[Cerek]

Cute video. Just a few major flaws in his presentation.

Of course, the solution is "Tax the super rich" rather than Congress actually choosing to NOT continuously overspend. The highest tax rate in 1980 was 70%. Personally, that is INSANE by any measure and I don't blame the super rich (or anyone else) for balking against it. That destroys the incentive for capitalism.

In 1980, only 10% of the population were super rich. That has grown to 20%. That means the number of super rich (and, thus the opportunities to [i]become super rich) have more than doubled. The percent is doubled, but the actual population numbers have increased, so 20% of current population is more than double 10% of 1980 population. In 70's and 80's, the status of "super rich" was reserved primarily for those that already came from money. While average Americans might become well off or even wealthy, very few had the opportunity to truly become "super rich" from humble beginnings. Bill Gates would never have reached that rank in the 70s.

Capital gains and other measures have always been tools for investors and the wealthy to use to reduce their tax burden. Laws could be changed now that our financial structures and opportunities have changed, but a tax rate of 35% on the super rich is still pretty reasonable, in my opinion.

The BIGGEST flaw in the presentation, though, is the assertion that the middle class does not have the power to borrow and spend money, which has led to an anemic recovery. That is just outright ignorance. One of the biggest reasons our economy is so bad is precisely BECAUSE the middle class was given MORE borrowing power than they could actually afford. They DID spend that money very freely and the economy boomed for awhile, UNTIL those loans started coming due and the middle class suddenly could keep up with ALL the payments they had incurred through reckless spending. THAT led to massive defaults on the bad loans which ultimately led to the gov't bailout of the banks and finance companies that made the bad loans.

No, the middle class can't afford to borrow NOW, that's because most of them still aren't able to pay for the money they borrowed in the past that led to the economic downturn.

I will concede that the super rich use their wealth to buy political favor and leverage. Of course, this has always been true in our economy, it just has become more blatant in the last few decades. Laws have been put in place to restrict and limit that influence, but there are always loopholes around those laws.

Still, it is easy for the lower and middle classes to blame all their ills on the super rich rather than accept the fact they are responsible for their own situations.