It seems the Dems (perhaps with the sole exception of Obama) is standing firm extending the Bush era tax cuts for the middle class, and the middle class only.

I wouldn't think that the Dems would attempt using class war as a political maneuver, because it would force their rhetoric to match their policies. It's a risky path to take. Unfulfilled promises like this are what revolutions are made of.

And, are they policies espoused, policies they attempted to get passed and implemented, or policies that have actually been passed and implemented by the Democrats.

Don't worry about any revolutions happening as long as the Republicans can continue to bamboozle the majority of the middle-class to thinking that sooner or later some of the wealth at the top will trickle down to them. Though, who knows how much longer they can keep up the charade.

be a ex-U.S. Congressman. Class warfare doesn't play in this country, and the Dems approach of the poor/middle class vs the rich backfired.

willy, do you really believe that if those making over $250,000 have the previous tax rates re-established that congress will use that money to pay down the deficit? Dems say that extending the Bush tax rates to the wealthy will cost $700 billion over a 10 year period, yet they didn't hesitate to spend $3.5 trillion that we don't have. They want it both ways. The IRS chairman commented that if they took 100% of everyones' pay in taxes, that would still not be enough to get us out of the hole congress has dug us into. Why is there a deficit anyway? Because congress wants one, that's why.

Very well put! The rich are making more money now then they did with a balanced budget under Clinton. It is very simple, big money wants it like Euorpe. The rich and the poor! They want to get rid of the minimum wage. Let's go back to slave labor

...primarily because we've had fairly low unemployment rates. Your average American was happy to keep quiet and let things be so long as he had his own slice of the pie.

But when you turn that dynamic on it's head: No job, and no home for Joe American, you have a different situation.

Most Americans are simply not aware of class differences. But since this recession began, you see it come out in interesting ways.

The Tea Party movement would not have happened without the Great Recession. There is a reason why the GOP will use the term "elite" to describe Dems whenever possible. It's to discourage the Dems from using the same label.

But now, the Dems are beginning to use it. I saw the article below the other day on the Huffington Post. Hell, left wing comedians are already making jokes about killing bankers. And Americans are very well aware of bonuses banking executives are rewarding themselves with.

The well-to-do are sitting on a very unstable power keg. If unemployment doesn't go down soon, there's a very real possibility that it could go off.

Tax Dollars = Big Goverment Coruption
Big Tax Dollars = Huge Goverment Coruption

The more money you pay in taxes the more they want. The more they get the bigger the coruption. Not really a matter of the Dem's or Rep's. It's money and coruption.

The most fatting food in the world is cottage cheese. That's what I always see really fat people eating in restraunts.

Think about it.

It is a war between those who are aggregate tax payers, and those who are aggregate tax recipients.

"when a country needs more income, they should get it from the people that have it."

Bullshit word coined by Frank, the GOP sound bite jingle man.

The real class war happens when all the wealth concentrates on 1 to 2% of the population. History tells us that, all revolutions started due to this fact. It was kings and emperors then, they just changed their names and became puppet masters of certain idiot politicians.

Before you go calling names and go ape shit, go read some history then comeback what is real class war. In modern economic theory, it is called progressive taxation. It is a simple theory really, those who have more wealth consume a lot more resources than those who don't consume less.

For example, wealthy stays in luxury hotels which takes a lot more resources for up keep than your moderate Wyngate around the corner. That's the principle of progressive taxation.

Time for some to go ape shit now.

The guy is worth what $50B? First, most of it is allocated to the Bill/Melinda Gates Foundation. Second, he has really smart tax professionals to help him manage his tax obligations. Third, even if you tax him more, he is still going to have a shit load of money. Fourth, he made comments lauding the government's intervention. Let's be honest, that saved his investments in GS & WFC to name a few.

$200K/$250K ain't shit, especially if you live in California, NY, Hawaii, or other high tax, high cost areas. If you are going to tax the rich, start @ $1M, which coincidentally was suggested by Schumer. Why Schumer, because he lives in NY?

But before we start with taxes, let's get revenue and expenses back to the 2007/08 levels. Federal expenditures were about 19% of GDP, and tax receipts were at 18%. Now the Federal government is up to 24%, and tax receipts are at 15%. Let's at a minimum get back to 19%/18% first. If there are absolutely no other cuts that realistically can be made, then I'm OK with asking the wealthy to cover the spread, but only after cuts are made, otherwise there is no incentive for govt to reduce size.

I'm in favor of increasing top marginal income taxes to 70%-90%, like they were in the 50's and 60's. In today's dollars, that would acutally kick in at around 3 million dollars.

When you have multi-billion dollar companies like Exxon-Mobil and General Electric paying NO corporate income taxes, then I think we ought to take a closer look at the 16,000 pages of tax code before we worry about spending. But that's just my preference.

He is not republican so, he can't be right!

"Federal expenditures were about 19% of GDP, and tax receipts were at 18%. Now the Federal government is up to 24%, and tax receipts are at 15%"

Doesn't include all the money borrowed to pay for the war which is the major cause of the deficit.

Doesn't include all the money it took to pay for the recession

"The forces in a capitalist society, if left unchecked, tend to make the rich richer and the poor poorer."

Who said it?