Clinton to lay out economic vision in New York speech

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton is laying out her most concrete vision for the US economy today in a pitch to Democrats who are being wooed by her chief rival, Sen Bernie Sanders, and a larger electorate assessing the 2016 presidential field.
Clinton will emphasise the need for policies to increase real income of everyday Americans. Clinton is also expected to use the speech to portray a large field of Republicans as beholden to tax cuts and quick fixes that will fail to jumpstart wages.
Clinton will encourage companies to offer profit-sharing with their employees, and will point to potential changes in the tax code to help workers benefit, her campaign said today.

Aides said she would outline plans for more public investment in infrastructure projects like the construction of roads and bridges, advancing renewable energy and tax cuts for small business owners. Clinton is also expected to support an increase in the federal minimum wage.
Clinton's economic speech coincides with a courting of labor groups and Hispanic officials by Clinton, Sanders and former Maryland Gov Martin O'Malley Clinton received the endorsement of the American Federation of Teachers union on Saturday.
Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist who has risen in recent Democratic polls, said in an interview with CBS on Sunday that he planned to address poverty in the coming weeks and reach out to voters in conservative states in the South.

The three Democratic contenders were addressing the National Council of La Raza conference later today, appealing to members of the nation's largest Latino advocacy organisation.

In her New York address, Clinton will point to the economic progress during her husband's two terms in the 1990s and more recently under President Barack Obama. But she will note that globalisation and technological changes require the next president to take steps to help middle-class Americans participate in economic prosperity.
Clinton will also attempt to meet the demands of liberals within her own party who are wary of her willingness to regulate Wall Street. Some have rallied behind Sanders, who has made economic inequality the central focus of his campaign.

Republicans said Clinton was simply offering a prescription for a bigger government role in the economy. Clinton has sought to undermine the entire Republican field, including Florida Gov Jeb Bush, as supporters of "top-down" economic policies and large tax breaks for the wealthy.