Soak the Rich!

It's a bad week for those whose yearly incomes are above $200k.

I don't have references: but, the NYTimes had an article earlier this week loudly proclaiming that income was down by 5% since 2000. However, a closer look at the numbers showed that, for people who made less than $200K in 2003, their incomes either went up (a few percent, corrected for inflation) or held steady since 2000. It was the people who had incomes above $200K who took huge hits -- 20-40% -- which fed into an overall decline of 5%.

The biggest hits percentage-wise were those unfortunate souls who made in excess of $10M/year. They saw their incomes drop by 40%. The bit they made on the margin from the Bush tax cut is cold comfort compared to their income drops. Want some more?

And then, last night at the Democratic National Convention -- zing! -- Kerry announced that he would give a middle-class tax cut, but roll back the Bush tax cut on incomes above $200K. This, to pay off the $400B budget deficits Bush has been wracking up.

Where should the big money go this election cycle? Big money-earners should learn to not back politicians who can't do sums -- and get out from behind Bush. Bush's bad fiscal policies caused their incomes to drop.