Return to the Clinton era tax rates. That would be a good thing in my opinion. If tax breaks there must be they should be as Obama has suggested under $250,000 per year income for a single person.
That would exclude anyone who earns his living through work from the tax increases. And it is the ordinary people who earn their money at jobs who keep our economy and our country moving.
I think our biggest economic problem is the disparity in incomes. I do not support equalizing things to the point that hardworking, smart people are not rewarded for their contributions. But I do think that hardworking people who are not necessarily so clever should also have rewards and incentives.
And I think we have a duty to care for those who cannot fend for themselves -- children, elderly, disabled, mentally ill and just plain extremely neurotic.
Many Americans cannot earn their living in our society today no matter how hard they try. And a surprising number of people just are not accepted or cannot find useful roles in today's automated workplace. Let's face it. At this time we have more people than jobs.
So we have an obligation to dare for the people, to provide for the people who don't have jobs. And that obligation has to be paid for by the people who make a lot of money eliminating jobs.
Bill Gates is just one example of a person who has made a fortune from technology that eliminated jobs and impoverished other people. His work has also improved our lives and brought progress. But he and others like him (and I think he would agree with me) have an obligation to share the fruits of their creativity with people who have been left out and hurt by that very creativity.
In the end, we are all one. What happens to the poorest and least "deserving" among us happens to us all.
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