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Can democracy, one top political scientist asked last week, 'function effectively in a society marked by vast economic inequality'? The fate of the modest new White House bid to tax our rich may tell the tale.

Leo Hindery, Jr. will be a featured speaker at Take Back the American Dream, convening from Oct. 3 to 5. Click here to register.

Later this week on the floor of the House of Representatives, several federal budget proposals embodying different approaches to our country's economic challenges will compete for attention.

You know the KISS rule: "Keep It Simple, Stupid."

When it comes to taxing wealth vs. taxing work, what's become known as the "Buffett Rule" is an elegant example of the KISS principle at work. Income is income. It should be taxed at the same rate, whether you've earned it by trading stocks or by being the janitor at the stock-trading office.

Last year I prepared for the SOTU by speculating about the “fairy tales” the President would tell about fiscal responsibility, fiscal sustainability and the debt/deficit problem.

President Obama said on Monday that his proposal would bring taxes for millionaires in line with those paid by the middle class. This “is not class warfare; it’s math,” he stated. But he could have easily been referring to math that hasn’t favored working-class and middle-class households for most of the past 30 years.

They used to say that the money wealthy people spent would trickle down to everyone else, but nobody was really buying it. I'm not sure anyone's buying this either:

"Let's define rich," Scarborough suggested. "So, what's the cutoff? Is it $500,000?"

I didn't think that anyone — not even her fellow Republicans — could top Michelle Bachmann's 2008 interview with Chris Matthews, in which she accused then-candidate Barack Obama — and certain members of Congress — of being "anti-American," and urged the media to "do a penetrating expose" certain people in Congress " and find out, 'Are they pro-America or anti-America?'"

I should have known better. Florida Republican Rep. Allen West has added to his impressive record of bizzare statements with stunner that makes Michelle Bachmann seem almost rational. This week, West warned constituents that he has "heard" that up to 80 of the 190 Democrats in the House are Communist Party members.