I don't normally post images I saw on Facebook here, but this one is really good

[hfojvt]

7. too bad about that

this graph was apparently made before ATRA

well, since then Obama and the Democrats have already punted on

1. "return to Clinton 36% and 39.6% top rates"
and
2. "return to more progressive estate tax"

although the graph seems to understate that, because I had this from 2010

"KLEIN: So how much does this cost? With a $1 million exemption and a 55 percent rate—in other words, what will happen if we do nothing—the estate tax would raise about $700 billion over the next 10 years. The Lincoln-Kyl version would raise less than $300 billion. And the compromise most Democrats have coalesced around—which was the 2009 level, with a $3.5 million exemption and a 45 percent rate—would've brought in a bit less than $400 billion." via the Daily Howler http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh121610.shtml

Which looks like $700 billion, but the graph says $330 billion. ATRA went with the $3.5/45% version and thus gave some $300 billion in tax cuts to some of the richest estates.

But hey, I guess that is worth it to keep people who make $240,000 a year from having to pay higher taxes. Because that is a progressive's worst nightmare - that people making $240,000 a year would have to pay higher taxes. I know the fear of that keeps me up at night, and sometimes I dream that people making that much are paying Clinton-era tax rates and I wake up screaming.