President Obama and the Democrats have made a cottage industry of peddling "tax hikes for the rich" as the way out of the fiscal crisis precipitated by ObamaCare and other profligate spending.
But with reports and polling showing that upper income spending has fallen since the beginning of September, the country may have a chance to see that "tax hikes for the rich" are not as costless as the administration and Democrats want Americans to believe.
The "rich" are pulling back in anticipation of tax increases coming down the pike in 2013. As a result, it looks like they will be spending less on holiday shopping. The idea that the "rich" are making do with less (relatively speaking) may bring joy to the class-warfare-addled hearts of Obama, Reid, Pelosi & Co. -- but in truth, "the rich" will be hurt less by this phenomenon than the small businesses owned by the "non-rich" who will not have the benefit of the higher spending (along, of course, with the lower earnings for the evil corporations whose stock is owned by millions or ordinary Americans whose 401(k)s or pensions are invested in mutual funds).
Someday, it will somehow sink in that -- however much President Obama and the Democrats want to redirect public disappointment with their performance into anger at "the rich" -- the truth is that we are all in this together. It is hard for any sector of the economy (besides Big Government) to flourish when job providers and big spenders are being punished.
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