Maggie's Farm

From Kudlow, in Why Not Blame Obama?:

In fact, in America’s largest cities, a firefighter married to a schoolteacher can earn close to $200,000 filing jointly. So not only will each spouse separately pay more for Social Security and health care under Mr. Obama’s plan, together they’ll also be slammed by Mr. Obama’s cap-gains tax increase.

This is more than just a failure to understand the Laffer curve. It’s another cultural misstep by Mr. Obama. I can’t help but wonder if the senator knows any cops or firemen. His appeal is to well-educated latte liberals. That remark about middle-income folks having turned to God, faith, and guns because of economic setbacks? Not only was it ill-advised, it illustrates the wide cultural chasm that exists between the candidate and the rest of America.

Kudlow makes the point that we have made many times here: the American socio-cultural Middle Class - if any such thing exists - spans family annual incomes between $40,000 - 200,000. Plumbers in my village make $200,000 if they work hard and will show up on weekends. My gunsmith charges $175/hr (but he gives me a break if a job takes too long), and his wife works for the town.