A rose by any other name...

Sen. Bernie Sanders' taking control of the word socialist -- saying: if affordable, universal health care is socialist, then I'm a socialist; if taxing the rich is socialist, then I'm a socialist; if tuition-free education is socialist, then I'm a socialist; if campaign finance reform is socialist, then I'm a socialist; if same-sex marriage is socialist, then I'm a socialist -- is working out just fine. He's making clear the distinction between his policies and programs and those of the neoliberals that have controlled the Democratic Party since the Reagan-Clinton era. "Socialism," as Sen. Sanders uses it, is the new New Deal. It's a rebranding in the political marketplace of tried and true ideas that have been neglected for a generation by the political class.

quote unquote: It's not about Wall Street, stupid.

"From the Louisiana Purchase and the Erie Canal, through the creation of the Land Grant colleges, to the interstate highways and the G.I. Bill, government investment was pivotal." - Felix Rohatyn, on infrastructure spending as the engine of economic recovery and long-term growth.