The irony is that billionaires such as the Koch Brothers have spent millions (which could go to taxes to help us out of the budget imbalance) to promote politicians who will not raise their taxes, and organizatons such as grover norquist's, which will intimidate politicians into signing an agreement not to raise taxes. Tens of millions of conservatives have been convinced by big-money interests that raising taxes on wealthy individuals would be in their best interest, which could not be further from the truth. Clinton era tax rates, which produced our last budget surpluses, were cut in the highest brackets by Bush, which began, among other factors, our downhill slide. Conservatives have bought into a lie, perpetrated by those who stand the most to gain by low upper-bracket tax rates, and huge tax credits and deductions. Meanwhile the vast majority of us suffer while the wealthy enjoy historic wealth, much of which may be deserved, but the disparity is astounding.