Hillary came to the Derry Opera House, right down the road from my house. I would have walked there, but it was raining, so I drove the 90 seconds down the street. Ha!
Hillary’s speech was advertised as being about Innovation. I was sitting about 10 rows back from the front in the small auditorium space. The floor fit maybe 150 or so and the balcony some number more.
She started by saying she wanted to create good jobs, build the middle class, and use innovation to gain an edge in the global economy. As an example of the innovative edge, she sited the company she just visited, GT Solar, a local energy company that is actually exporting to China (how rare is that!).
Hillary said the global economy equals challenges. There’s jobs going overseas. Our productivity is going up but people are getting less in return. Living costs are going up, and only a small minority of people are doing well.
She says we Americans need to start working together and get back into the solution business. Her suggestions:
1. Apollo project – Invest in clean renewable energy for security, global warming, and job creation. We need national leadership. She’ll start a strategic fund, closing loopholes to the oil companies who are getting tax breaks. She wants to create the equivalent of DARPA (which was started after Sputnik went up). And we need to have the best minds in both public and private sectors working on this stuff.
2. End the war on science [Hell yeah!] – No muzzles on scientists. No politicization of science. Yes to stem cell research. Tax credit for research. Improve math and science education. Create a manufacturing base in this country because that is what our country was based on and we need to keep that to remain strong. We also need to have a feedback loop for engineers and scientists, so manufacturing here can do that.
3. Rebuild infrastructure – Create an emergency repair fund for roads, rails, sea ports, etc. Have a green building fund, to encourage environmentally sound solutions. Have a national broadband strategy.
Hillary wants to get back to “evidence-based decision making”. [Again, hell yeah, especially compared to Bush!]. Then she quotes Stephen Colbert and says that the President makes facts based on decisions, not the other way around. She’d like to get that in the right order.
She says we need a change to win in the global economy. And then she asks for the support of each person in the audience. Literally asks for it. She wants to change course and takes nothing for granted, so she is out campaigning for every single vote.
The speech part was about 15 minutes or so. They did a short “panel” discussion with two other folks about innovation and stuff. Boring.
Then come the questions from the audience.
Q: Inheritance Tax. What do you think of it?
A: Anything I propose, I pay for… let’s go back to pay as you go rules. Estate tax comes from the fact that we, as a country, never liked huge inherited wealth [I totally never thought about this before!]. She’s proposing >$7 million pays inheritance. That should make it pretty safe for most families.
Then she talks about how psychology says people will save more if the government offers to match some, so she says gov’t will match first $1K of saving for those with less than $60K income. And 50% for people with 60-100K income. If we don’t start doing these things, the inequality in economic sectors will get worse.
Q: We need to stop outsourcing high tech jobs! (citing Dell, Apple, and Autodesk)
A: We’re going to stop tax breaks for those companies that are doing this outsourcing. The tax code should reward companies that provide American jobs. And it’s not just low or high tech jobs. Everyone is in danger. Example, she’s seen things where X-rays are read in India for people in the US.
Q: Mom of 4. She’s got a son with Asperser’s syndrome and insurance is a nightmare.
A: Autism, she knows a lot about it. She’s done a lot of work on child development issues. Spends time talking about what she knows… She wants to put money into research, but that doesn’t help the family who’s having problems with insurance companies, so we need to crack down on them, too.
Q: A couple (65 and 67 years old) are paying $10K a year for their health insurance. That’s a lot of money!
A: Hillary’s seen a family in Portsmouth who was paying $18K a year! It’s awful. She touts her health plan, how it has choices plus a public option. She wants to see a competitive playing field in this area to keep costs down. And we need to lower Medicare costs.
So the event was nice. The science/tech stuff she talked about was right up my alley and I really appreciated her points in that area. She’s very smart and well-spoken. She obviously knows her stuff and seemed very strong and in control of the facts and her plans. I think she would do a very good job. That said, I didn’t feel all fired up and inspired by her. I think she’s an admirable woman, but do I want to stand out in the cold rain with a Hillary sign trying to get other people to vote for her? Eh. Solid candidate, definitely confident she can do it, but not inspiring my undying support.
Now that they’ve moved up the primary, I don’t know how I’ll be able to see everyone, but I’ll keep trying!
