Fairness?

Paul Krugman is back at it.  He is plunking the strings of his "fairness" guitar.  Same old tune.

Krugman and his pal the President don't seem much interested that millions are out of work and that the US economy is virtually at a stand still.  That's okay.  What we need to focus on is not getting people back to work, but raising marginal tax rates.  The joke's on us as usual, since raising marginal tax rates will end up lowering rich folk's taxes.  Rich folks only pay taxes on taxable income, which they are free to raise or lower at will.  So, the higher marginal tax rates will simply reduce future tax revenues, future employment, continuing to beggar America's youth and the nation's unemployed and under-employed. 

Why not just announce 100% marginal tax rates for rich people and cut to the chase?  Rich folks aren't going to pay that rate anymore than they will pay the rates that Obama is dreaming about.  Neither will Obama.  These folks can borrow what they need to live on, deduct that from their estate when they die, and not bother to even file a tax return.  They know that and we know that and Obama and Krugman know that.

But, talking about fairness has the virtue of changing the subject.  What the President and Krugman do not want to discuss is the damage that the President's policies have done to the historically sluggish economic recovery that now threatens to slide back into recession.  I can see why they have lost interest in that discussion, especially in an election year.

If you want to see inequality grow while the economy slips back into the deep freeze, then join the chorus.  Tax the rich!   Even the rich have trouble avoiding a snicker at the "fairness" tom tom.  Buffett must love it.  As he admires himself in the mirror and basks in the adulation of the media, he knows that his pile of gold will grow untouched by the long arm of the IRS, even as marginal tax rates spiral off to infinity.