Hillary Slaps Wall Street, Demands Companies Share Profits

OPINION:

In an expansive economic speech on Monday, multimillionaire Hillary Clinton on Monday called wage inequality the “defining economic challenge of our time” and demanded that companies share profits with workers.

“As the shadow of crisis recedes and longer-term challenges come into focus, I believe we have to build a growth and fairness economy,” Clinton said at The New School in New York City.

“You can’t have one without the other. We can’t create enough jobs and new businesses without more growth.”

Clinton also accused former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush of an inability to understand Americans’ needs, claiming Republicans won’t help those stuck in the middle-class.

Bush, she said, “must not have met many American workers,” and, pointing to a comment that Bush made about Americans working longer hours, said: “They don’t need a lecture. They need a raise.”

Clinton also said she would hold Wall Street accountable.

“Stories of misconduct by individuals and institutions in the financial industry are shocking,” Clinton said. “HSBC allowing drug cartels to launder money, 5 major banks pleading guilty to felony charges for conspiring currency exchange and interest rates. There can be no justification or tolerance for this kind of criminal behavior.”

But the Weekly Standard reported that the Clintons received $200,000 from HSBC in 2011. The bank donated as mush as $1 million to the Clinton Foundation, the site said.

“In 2011, Bill Clinton was paid $200,000 for a speech to HSBC Securities (USA) Inc. in Key Largo, FL. In 2007, the Clintons sold between $15,001 and $50,000 in HSBC Holdings PLC. And HSBC has donated between $500,000 and $1,000,000 to the Clinton Foundation,” America Rising reports.

“Hillary Clinton attacked the financial criminal behavior of financial organizations during her economic speech this morning,” said Jeff Bechdel, America Rising PAC communications director.

“While it sounds like a great talking point, the facts and her own complex web of finances make it difficult for Hillary Clinton to pretend she’s just an ‘everyday American.’”