A friend and associate of mine--who reluctantly voted for Obama last year--wrote me the following: Hi Michael: Like many others, we too are beginning to see more clearly through the smoke screen of Obama. Once unemployment hits 10% nationally (or worse), the "stimulus package" has achieved no tangible results save the burden of excessive taxation to those with any assets (for years to come), and the rich, job-providers are sick of being punished for their success through 50%+ taxes, the starstruck will see this fraud for what he, Jeremiah Wright, Al Sharpton etc. really are--phonies. Phonies who believe in using class guilt to justify punishing the producers in our society for the benefit of the non-producers. Oh well, be careful what you wish for as......

My reply: So true! When will the most productive and richest people paying all the taxes stand up for themselves? Never, I suspect. The next "best" thing will have to be the middle-of-the-road masses realizing that even though 2 percent of the country is paying for a huge new welfare state that puts Europe's to shame, the numbers won't add up (not to mention the quality won't hold up). Government is not going to do any better of a job running the banks, all of medical care, and the auto industry than it does the post office and most wars it takes on. Plus, the richest and most productive have a way of standing up for themselves through passive-resistance. It's just human nature, and it doesn't have to be conscious. As taxes move back towards the 50-90 percent rate, they'll shelter their money, divert it, or just plain make less of it since the government is taking it anyway. The middle class who voted all this in will now have to decide if it's worth it to punish the people they consider rich just to take out their frustration over so many trivial things. At least we'll be able to see their reactions as the Obama economy goes bust and Bush becomes even more of a distant memory. Obama's only hope is there is absolutely NO alternative party, even a hapless one as Bill Clinton faced. The Republicans that we knew are flatlined, gone, history. But that may be good. Maybe we'll get a real second party out of all this! I don't care what they call themselves, just so they zero out most of the federal budget outside of defense, cut most of the taxes--and mean it. Now that I think of it, they will probably have to do this once the second "stimulus" bill passes, not to mention cap-and-trade, and it all totally bankrupts the government. Deficit-spending can only take you so far, not to mention the inflation it will likely create.