Get off our backs, Democrats!

Obama wants to raise taxes on "the rich" to shore up Social Security, and predictably employs class warfare to do it. But you can't always keep going to the same well--the top 1% already pay more than the bottom 90%--because taxes have a tendency of reaching down into the middle class, as we know to our cost in Illinois. WSJ on income mobility:

The key point is that the study shows that income mobility in the U.S. works down as well as up -- another sign that opportunity and merit continue to drive American success, not accidents of birth. The "rich" are not the same people over time. [snip]

All of this certainly helps to illuminate the current election-year debate about income "inequality" in the U.S. The political left and its media echoes are promoting the inequality story as a way to justify a huge tax increase. But inequality is only a problem if it reflects stagnant opportunity and a society stratified by more or less permanent income differences. That kind of society can breed class resentments and unrest. America isn't remotely such a society, thanks in large part to the incentives that exist for risk-taking and wealth creation.

So get off our backs, Democrats, and let people get on with movin' on up due to their own efforts.

Related posts: Our Freshman Senator Obama, Where's Waldo?