shared prosperity,
and finally give all of our families the opportunities they need to live
their dreams.
Mrs. Clinton is a Democratic senator from New
York.