Wealthiest 1 percent must be ‘toppled’ to save US economy: Clinton

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton believes that the wealthiest 1 percent people in the United States must be “toppled” in order to strengthen the middle class and decrease the wealth gap between the rich and poor, a report says.

The Democrat presidential candidate also believes that the unending accumulation of massive wealth at the top of the spectrum is damaging the country and hampering its economy.

Clinton’s views on economy were revealed in her profile published by The New York Times on Tuesday. The article cited a number of Clinton confidants.

The article called Clinton’s economic policy plan as a populist agenda similar to that of Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren, a former Harvard Law School professor.

The former US first lady minutely studied a chart that indicated income inequality in the United States during a meeting with economists earlier this year, according to the article.

The graph showed how real earnings, adjusted for inflation, had spiked exponentially for the wealthiest people of the country, making the bar so steep it hardly fit on the chart.

According to people who were briefed on Clinton’s policy discussions, she pointed at the top category and said the wealthiest 1 percent must be “toppled” to save the economy.

Gene B. Sperling, an economic adviser in the Clinton and Obama administrations, said Hillary Clinton “wakes up asking how she can accomplish real things for families, not who she can attack.”

“When she shows that fighting populist edge, it is for a purpose,” Sperling said.

Last week, Clinton said she is running for the president of the United States in 2016, starting her bid to become the first woman to win the White House.

In a video on her campaign website on April 12, Clinton said she wants to be a champion for ordinary Americans fighting their way back from tough economic times.

"Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion, so you can do more than just get by. You can get ahead, and stay ahead," said the 67-year-old said in the two-minute video, officially launching an effort to secure the Democratic nomination for the 2016 elections, seven years after a bitter defeat to Barack Obama.

"Americans have fought their way back from tough economic times. But the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top," she added.

In 2011, Americans, who called themselves the 99 percenters launched nationwide demonstrations to protest against corruption, the unjust distribution of wealth in the country, and the excessive influence of big corporations on US policies.

The Occupy Wall Street movement slogan, "We are the 99%", refers to income inequality and wealth distribution in the US between the wealthiest 1 percent and the rest of the population.

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