Smooth Retsina

Reputation Nation
Clinton also cautioned that increased bickering among ideologues is hurting the nation's reputation internationally because the arguments often aren't based on facts. He said "Democrats are not blameless," but he singled out conservatives who take "the anti-government extreme position" never to increase taxes. "It scares people around the world," he said. (Huffington Post, 9/19/2011)


Republicans had Reagan as their leader emeritus, Democrats have......Clinton.  Here the former Philanderer-in-Chief warns us that the rest of the world might think less of the U.S. if we don't raise taxes on the wealthy (a.k.a. the successful).  So again for Dems it's all about what the morally and fiscally bankrupt nations will think. Who cares?


But perhaps Clinton is right in a way. What would happen if other countries adopted the U.S. position?  Why there would be no one to pay for their welfare states!


The Plague
... when he (Obama) talks about raising revenue, which he is right to do, he can’t really talk about anything substantive. He can’t tax gasoline. He can’t tax consumption. He can’t do a comprehensive tax reform. He has to restrict his tax policy changes to the top 2 percent, and to get any real revenue he’s got to hit them in every which way. We’re not going to simplify the tax code, but by God Obama’s going to raise taxes on rich people who give to charity! We’ve got to do something to reduce the awful philanthropy surplus plaguing this country! (David Brooks, NYT, 9/20/2011)


Obama has laid down his marker for the 2012 election and it is going to be (again) class warfare.  Interestingly, he may have trouble getting traction and this seemingly populist call-to-arms may not have the expected result.


The Chase
But as we've seen with the AMT, while the politicians may start by chasing "millionaires and billionaires," over time they always end up taxing the middle class because that's where the real money is. Mr. Obama could tax every billionaire in America at a 100% rate and still wouldn't make a dent in the federal deficit. (WSJ, 9/20/2011)


See above.