This morning on Meet The Press Lindsey Graham "challenged" President Obama to "give him a number" of how high tax rates on the rich would have to be in order to satisfy him.
What he was doing, of course, was setting up the conversation to whine about what a large percentage of taxes is paid by the rich, and how almost half of American citizens pay no taxes at all. And that's because the conversation to date has been driven by tax rates and the wealthy class's share of taxes paid.
President Obama and his surrogates need to change that narrative. The real issue is not the comparative amount of taxes paid. The real issue is, how much do the 1% have left after they have paid their taxes, and what can you buy with that kind of money? What kind of health insurance? What kind of education for their children. What kind of home(s) and how many? What kind of car(s)? Rush Limbaugh's five (5) Maybachs would be instructive here. What kind of vacations? What kind of dining? Can they afford servants? What kind of clothes can they afford? Jewelry? Furnishings? Private clubs/recreation? Travel? What kind of parties do they throw? Spas/massage? How much money do they have left in cash/stocks/bonds/precious metals/collectibles after all their expenses are paid.
Compare that to that 49% of Americans who pay no federal taxes because their dependant/age/disability exemptions reduce their income below the minimum taxable amount. How do those people live? What kind of health insurance? Deductibles? Rent? Utilities? Food? What do they spend their money on, how much do they spend, and how much do they have left over after all expenses are paid?
Finally, how do the unemployed live on their unemployment benefits in each of these categories, keeping in mind that they are unemployed largely because of the reckless financial transactions of people enjoying the lifestyle and tax rates of the 1%, who are at this moment lobbying congress to ensure that their lifestyle is not disturbed by paying an additional 5% surtax on their SECOND million dollars, but rather to place the burden squarely on the shoulders of the people the 1% has screwed over with their greed.
That's not a tax increase on their first million, it's just a nickel out of each dollar they make after the first million. And this is not a surtax on their businesses, large or small. It's a surtax on their personal incomes which, in the case of business owners, represents the salaries and bonuses they pay themselves AFTER all their business expenses.
How do the unemployed live once they run out of their unemployment benefits?
Then, ask whether or not the wealthy pay their fair share in this economy? By what measure? How do they sleep at night, using the 99% to labor for the benefit of the 1% until they are no longer needed and are discarded like so much garbage?
Those irresponsible parties who destroyed this economy come out of the 1%. Even those of the 1% who didn't directly cause the recession have maintained their lifestyles without the least bit of sacrifice. The 99% labored in good faith in a system designed to benefit and protect the 1%, and they have been betrayed by the fiction that the wealth of the 1% would trickle down to benefit the 99%.
And you're telling me, Lindsey Graham, that the 1% pay their fair share to help make this economy livable again? By what measure?
I realize you can't fit this into a sound bite, but over a campaign, a close look at "the lifestyles of the rich and famous" and their 99% counterparts - in detail - can and should be center stage.