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J.M.Phillips (former NYT reporter) attacks columns by M.Dowd, F.Rich & P.Krugman about menace of evangelical "jihadism."

In the debate leading up to the victory for health care reform, President Obama urged lawmakers to do what is right, while opponents relied on fear and cynicism.

>"Between 1979 and 2005 the inflation-adjusted, after-tax income of Americans in the middle of the income distribution rose 21 percent. The equivalent number for the richest 0.1 percent rose 400 percent. For the most part, these huge gains reflected a dramatic rise in the super-elite's share of pretax income. But there were also large tax cuts favoring the wealthy. In particular, taxes on capital gains..... >"Few of the 0.1% are in professions in which there is a clear relationship between someone's income and his economic contribution.... [So we] But they should ignore all the propaganda about "job creators" and demand that the super-elite pay substantially more in taxes."

Agrees with Obama's 7/22/09 analysis of need to overhaul health care system - compassion coincides with need for cost constraint.

Swiss private & universal health care