Charles Momsen wrote:
Why is it selfish to want to keep something one has earned and it's not
selfish to want something someone else has earned?


Hmmm, sounds like you're comparing the Obama and McCain tax plans. How
about if we look at McCain's plan? In the Bush cuts, the top 1% (over
roughly $200K) got a 3.4% while the middle class was "bought off" with
about 1.5%. Now McCain wanted to repeat this with a 0.5% cut for the
middle class, but a 1.6% cut for the rich. If we look at the super-rich
(top 0.1%, over about $500K) the Bush cut was 5%, and the proposed
McCain cut was 2.1%.

Thus the net of the two cuts is 2% (of total income) for the middle
class, 5% for the rich, and 7.1% for the super-rich. Why is this not
the rich being selfish? Why is this not socialism in reverse? What
would that be called- Feudalism?

Before the Rush Limbaugh crowd starts ranting about how the top X% pays
99% of the taxes, let me remind you that the top 60-70% actually pays
about the same percentage of their income after you include the state
and local taxes. The rest of the population is in school, the military,
or jail.