So France bounces Sarkozy and Greece bounces them all. A morality play for US austerity proponents.

[jeff47]

14. Again, history does not agree with you.

Let's take 1993 as an example. Taxes went up on the 1%. Federal spending did not jump to offset the tax hike - it grew more or less the same as it had the previous 10 years. So...the economy tanked, right? Oh, wait....it didn't.

You've got to understand that destroying dollars through tax hikes

You've got to understand tax hikes do not destroy dollars. Good job buying the right-wing framing though.

I'm concerned about more job losses

And since that hasn't happened in the past, it will happen now because......?

Rich guy will decide to cut his income by 10% because he'd pay 3% more in taxes? And if he's that dumb, I'm sure he's got competitors who'd happily satisfy that demand.

The best way to achieve greater financial parity

Not the goal. If the goal was financial parity, we'd be talking about much, much, much higher rates. Like Eisenhower-era taxes. The economy was terrible then too, right? Oh wait....largest boom in US history.

The goal is to reduce the deficit, in a way that doesn't cripple social programs and thus cause far more damage to the economy. The other goal is to demonstrate that the Republicans will drop to their knees before the rich while fucking over everyone else.