If Only Obama had said this in Debate 1

Low Taxes do not help the rich.  Low taxes help the super rich, the 1%; not the vast majority of those who are well off but depend on a vibrant middle class to buy their goods and services.  That middle class has been harmed by the bursting of a real estate bubble caused by a lack of regulation and the hollowing out of our education system and infrastructure.

Link to Robert Frank who inspired that thought

Policies matter.  Income inequality in the U.S. has been a long time coming and will take a long time to be overcome.  The reasons for this trend are complex and based in a combination of economic comparative advantage with capitalism's ruthless pursuit of the highest return on capital.  The only thing government can do is create a set of policies that allow each American to improve their own personal comparative advantage.

The Democratic set of policies is focused on balancing the budget in a fair manner.  Yes, we will cut expenses in many places, but we also do so in a manner that preserves the government's ability to meet its obligations to retirement benefits, helping those who need help and spending to support education and infrastructure.  To do that, we need to raise revenues from those who can afford to pay.

The Republican set of policies that supposedly will address economic inequality use disproven myths as their basis of truth and they are not true.

"America is the land of opportunity".  Not for those who do not benefit from parents who can afford college.  When I was a youth, my middle class parents could afford to pay for a private college education without my borrowing any money.  Today, I estimate my parents would be making $80,000 to $90,000 or roughly take home of $58,000 after tax and health insurance.  How could they afford to pay even the $25,000 that a public college costs let alone the $50,000 that a private school costs?  Is it any wonder that students today have thousands of dollars of debt when they graduate and the debt repayment delays their participation in the middle class spending patterns.  Now the Community Colleges of America cost less and do a wonderful job preparing people to participate in the economy.  But public education must prepare children uniformly to be well prepared for such an education and global competition.  That is why democratic policies will continue to provide financial support for education.  Most kids cannot borrow the money from their parents, Governor Romney.

"Trickle-down Economics works".  If it works so well, why is the comparison of my family's place in time the truth?

"The rich are the job creators".  Yes and no, entrepreneurs create jobs, but not every rich person is an entrepreneur.  Converting fees earned by a firm for managing money into bonuses that for most Americans are ordinary income taxed at 28% but for such private equity and hedge funds get capital gains treatment at 15% is simply unfair.  I support tax reform that equalizes income tax rates for types of activity.  No rich person will fail to hire someone who produces incremental return on equity just because the equity return gets taxes at 28%, not 15%.  That $ of incremental return will still add to the overall profitability increasing the wealth of the job creator.

"The cost of reducing inequality is so great it will kill the economy".  If there is no middle class, where will economic growth come from?

"Markets are self-regulating and efficient".  The housing bubble fueled by asset securitization was supposedly sound because the market was self-regulated and efficient.  Now we are dealing with the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression.  Never again will Wall Street greed sink the economy and force unprecedented fiscal and monetary policy!

Democrats will improve regulation, we will balance the budget in a fair manner while cutting expenses in a fair manner.  Corporate handouts through the tax code will not be immune from cuts.

Joseph Stiglitz who inspired that piece

Democrats are pro-life while believing that each woman has the right to choose whether a particular set of circumstances is right for the upbringing of a child.  Abortion should be rare and undertaken only when an individual woman believes she has no other choice.  But the government has limited rights to control such choice because time is of the essence when a woman faces such choice and it must be between herself, her family and her doctor.

Republicans claim they are pro-life but their policies focus on only the unborn.  Their sanctity of life is focused on the unborn but not protecting that child from being shot by a semi-automatic weapon, or getting medical treatment if their parents cannot afford health insurance.  What about the sanctity of life for the elderly for their lifetime of contribution to society and providing them the health care and social security they have paid for?

Why do only the unborn get the right to be protected from government policy? What about the living's right to be protected from government's policy or have government policy protect their sanctity of life.  Democrats see the need for balance in all of this.  The Republicans want to force women to carry children borne of violent acts by deviant fathers with questionable genetic makeup and then abandon the living to vagaries of the market.   That is what the privatization of medicare and social security means.  The elderly, when they have diminished mental capacity, will have to figure out how to afford their health care and their investments, when more than a few could not do it well when they were at full mental capacity.

Thomas Friedman Inspiration

While President Obama lost his chance to say all of this in Denver, I hope you will be convinced that his reelection is of critical importance so that economic policy balances the needs of the rich and the middle class, the budget is balanced in a fair manner, that medicare and social security are fixed without conversion from what we know, that Obamacare is implemented without delay and fixed where it needs to be, and that woman's rights to make individual decisions for themselves are respected.