Robert Reich has a piece up at HuffingtonPost that NAILS IT. He details the GOP class war against working class people, he illustrates just how bad income inequality has gotten in America since Reagan, and he offers some sage advise for how to fix the mess we are in. I strongly suggest you read the whole article, but I have included an excerpt below of the most important bit.
Here's what Democrats should be saying:
Hike taxes on the super-rich. Reform the tax code to create more brackets at the top with higher rates for millionaires and billionaires. Absurdly, the top bracket is now set at $375,000 with a tax rate of 35 percent; the second-highest bracket, at 33 percent, starts at $172,000 for individuals. But the big money is way higher.
The source of income shouldn't matter -- salary, wages, capital gains, other unearned income -- all should be treated the same. There's no reason to reward speculators. (Don't penalize true entrepreneurs, though. If they're owners who have held their assets for at least twenty years, keep their capital gains low.)
And while you're at it, raise the ceiling on income subject to Social Security taxes. And bring back the estate tax.
Do this and we can afford to do what we need to do as a nation. Do this and you prevent Republicans from setting the working middle class against itself. Do this and you restore some balance to a distribution of income and wealth that's now dangerously out of whack.
Do this, Democrats, and you have a chance of being relevant again.
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The MASSIVE MAJORITY of America will be on your side, dear Democrats. Do you want to win elections? Great! So let's start proposing some ideas that the public really finds popular and then (here is the kicker), once you get elected, fight like hell for what you ran on.
Poll after poll shows that most Americans would rather make the rich pay more in taxes then cut services the working class depends on. This is a political no-brainer.
Democrats should be pounding the airwaves with a co-ordinated message, and that message should be "We are in this mess because the super rich have been getting a free ride on their taxes. They aren't paying their fair share and they want the working class to foot the bill for EVERYTHING. We should raise their taxes so they will pay their fair share. The reason we have deficits is BECAUSE Republicans have been giving the rich a free ride."
We do NOT need spending cuts to programs that families who are already struggling depend on. That will only make things worse. What we need is to RAISE REVENUE, and the most just way of doing so is to raise the taxes of the people who can afford it the most. Would you rather have a fire department in your town, or low corporate tax rates? Would you rather have your neighbor lose his pension so a billionaire can get another estate tax break? Would you rather have a functioning society with a strong middle class, or would you rather have huge subsidies to already profitable oil companies? These questions are simple and they paint a picture that is easy to understand.
If we don't tax the super rich, especially when they are the only people to make any real money in the last 30 years, we should EXPECT more suffering among the working class. And why should so many suffer so a bare few can live at ease? The message is simple and POPULAR, tax the rich, they can afford it! I'd rather have first class, well paid teachers than tax breaks for Paris Hilton any day of the week.
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Peace and love to all who can't afford it!