The Agenda Project: Patriotic Millionaires' Message to Congress "Tax Me"

Ten years ago GW Bush was sworn into office after a contentious election, and launched a political effort to cut taxes for the wealthy.  His meme was to "return your money" saying that the budget surpluses (which were already evaporating by the time he was sworn into office) indicated that the government was taking in too much money and that the taxes should be cut.  That created an enormous tax cut system that benefited the rich and wealthy, a system the Republicans are working hard to preserve in the face of provisions in the tax cuts that make them expire now.

Some of the rich disagree ...




BTW - whether GW Bush was elected, or stole the election, is a debate for another day

Naomi Klein: Why Rich Countries Should Pay Reparations To Poor Countries For The Climate Crisis | Environment | AlterNet

A grassroots movement says that the countries that created the climate crisis should pay for the costs of adapting to a more hostile ecology. The thesis seems to be that developing countries are being victimized by the advanced west. There is a lot of evidence to support that. NAOMI KLEIN: ...the climate crisis as we know was created in the industrialized world. There is a direct correlation between industrialization (what we call development) and carbon emissions. In fact, 75 percent of the historical carbon emissions have been produced by only 20 percent of the world's population. Then we have this cruel geographical irony, which is that the effects of climate change our felt overwhelmingly in the developing world, and the parts of the world that are least responsible for creating the crisis. According to the World Bank, 75-80 of the effects of climate change are being felt in the developing world. So, you have this inverse relationship between cause and effect.

Article Reference: 

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/144267/naomi_klein%3A_why_rich_countries_shou...