Math or Class Warfare?

Timely column from Alice Rivkin / Brookings Institute:

http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2011/0922_class_warfare_rivlin.aspx

"In defending his proposal to ensure that millionaires not pay taxes at lower rates than ordinary wage earners—the Buffett rule—the president said, “It is not class warfare. It is math.” I was reminded of the experience I have had many times when I have talked about the fact that the distribution of income in the United States has become dramatically less equal in recent years, especially at the very top. Average incomes have stagnated while incomes of the very well-healed have sky rocketed. Often someone in the group shouts, “class warfare” or “populism,” meaning “don’t go there.” The shouter thinks invoking images of angry peasants with pitchforks and torches advancing on the castle ought to end any conversation about the distribution of income or wealth."