The Trump-Clinton divide on little people. (according to a business columnist) [View all]

[pnwmom]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/nation-now/2016/08/12/trump-clinton-economic-plans-little-people-detroit-column/88613520/

All it takes, he seemed to say, are a few of these big broad strokes and all will be well. Or as Trump himself put it, "I want to jump-start America and it won't even be that hard."

By contrast, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s plan outlined Thursday in nearby Warren seems to accept that, yes, it will be hard. Therefore she attacks the problems at ground level — down where entrepreneurs need working capital and commuters need reliable public transit and school kids need high-speed broadband.

Trump’s plan, with its emphasis on tax cuts and getting those intrusive government regulators off our backs, comes from somewhere high atop one of Trump’s skyscrapers. It’s a view from the boardroom, from a place where the big deals are done and the little people remain out of sight.

But Clinton’s plan seemed to acknowledge each and every one of those little people. She hopes to counsel first-time homeowners on handling debt. She wants to put at-risk youths to work, and to help returning offenders find jobs, and to bankroll entrepreneurs with their dreams. Her plan has a granular quality; on public transit, for example, she focuses down to the level of bike and pedestrian lanes needed in cities.

There’s an old saying that nothing works but that everything might: that no one silver-bullet solution will turn things around but that if we try 100 different things and each one moves the needle just a bit, then we might make real progress. That seems to be Clinton’s approach.

SNIP