It's The Economy

I was just pondering where the economy is today, vice when I was a teenager. The top US earner's tax rate in 1975 was 70%. By the end of Ronald Reagan's first year, it was down to 50%. Ronny had it down to 28% by the time he left office (in a cloud of Alzheimer's fog). A reduction of 42% over 10 years, and the US saw the first big spike in debt. This debt should be Ronny's legacy. He set a standard.

In 1990 Clinton came in and bumped that rate on top earners up to 39.6%, and he balanced the budget over his 8 years. He didn't actually reduce the debt at all, because as soon as a surplus was apparent, Mitch McConnell stepped into the spotlight and peeped "They earned it, let them keep it".  The same thing he did late 2010.  So the rich get to keep that top rate at the 37% level set by George Bush in 2001. 

Debt has been rampant cince 2001, and letting the Bush tax cuts expire in 2013 will be a start at fixing this problem.  A full scrapping of the tax code will make this better, becuase the effective tax rate on top earners (as demonstrated bt Mitt Romney) is closer to 15%.

Dividend earnings should be taxed like any other income.  And in case you didn't know, anyone who says "broaden the base" wants to tax people at or near poverty.