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Congratulations, Mr. President. This week you followed your increasingly populist rhetoric with some decisive action on behalf of the middle class.

Stunning but true: It's "true Reagan conservative" Newt Gingrich who has asked what should be a fundamental question of the 2012 presidential race: “You have to ask the question, is capitalism really about the ability of a handful of rich people to manipulate the lives of thousands of people and then walk off with the money?”

Yesterday, I posted about Newt Gingrich's scathing — and utterly truthful — attack on Mitt Romney, just in time for the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries.

Greg Sargent says:

This general election will turn heavily on a battle over the two candidates’ visions of capitalism and the proper role of government in regulating it. Yet the leading GOP candidates are on record arguing that Romney’s practice of it — which he regularly cites as proof of his ability to create jobs, as a generally constructive force and even as synonymous with the American way — is not really capitalism at all, but a destructive, profit-driven perversion of it. Thanks to them, this is no longer a left-wing argument. As the GOP candidates have themselves confirmed, this argument reflects concerns about Wall Street excess and lack of accountability that are thoroughly mainstream, and you’ll be seeing plenty of footage of these Republicans making it in battleground states this fall.

Do you think that's how it's going to go? It's certainly pretty to think so. But it will only happen if the media can restrain themselves from chasing the shiny objects that the campaigns throw out there.

"I feel stupid," someone said the other day. "I consider myself well-informed, but I have no idea what the term 'austerity economics' really means."

Actually it's not that complicated, and most of the lesson plan can be found in today's headlines.