In Context: Hillary Clinton and Don’t let anybody tell you that corporations create jobs

Hillary Clinton, on the campaign trail to support Democrats running for office, appeared at a Boston rally to support Martha Coakley, the former attorney general who is running for Massachusetts governor. Clinton’s Oct. 24 stump speech emphasized Democratic economic policies to help working families.

At one point, Clinton said, "Don’t let anybody tell you that, you know, it's corporations and businesses that create jobs." Clinton’s aide later said she meant to say tax breaks for corporations. Clinton herself later said she "shorthanded" her comments, adding, "Our economy grows when businesses and entrepreneurs create good-paying jobs here in an America where workers and families are empowered to build from the bottom up and the middle out -- not when we hand out tax breaks for corporations that outsource jobs or stash their profits overseas."

Republicans have criticized Clinton for the remarks, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Bush noted the comments at a campaign stop in Colorado, calling them "breathtaking" and adding, "Well, the problem in America today is that not enough jobs are being created, (but) they are created by business."

Here are Clinton’s remarks from the Boston rally in context. You can watch video of her speech; our transcript begins at the 18-minute mark and includes about four minutes of Clinton’s lengthier stump speech.

"... Our most vulnerable families have the least support to do the most important job in the world, raising the next generation. That is not how it’s supposed to be in America. This is the country where if you work hard, like our dads did, and like both Martha and I did, you can make it. And each generation is supposed to have it a little bit better than the one before. Martha Coakley understands that because she has lived it. She will support earned sick time, so no mom or dad has to choose between getting the job done and taking care of a sick child or an ailing parent. She will work to make early learning and pre-kindergarten available to every child so that it’s not the children of those who are already privileged who get a good start in life and come to school prepared to learn, it’s your child and every child who deserves the same opportunities.

"Yes, and she will fight for the minimum wage, something that is long overdue. And don't let anybody tell you that raising the minimum wage will kill jobs. They always say that. I've been through this. My husband gave working families a raise in the 1990s. I voted to raise the minimum wage. And guess what? Millions of jobs were created or paid better and more families were more secure. That's what we want to see here, and that's what we want to see across the country.

"And don't let anybody, don’t let anybody tell you, that, you know, it's corporations and businesses that create jobs. You know, that old theory, trickle-down economics. That has been tried. That has failed. It has failed rather spectacularly. You know, one of the things my husband says, when people say, ‘What did you bring to Washington?’ He says, ‘Well, I brought arithmetic.’ And part of it was, part of it was, he demonstrated why trickle-down should be consigned to the trash bin of history. More tax cuts for the top and for companies that ship jobs overseas while taxpayers and voters are stuck paying the freight just doesn't add up. Now, that kind of thinking might win you an award for outsourcing excellence, but Massachusetts can do better than that. Martha understands it. She knows you have to create jobs from everybody working together and taking the advantages of this great state and putting them to work.

"The other thing about Martha, is not only what she will do but what she will never do. She’ll never waffle on a woman’s right to make her own reproductive health care decision. She will never shame and judge a woman for decisions that are complex and deeply personal, decisions that belong between a woman, her family, her faith and her doctor; not with her boss or a politician. … "