Goals of the global left

New Oxfam report says half of global wealth held by the 1%

Expect things to get worse for Americans and Europeans as the elites more and more forsake nationalism and embrace globalism as urged both by the ever more frankly cosmopolitan left and the globalist neoliberal right.

On the other hand, some things urged by the left would certainly help cushion the blow and redistribute some of the pain of globalization upwards.

Consider The Guardian's endorsement of O's expected proposal to shift some $399 billion of the US tax burden onto the shoulders of the wealthy in order to enable tax cuts and other good things for non-rich Americans.

Obama's tax proposals

The centerpiece of the president's tax proposal is an increase in the capital gains rate on couples making more than $500,000 per year to 28 percent, the same level as under President Ronald Reagan. 

The top capital gains rate has already been raised from 15 percent to 23.8 percent during Obama's presidency.

Obama also wants to close what the administration is calling the "trust fund loophole," a change that would require estates to pay capital gains taxes on securities at the time they're inherited. 

Officials said the overwhelming impact of the change would be on the top 1 percent of income earners.

Administration officials pointed to a third proposal from the president as one they hope Republicans would support: a fee on the roughly 100 U.S. financial firms with assets of more than $50 billion.

Raising the capital gains rate, ending the inheritance loophole and tacking a fee on financial firms would generate $320 billion in revenue over a decade, according to administration estimates. 

Obama wants to put the bulk of that money into a series of measures aimed at helping middle-class Americans.

No chance he'll get any of this from a Republican legislature, but it's good to remind Americans whenever possible who is the lesser evil and who the greater for the non-rich of this country.

Oh, this bit at Think Progress is too late for me but still a good idea.

O's plan

Revenue from the tax increases would fund credits of up to $500 for families in which both spouses work. 

Under Obama’s tax plan, nearly 24 million couples with annual income up to $210,000 could benefit from the tax credits.

There's some good stuff for education and job training, too.

Kiplinger

The latest numbers from the IRS—based on just released data from 2012 tax returns—show what it takes to be among the top 1% of income earners: adjusted gross income of $434,682 or more.