I see that you choose to ignore any discussion of the Bush tax cuts, why they were enacted, and why they were meant to be temporary. This is a crucial part of the argument, and definitely plays into the deficits that the government has.

As for your first point, that the money belonging to the wealthy hasn&#039;t been earned by me, or by the government, I would counter that the money that I earn, which is taxed, has equally not been earned by the wealthy, or by the government. Yet it is still taxed, and everyone (rich and poor) benefits from those taxes. So, that argument is just silly. Next you&#039;ll be saying that the wealthy people just work harder than the poor or middle class so they deserve what they have.

No, I&#039;m not saying that the rich are just people who have more than I do. These are people who have more than almost everyone. And of course the 99% should be able to vote to decide the fate of the 1%. Last I looked, people earning 15 million dollars a year were not a protected minority. If they feel that they&#039;re being handled unjustly, they can certainly take that up with the courts, whose job it is to make sure that no one is being discriminated against. Now I think you&#039;re just kidding with me.

Of course this argument has to do with teacher (and other) unions. No one is saying that without collective bargaining anyone&#039;s life will end (where did you get that?), but it is just one more example of the Republican government telling the regular folk that they must sacrifice more and more because &quot;we just can&#039;t afford it&quot; in this climate. If the Bush tax cuts had been allowed to expire as they were designed to do, our our country would have a whole lot more money to fund state and local governments and these concessions would be unnecessary.

Demonizing public employees making $45,000 a year and forcing them to make concessions because we&#039;re protecting the wealthy is just another example of the Republican strategy to split up the middle class and get it to fight amongst itself. I&#039;m not saying it&#039;s not a brilliant strategy, it&#039;s just wrong for our country, and possibly evil.

To quote Robert Reich, &quot;Last year, America&rsquo;s top thirteen hedge-fund managers earned an average of $1 billion each. One of them took home $5 billion. Much of their income is taxed as capital gains &ndash; at 15 percent &ndash; due to a tax loophole that Republican members of Congress have steadfastly guarded.

If the earnings of those thirteen hedge-fund managers were taxed as ordinary income, the revenues generated would pay the salaries and benefits of 300,000 teachers. Who is more valuable to our society &ndash; thirteen hedge-fund managers or 300,000 teachers? Let&rsquo;s make the question even simpler. Who is more valuable: One hedge fund manager or one teacher?&quot;