New York’s Mike Bloomberg, mayor of an economically damaged city, has noted the pointlessness of raising taxes on the rich when their wealth is plummeting, or of eliminating the charitable deduction for people who have less to give anyway.

True but irrelevant. Mayor Bloomberg should read the Obama budget chapter, “Inheriting a Legacy of Misplaced Priorities.” The economy as most people understand it was a second-order concern of the stimulus strategy. The primary goal is a massive re-flowing of “wealth” from the top toward the bottom, to stop the moral failure they see in the budget’s “Top One Percent of Earners” chart.

The White House says its goal is simple “fairness.” That may be, as they understand fairness. But Figure 9 makes it clear that for the top earners, there will be blood. This presidency is going to be an act of retribution. In the words of the third book from Mr. Obama, “it is our duty to change it.”

via The Obama Rosetta Stone – WSJ.com.

The main body of the editorial is an explanation of the importance of this image:

Just as Reaganomics used the Laffer Curve, this diagram is key to understanding Obamanomics.  The difference is that Reagan wanted us all to be free.

By the way, if anyone hasn’t learned the difference between covetousness and envy, it might be helpful to understanding the direction in policy we are traveling.  Covetousness was displayed when King Ahaz wanted Naboth’s Vineyard.  Envy was when the prostitute who lost her own son found comfort in trying to get the infant son of her roommate killed.