Granholm: Trump’s Detroit speech was a page from ‘tired’ GOP playbook

By Jennifer M. Granholm, Detroit Free Press

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was in Detroit yesterday to deliver what was billed as his most important address yet on the economy.

Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm speaks to delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012.

I watched it. At the end, I had one question: haven’t I seen this movie before?

For a speech supposedly focused on America’s economic future, Trump’s policies sounded a lot like the same tired trickle-down economics that many Republicans have been peddling for decades. He called for freezing regulation of the big banks, surprisingly large tax cuts for the wealthy, abolishing the estate tax and ending the rules that keep our air and water safe. He also repeated a “Pants-on-Fire” lie about his opponent’s record — insisting that Hillary Clinton wants to raise taxes on the middle class.

We’ve seen Trump’s economic playbook before. Many times. And no matter how many times they try, it still doesn’t work.

Republican nominee Donald Trump speaks to the Detroit Economic Club at Cobo Center in downtown Detroit on Monday August 8, 2016.

Take Kansas (a state without an auto industry bankruptcy and federal government rescue). Starting in 2010, Republican Governor Sam Brownback drastically slashed state income taxes, promising it would jump start jobs. The impact? The jobs didn’t come, but a fiscal crisis did. Kansas is now in the hole to the tune of $420 million. The state has had to make steep cuts to highways, pensions and education. One of Brownback’s biggest defenders? Conservative Heritage Foundation economist Stephen Moore, the same guy who’s advising Trump.

So now it seems Trump is trying to take the Kansas model national. He’s called for cutting the tax rate for corporations to 15%. The impact would be a massive windfall for hedge funds, corporate law firms and private equity players who organize their businesses as partnerships and receive business income. The wealthiest, Wall Street and big corporations would benefit enormously. And he still hasn’t told us how he would pay for the trillions of dollars it would cost.

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An independent analysis by Moody’s Analytics found that Trump’s previous proposals would destroy 3.4 million jobs and spark a “lengthy recession.” Trump has even threatened to default on the debt—a truly catastrophic event that would throw the global economy into crisis.

None of us will forget the pain that Michigan went through in 2008-09 when our auto industry went bankrupt. Even though it was only eight years ago, it still feels very real. We need a president who will build on the successes of the Obama administration; not one whose policies could usher in a new recession. We need a leader with specific, bold plans to move us forward into the future.

Clinton has a blueprint to strengthen American manufacturing and will make the largest investment in job creation since World War II by rebuilding our roads and bridges and modernizing our grid. She’ll provide New Markets Tax Credit for companies who invest in underserved communities and claw back tax breaks from companies that ship jobs overseas. She will renegotiate NAFTA and create a trade prosecutor to aggressively enforce trade agreements. She will make a $60 billion investment in clean energy jobs. The same independent forecasters at Moody’s Analytics have projected that her economic plans will create over 10 million new jobs.

With the election 90 days away, Trump still has no new ideas to create good-paying jobs and raise wages.

► Watch: Trump protesters tackle man with Confederate flag outside Cobo speech

Jennifer Granholm served as governor of Michigan from 2003 through 2010. She is a special adviser to Correct the Record, a superPAC that supports Hillary Clinton.