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Clinton Unveils Economic Plan, Derides Trump's Tax Cut Proposal

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Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gives a speech on the economy after touring Futuramic Tool & Engineering, in Warren, Mich., Aug. 11, 2016.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gives a speech on the economy after touring Futuramic Tool & Engineering, in Warren, Mich., Aug. 11, 2016.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton unveiled her economic plans Thursday, contending that her proposals would help a vast swath of U.S. workers while she said Republican Donald Trump is offering tax cuts for the wealthiest of people.

Clinton told factory workers at a defense manufacturing plant in Michigan, "There's a myth out there that he'll stick it to the rich. Don't believe it."

"He wants to give trillions in tax breaks to people like himself," Clinton said of the real estate tycoon making his first run for elected office. "He wants America to work for himself and all his friends."

Clinton called for establishment of a $25 billion government funded infrastructure bank to create jobs for 10 million workers to carry out a massive public works program to repair crumbling roads, bridges and airports.

She described it as "the biggest investment since World War II" and said the country is "way overdue for this." Clinton said Trump's economic proposals, laid out earlier this week in nearby Detroit, would cost the country's labor market more than 3 million jobs and push the American economy, the world's largest, "back into recession."

WATCH: Clinton on Trump's economic plan

Hillary Clinton Says Trump's Economic Plan Will Pull US Back Into Recession
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Clinton derided Trump's treatment of small businesses he has dealt with while building New York skyscrapers and casinos along the Atlantic Ocean shoreline, saying that "he's made a career out of stiffing small businesses. It wasn't because he couldn't pay them, it's because he wouldn't."

She rebuked him for manufacturing his Trump-branded products — ties, shirts, suits and furniture — at manufacturing plants overseas.

"Let's remember where Trump makes many of his products and it's not America," she said.

WATCH: Trump on his economic plan

Donald Trump on Economic Plan
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Ahead of her speech, Trump also called for new infrastructure spending, although he did not lay out a specific proposal.

He told CNBC that the United States should add to its $19 trillion long-term debt to strengthen its military and rebuild infrastructure. Even though he has often derided President Barack Obama for the burgeoning debt, Trump said that because interest rates are currently low, "You'd be paying so little interest right now.This is the time to borrow."

Later, he told a home builders group, "She's going to raise taxes; I'm going to cut them." Clinton called for higher taxes on the country's wealthiest taxpayers, a proposal that the politically fractious U.S. Congress has rejected in recent years.

Numerous U.S. political surveys show Clinton pulling to a steady polling advantage of about seven points over Trump and gaining ground in key states that will decide the November 8 election to replace President Barack Obama.

But polls indicate voters rate Trump and Clinton about even on who can best inject new life into the U.S. economy. It is often the envy of other countries where growth has stalled, but the United States has not hit 3 percent annual growth in more than a decade, a figure economists often view as a sign of a robust advance.

As part of her plan, Clinton vowed to roll back tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, increase the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour for low-paid workers and boost government support for small businesses.

Her campaign said Thursday she would soon release her 2015 federal income tax returns she filed with her husband, former President Bill Clinton. She mocked Trump for not releasing his returns, which is at odds with a decades-long tradition for U.S. presidential candidates, but is not a legal requirement.

Trump said he will not release his returns while government auditors are reviewing them.

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