In a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain is suddenly transported back in time with a friend to medieval England.
They meet a peasant. Twain tells the peasant that the problem they have is inflation, that if the peasant made less but could buy more he would be better off.
The peasant keeps repeating that he can't be better off if he makes less.
Finally Mark Twain uses the only persuader left to him and slugs the guy. That got Twain and his friend, who was only a bystander, a date with the axe man.
Not good to lose your head, even when you are right.
I suppose it is impossible for Obama to tell the peasants that everyone pays taxes, especially since the cruelest tax of all is the payroll tax.
Frankly I'm not real sure Obama has thought a lot about it even though he is a very bright fellow.
When the "great taxcutter," Ronald Reagan, gave us the largest tax increase ever, it was a non-tax something or other. It is still a non-tax though the payroll tax slushes funds into helping pay for all the expenses of government while IOU's are dumped into the famed "lockbox."
Oh there are all the other taxes but they don't count either.
John McCain, in that sodden mess that they call a brain, has actually proposed that when the flow of money from workers is less than that to retirees and the disabled, well then benefits will have to be cut. Somewhere in there is an acknowledgment that the trust funds are a bad joke.
Funny how that has been missed.
I can see why McCain would not want to stress it and Obama dare not touch it.
Best, Terry