Joe Klein: Patriotism - in support of Biden's taxation comment

I think he would have used a :sarcasm: after the first sentence, 2nd paragraph?

http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/09/patriotism.html

September 18, 2008 1:42
Patriotism

McCain and Palin both attacked Joe Biden for saying that it was the patriotic duty of wealthier Americans to pay more in taxes. They believe it's the patriotic duty of wealthy Americans to pay less in taxes. Alan Greenspan, formerly held in high esteem by John McCain--who once said he was going to rectify his economic ignorance by reading Greenspan's book--thinks McCain and Palin are wrong...unless they can produce $3.3 trillion in budget savings to pay for the tax cuts. McCain has proposed some significant tax cuts--his opposition to the Farm Bill remains smart and courageous--and some earmark bon-bons tricked out as a big deal, but which only represent about $20 billion. He hasn't proposed anything remotely resembling $3.3 trillion, nor could he.

As for Biden, he's proposing that the wealthy return to tax rates that are actually lower than those imposed by Clinton--rates which, as you recall, really stifled the economic boom of the 1990s. Obama is proposing only a 20% tax on capital gains, which is lower than 25% rate Clinton demanded, and significantly lower than the income taxes imposed on labor.

And Biden's right: in a system of progressive taxation, it is the patriotic duty of the wealthy to pay more than the middle class or the poor...and furthermore, since we're all going to be paying for the mess the Wall Street sharks made, I'd go Biden a step further: there probably should be a confiscatory shark tax for any and all executives whose companies have gone belly up and required a federal bailout.

the republican party known as "fiscally conservative" are now appearing as if they will fight tooth and nail to keep from balancing the budget.

on what GOP actually does once they're in office (huge deficits, huge defense money wasting, tax cuts to the rich) vs. the Dems.