Article: Why do so many working Americans cheat themselves?

Now that the GOP's millions of dollars in propaganda ads have come to naught, let's clear the air. George Bush's outrageous 10 year tax cuts to the wealthiest 2% in our country are finally expiring on 12/31/12. On the same day, the current modest tax cuts to the other 98% of our population also expires. (Those cuts ALS

O apply to 97% of the small businesses in America, a fact that the GOP always neglects to mention.)

President Obama is asking the GOP to immediately extend the tax cuts to the bottom 98%. He also says that he will VETO any GOP proposal that extends the tax cuts to the rich beyond its' 12/31 expiration date. Expiration of Bush's decade-long tax-giveaway to the wealthy will simply restore the wealthy's tax rate to its pre-Bush level. The GOP (and, for some reason, the Democrats too) call this a tax INCREASE on the rich. John Boehner says the GOP will NOT extend the Middle Class tax cuts unless the Bush tax cuts are also extended, this holding 98% of our population hostage to their continuing greed.

Therefore, when you hear the GOP start to make all kinds of noise about Obama's attempt to rob the rich you will know that is more of their typical Bullshit.

If you recall, last year billionaire Warren Buffett betrayed other billionaires by admitting that the wealthy had WON the Class War, and that it was unfair for folks like him to have a lower tax-rate than the secretary in his office. The Democrats then tried to pass the Buffett Bill, which would raise taxes only a small amount on millionaires, and ONLY on the dollars that they earned OVER their first million in annual earnings. EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN SENATOR VOTED AGAINST THE BUFFET BILL! (Just as every single GOP Senator voted against the "equal pay for women" bill.)

One final comment: Most of my friends -- who earn anywhere from $20,000 to $65,000 a year -- tell me that the rich are not only entitled to their wealth, but "they already pay a lot of taxes." They either don't understand or don't seem to care that taxing people like themselves at a higher rate than the typical 14.9% paid by the wealthy is unfair to themselves. And when I try to explain this to them many don't even want to hear it!

Many working Americans haven't the faintest clue that the amount of wealth possessed by the top 2% of our population is equal to the combined wealth of 100 million hard-working Americans like themselves. Are most working Americans idol-worshipers who believe in a royal aristocracy? A Leisure Class which owns garages and yachts that are larger than average folks' homes? Apparently. Go figure... ~ Brian Enright