"America's Basic Bargain"

Dem presidential candidate Hillary Clinton delivered her much anticipated first major speech of her 2016 campaign today in New York City, and struck the theme of bringing shared prosperity to America's middle class:  

"It's America's basic bargain.  If you do your part, you ought to be able to get ahead, and when everybody does their part, America gets ahead too. That bargain inspired generations of American families, including my own."

In an era of widening gaps in income, Clinton said that prosperity must be "built by all and shared by all," a theme in stark contrast to Republican right-wing economics which places tax, regulatory and subsidy resources in the hands of the wealthiest, trusting them to make decisions to benefit the economy.

Clinton delivered her campaign's inaugural address to thousands on Roosevelt Island, a symbolic nod to the 20th century's greatest President, Democrat Franklin Roosevelt, whose New Deal pulled the country out of the Great Depression and who led the U.S. to victory in World War II.

(photo:  Reuters, Brendan McDermid)