Hillary Clinton turns her fire on Donald Trump's economic policies, warns of disaster

Clinton paints picture of a mogul who stiffs everyone but himself - and will do same to country

Hillary Clinton chooses Ohio, a swing state, to assail Donald Trump's economic record (AP)

Hillary Clinton has taken fierce aim at the heart of Donald Trump’s case for being elected president calling into question his success as a businessman and arguing that his promised prescriptions for the American economy would lead to recession and certain disaster.

Ms Clinton lampooned Mr Trump’s own description of himself as the “King of Debt”. “The United States of America doesn't do business Trump's way,” she told supporters in Ohio, delivering a speech that echoed her bombardment of his foreign policy positions earlier this month

“You might think that because he has spent his life as a businessman he’d be better prepared to handle the economy, “ she offered. “Well, it turns out he is dangerous there too. Just like he shouldn’t have the finger on the button, he shouldn’t have his hands on our economy.”

While Ms Clinton tried to replicate the impact of her foreign policy speech, her task may be harder in the economic sphere. According to a new CNN poll only 43 per cent of registered voters nationally would trust her to run the economy compared to 51 per cent for Mr Trump.’’

Mr Trump meanwhile vowed to hit back at her on Wednesday with a speech in New York which would see him discussing, he said in a Twitter message, “the failed policy and badge judgment of Crooked Hillary Clinton”. In another message, he made reference to the ongoing investigation into Ms Clinton’s use of a private email server while US Secretary of State.

“How can Hillary run the economy when she can't even send emails without putting entire nation at risk?“ the New York business mogul asked. She, meanwhile, was directing voters’ attention to a Moody’s Analytic report saying that if enacted Mr Trump’s economic program would lead to a new “lengthy recession” and cost the jobs of about 3.5 million people.

If Ms Clinton managed to get under Mr Trump’s skin in Ohio it was perhaps with a jibe at his success as a writer of business books, among them the best-selling, The Art of the Deal - a tome he first wrote in 1987 that many of his fans treat almost as scripture.

“He has written a lot of books about business. they all seem to end at chapter 11,” she said to laughter, making reference to the Chapter 11 filing that any company makes to the courts in America if it wants to go into bankruptcy.

Again she argued that putting Mr Trump in charge of the economy would carry unacceptable risk, in part because of his unpredictability. “Every day we see how reckless and careless Trump is. He’s proud of it.” she said. “That’s his choice. Except when he’s asking to be president. Then it’s our choice.”

The harshest moments in her speech dealt with the history of his gambling empire, notably the multiple failures of his casinos in Atlantic City, his four different bankruptcy filings and the harm done to those whose businesses or lives were ravaged because of those failures.

“Today, his properties are sold, shuttered or falling apart and so are a lot of peoples lives,” Ms Clinton suggested. “In America, we don’t begrudge people being successful - but we know they shouldn’t do it by destroying other people”.

“The same people he's trying to get to vote for him now are people he's been exploiting for years,“ she declared.

And just as she urged Americans to wonder how he would behave in a foreign policy crisis, so she did the same when it comes to the economy. “Imagine him being in charge when your jobs and savings are at stake. Is this who you want leading us in an emergency?”

“Alexander Hamilton would be rolling in his grave” because of suggestions made by Mr Trump that he would seek to renegotiate the terms of America’s debt if it became too large, she went on.

“The full faith and credit of the United States is not something you just gamble away,” Ms Clinton insisted, saying that his tax plan alone threatened to grow the debt by $30 trillion. “It would break 225 years of iron clad trust that the American economy has with Americans and with the rest of the world.”

She mocked Mr Trump’s fair trade admonitions noting that “Trump ties are made in China, Trump suits in Mexico, Trump furniture in Turkey, Trump picture frames in India and Tump bar wear in Slovenia”. She added: “I love to know how all act fits with his talk about America First.”