Behind every great fortune is a great crime.

America was most prosperous–across the board and growing, when tax rates on the wealthy were highest.

When I was a boy, the highest rate was 91%. Later, it was 70%. That was during the golden age of middle class progress. These are indisputable facts. Anyone can research and chart both tax rates and GDP growth. One can also add the performance of the stock market.

Of course, rich people will never acknowledge this. Just as they won’t acknowledge that the history of this country has been of class warfare, perpetrated by them.

They are very good whiners and pay well their mouthpieces. But facts remain. Rich people get rich confiscating the natural wealth of a nation–and other nations, then keeping the major profits for themselves.

Behind every great fortune is a crime. Behind every windfall profit, there is an uneasy conscience.

Roosevelt and Johnson understood that there were three classes of people who had to be protected, guided and encouraged: the rich, the poor and those in the middle. Although Johnson and even Roosevelt needed some nudging by violence, the threat of violence and economic catastrophe.

Each vice has the face of a hideous gargoyle. But masks are worn, behind which hide the selfishness and materialism of the privileged. Let them fool themselves when they look into their mirrors, but make them pay more to preserve their privileges.

– Raphael O’Suna, Haiku