Obama's budget

At least one person is talking about the huge military expenditures in Obama's budget. So many other programs could be funded if this was slashed. But of course the defense budget is pretty much untouchable. In a way, the whole discussion about where to cut is misplaced, as obvious large areas of spending are just off limits.

Income inequality has increased dramatically in the US over the last three decades: the richest 1% took home 9% of the country's total income in 1980 and by 2007 were taking over 22%--and further, even as their incomes increased, their tax rate decreased: they paid a total federal tax rate of 37% three decades ago, which has dropped to 31% now.
Robert Reich says in his excellent article that Obama's budget "represents the biggest redistribution of income from the wealthy to the middle class and poor this nation has seen in more than forty years... It's about time a presidential budget unequivocally redistributed income from the very rich to the middle class and poor. The incomes of the top one percent have soared for 30 years while median wages have slowed or declined in real terms. As economists Thomas Piketty and Emanuel Saez have shown, the top-earning one percent of Americans took home eight percent of total income in the 1970s; as recently as 1980, they took home nine percent. After that, total income became more and more concentrated at the top. By 2007, the top one percent took home over 22 percent. Meanwhile, even as their incomes dramatically increased, the total federal tax rates paid by the top one percent dropped. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the top one percent paid a total federal tax rate of 37 percent three decades ago; now it's paying 31 percent."
Reich also says that "By allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire, the marginal income tax on the highest earners goes back to 39.6 percent (from 35 percent, now), and capital gains rates to 20 percent (from 15, now). The budget also limits the amount highest earners can claim for mortgage-interest and charitable deductions (from 35 percent now down to 28 percent), raising an estimated $318 billion over ten years. Finally, wealthier Medicare beneficiaries will have to pay higher premiums for prescription drugs." And that "Although we don't have details as yet, the President's health-care proposal is likely to include substantial subsidies for lower-income families."