How is this for a concept steeped in self-delusion? The American Dream.

The American Dream has been blown to smithereens over the previous decade and “the dream” shows no sign of reappearing anytime soon.


Supposedly John Q. Public is on the fence about whether or not to allow the tax benefits enjoyed by the top 2% of the nation’s income earners to expire.

Are You Kidding Me!

We are talking about those whose incomes have been above $250,000 per year, on average, for the previous several years. Is that you, or anyone you know?

Of course not! But that is the grand American delusion. We all think we are just a year or two away from having to consider how to manage our finances after a huge income tax increase comes down on our soon-to-be huger incomes.

The last thing we want to do is to put into place a tax code which might adversely affect our own future net incomes. Stupid. Stupid! Stupid!!

The top 25 hedge fund managers each earned over $1 billion last year. Each one of those incomes could have paid the yearly salaries and benefits of an additional 20,000 teachers, firemen, or police officers to the nations labor forces. And we are supposed to feel sorry for these people’s tax consequences?

I will say it again. How ridiculous! How stupid are we that we feel sympathy for the rich? Why are we crying for the only segment of our population that has managed to increase its wealth over the last decade? Let us not forget that most of these people were rich to start with, will never miss a meal in their life, and will continued to enjoy the best of everything regardless of whether they end up paying a few thousand dollars more in income taxes next year.

We vote and act against our own self-interest frequently because we believe that some kind of divine intervention will balance the scales of our lives some time down the road; at least in many versions of heaven. Unless we start sharing the wealth more equitably immediately and forget about down-the-road most people’s lives will continue to degenerate. We used to consider ourselves to be living in a land of equals but, in fact, nothing is currently further from the truth.