Raise Taxes on Capital Gains

50 percent of all capital gains go to the richest 0.1 percent, according to The Washington Post.

They are taxed, as of 2013, at 20% instead of 15% (good progress).

Here are U.S. income tax rates:
10% on taxable income from $0 to $8,925, plus
15% on taxable income over $8,925 to $36,250, plus
25% on taxable income over $36,250 to $87,850, plus
28% on taxable income over $87,850 to $183,250, plus
33% on taxable income over $183,250 to $398,350, plus
35% on taxable income over $398,350 to $400,000, plus
39.6% on taxable income over $400,000.

So currently the richest 0.1% are being taxed like they're earning about $30K per year on most of their increases in wealth. And granted most of that money stays in the stock market, which is good for the growth of companies, which ought to be supplying jobs.

But the stock market just hit a record high this week (or close to it, accounting for inflation) and wages and employment did not.

"From 1973 to 2011, worker productivity grew 80 percent, while median hourly compensation, after inflation, grew by just one-eighth that amount, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research group." - NYTimes

And unemployment for those seeking work is 7.7% compared to 5.9% in 2007. (The millions more not seeking work is very complicated - won't go there, but be aware that's even worse.)

The centralization of money and power will eventually cause problems even for those who have it, since they cannot reasonably manage the lives of millions of people. This, I believe, is why Warren Buffett and other billionaires are giving their money away to charities and encouraging the government to tax them more.

Given the recent spate of useful government employee layoffs due to the sequestration and the ongoing lack of funding for environmental-renewal programs and FDA enforcement, which are not profitable enterprises but which benefit us all, there's good reason to keep raising Capital Gains taxes.

(Also, as the war in Afghanistan wraps up we're going to have to find something productive for America's military personnel - something ideally more benevolent and life-reaffirming, like education, civil engineering, crisis-response, and physical and mental therapy.)