Hillary presses the flesh at Hatfield toy factory
HATFIELD >> At a toy factory in Montgomery County Friday, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton outlined priorities that would take focus in her administration from investments in manufacturing to clean energy to climate energy and job creation.
K’Nex, a Rodon Group business, was the first stop for the Clinton/Kaine campaign on a two-day bus tour following the Democratic National Convention.
“We know that companies like this one provides very important lessons,” she told the crowd of employees and teachers after a tour of the factory. “You have to have a well-trained workforce … We know that if we’re smart about it, we can bring jobs back from china and other places. If we make up our minds to do that, just like that’s happened here.”
The toy company was founded in 1990 by Joel Glickman and employs nearly 200 people in manufacturing educational toys, meant to stimulate interest in science, technology, engineering and math.
Initially, production was done offshore but company officials switched to bringing the work back to the United States in 2009 and has seen great success since then.
Clinton said she plans to create more jobs and get people to acquire the skills needed to fill more than 1 million available jobs in this country that are not being filled because of a technical skill dearth.
“We’re going to make it possible for more people to acquire the skills that you need to be competitive in the economy of today and tomorrow,” she said.
Then, speaking to her plans for policy to invest in advanced manufacturing in communities like Hatfield, she added, “We’re going to do more to help small businesses start, grow and succeed.”
She also issued a stern warning.
“It’s absolutely wrong that American companies take tax breaks and then export jobs,” Clinton said. “They take the tax breaks in order to have jobs in America and I believe if they take tax breaks and then they try to export jobs, then they should have to pay back every single penny of every tax break they ever got.”
She also spoke to her commitment to clean energy and climate change.
“We’re also going to make America the clean energy superpower of the 21st century,” she said, outlining the plan to employ 500 million more solar panels, which would provide enough clean energy to power every home in the United States for a decade.
She expressed a firm support of environmental changes.
“I believe climate change is real, it’s happening, I’m not denying it,” Clinton said. “Why would I deny it? It’s there. It’s affecting us ... When Donald Trump says he thinks it’s a hoax and he’s not a scientist, well, go talk to a scientist. There are a lot of them, right here in Montgomery County, in Philadelphia.”
She added, “We can either wring our hands or we can deny it or we can accept it and we can treat it as both a challenge and an opportunity.”
In addition, she said job creation and retention would be integral to her policy.
“We’re going to make sure that people start making things and building things here in America because we know that small businesses are at the core of creating most of the good jobs in America,” she said.
She gave three examples of small businesses that had done business with Trump, her GOP opponent, that either did not get paid or was undercut 30 to 50 cents on the dollar.
“I tell you those stories because when someone runs for president and says their primary qualification for being president is because they claim to be a successful businessman, then it’s only fair to ask, ‘How did you become successful?’” she said. “We don’t resent success in America but we do resent people who take advantage of others in order to line their own pockets.”
Clinton stressed the importance of collaboration in order to reach objectives beneficial for many.
“When someone says I can fix it alone, what does that really mean because I don’t know anybody who can,” she said. “Instead, we are stronger together, we’re going to work together, we’re going to set goals together, we’re going to achieve those goals. The centerpiece of my presidency will be more goodpaying jobs with rising incomes for more Americans.”