My view is that the US economy is a "system", sort of a Las Vegas gaming table. It costs more to play the bigger games, it costs more to run them, and it costs more for security for the house and players.

Those folks who are smart will pay almost anything to keep the game going, looking at what they have left as a measure of "success". They have figured out that 50% of one million dollars is more than 90% of 20,000 dollars.

Those folks who aren't so enlightened will look at what it costs.

The taxes the wealthy pay are disproportionate, by design. They get more, much more, and the measure is what's left, not what it costs. It takes a lot of money to keep the system going. Too much, true. And it's not all spent the way I think it should (Laura Bush's travel, for instance!!! Hilary Clinton's expenses - what BS!)

There will always be "waste" - in corporations, families, everywhere. And different priorities.

However, the alternative, the system collapsing, is not OK. And the wealthy should pay more as a percentage. They get more, as a bottom line.

Arf