Reply #17: Nice framing there...

[ljm2002]

...as if the outrage is due to begrudging other people their good fortune.

Let's get something straight here: the rich and the super rich have done very well over the last few years. They have benefited greatly from the Bush tax cuts which are due to expire. Their portion of the wealth and income have gone up, up, up while that of the bottom 80% has gone down, down, down. They need to pay their fair share, particularly since they are the ones who yell the loudest about the "problem" of the deficit. But somehow it is only a problem when a Democratic president is in office. It's only a problem when there are proposals to help those most in need, but not when it is a massive tax cut that benefits them disproportionately.

The argument that tax cuts for the rich will create jobs has been demonstrated as false. We've had years and years of those very tax cuts and the jobs situation has gone from bad to worse. It's time we reverted to where we were before those cuts.

We need to keep Social Security and Medicare solvent. We need to repair our infrastructure. We need to invest more in education. All of this will be helped by letting the tax cuts for the rich expire, and all of this suffers if we extend those tax cuts. So speaking for myself, my beef is not how much or how little some individual pays, you are right, I don't care about that per se. But I do care about matters of policy and how they affect our lives, and on that basis I say, let the rich pay their fair share again.