Awesome video from Matt Damon that I haven't seen here yet.
"I'm so disgusted... The wealthy are paying less than they have at any time at least in my lifetime...It's criminal that so little is asked of people who are getting so much. I don't mind paying more taxes...I'd rather pay more in taxes than cut Reading is Fundamental or Head Start.. Is it that much worse if you have to pay 6% more in taxes? Give me a break. Look what you get. You get to be American. Tax the really rich, guys like me.
You get to be American. I love that!
Q: Do you think the wealthy, those making above $250,000 are job creators
I didn't go start a small business with my tax break and I don't know anybody else who did. Everybody is socking their money away. That just defies common sense.
And on 'shared sacrifice':
So little is asked of the upper class anyway. What percent of them or their kids are fighting in any of these wars? If you walk down Fifth Avenue there's no sense of shared sacrifice.
What does it take for a wealthy, successful person like Matt Damon to have a conscience? Why are people like him so rare? Is it because his mother is a teacher?
And in Monday's New York Times Column Joe Nocera makes a plea to the rich to start picking up their fair share:
I keep waiting for one wealthy, well-known figure to stand up and say publicly that he or she is willing to pay more in taxes as part of the shared sacrifice necessary to gain control of the country’s deficit. I know there are wealthy people who’ve had that thought — not just liberals like Warren Buffett, but old-fashioned, rock-ribbed Republicans who are worried about the country’s debt problems. I even have a pretty good idea who some of them are. Come on, folks. Your country needs to hear from you.
The Patriotic Millionaires For Fiscal Strength have been around for a few years,
imploring President Obama to raise their taxes, but unfortunately mostly going unnoticed.
These are only a few, small examples, but at least we are hearing something about the need to raise taxes. It 'defies common sense' that a country can operate without tax revenue, but Reagan and Bush have made saying 'taxes' the equivalent to speaking the name Lord Voldemort out loud. Let's hope this may be the beginning of the drumbeat for raising taxes on the wealthy. One of the alternatives is being played out in Britain right now. The timing, coming on the heels of the creation of the spending slash-and-burn Super Congress couldn't be better.
UPDATE: Thank you for the trip to the Rec List where Matt's words belong, and h/t to Mayfly for this additional drumbeat.