Don't mislabel people as unfeeling. The rich are just painfully aware of how much of their insane taxation actually ends up in these services, as opposed to being siphoned off by career politicians with basically no accountability. I'm not wealthy at all, and I have come into contact with folks who's income is pretty basically all 'pork'.

At the state and local level there is more ability for people to oversee where their money goes, and punish those who abuse it. Again, people need to look at what the problem is, Federal Income Tax. If you want to make the wealthy comfortable with paying 50+% of their income in taxes, then you have to assure them that their money is spent for those services they claim to be collected for. Who can blame the rich for not wanting to donate their money to other wealthy people who govern (steal) instead of work?

minimus, you cant really define fair; it used to mean "equal" but now, its just a word thats a little worse than good...

Instead of critiquing the analysis of your argument, Calor, I shall attempt to negate the principles behind your argument, i.e you bulleted points.

1. The world's largest single language common market. If I'm not mistaken, English is not the world's most spoken language. A quick Google search indicates that Chinese and Spanish are the most spoken languages in the world. Moreover, English's demand and popularity are getting to the point that accessing tools to learn the language is getting easier, not harder, by the day. Therefore, your premise fails on two accounts - not only is it factually lagging, but it is also your interpretation of the meaning behind it lags.

2. The world's largest, most educated single work force. Again, I disagree. First, how do you measure 'educated.' If we were to use a universal measure of literacy, then you statement is incorrect. According to the United Nation's literacy rates, we are not the most literate nation. There are several countries, including many European countries where English is not their first language, that beat the US literacy rates. It may be assumed, then, that their work force is equally educated if not better.

3. Free K-12 education. Several developed countries offer this. Moreover several developed countries also offer free college education. Also consider that K-12 education provided by the state is not always of the best quality across the country. Therefore, if your argument is that because of free state education, the rich get richer, your method of thinking may be flawed.

4. Low income help for college students. Relative to most countries, I would agree with you that this is a fair point. However, since this is an opportunity provided to all, equally, how does it favor one group over another?

5. A relatively safe environment to live and work. Again, for the most part you have a fair point. However, I don't understand how this breeds your argument. Many countries have a safe working and living environment. In fact, I would argue that many have a safer environment considering our crime rate and gun abuse rate. An easy example is Canada where crime rates are a fraction of the US crime rates.

6. A stable government that attracts foreign investment. I'm not sure if it is our government that attracts foreign investment as opposed to the opportunities that may be realized if one invested here as opposed to elsewhere. Many governments, thankfully, are on becoming more stable. Indeed there is less for a foreign investor in a country where the government is stable, however that may not be the sole reason.

7. An uncorrupt court system. You have got be out of your mind. The US court system is far from uncorrupt. It is influenced by political ideology left and right. This topic may be discussed on a whole new blog.

8. A strong sytem of patents and intellectual property laws. Again, I disagree. The system favors those who might submit their application first. You may have come up with a similar innovation, but were 2 minutes late in filing for the patent. Guess what happens? You lose your millions of dollars of research and development. This is one of the huge downsides to the US patent system. Moreover, some laws on software and other products need to be more specific. The current system allows for minor changes in an item and being able to obtain a patent for it. Again, this topic may be discussed on a whole new blog.

9. A reasonably healthy work force. Reasonably healthy indeed. The trend, however, is towards obesity and heart disease. Yet again how do you measure this? Several other countries have much higher life expectancies, if you use the universal indicator of a healthy populace.

10. A work force that is able and willing to move for employers. This is provided for by the open system of the country. Citizens of several other countries are just as able and willing to move for employers. In fact, with the growing interrelated global workforce, the labor force may, if it chooses - regardless of where it's from - move to whereever it is accepted.

Your points may be well taken if they are that the rich should appreciate their country more. But only you need to provide evidence that they do not. Simply paying taxes means nothing, considering how much is wasted. Why should I pay more taxes when the corrupt politicians want to simply waste my tax dollars in pork barrel and other selfish motives?

Finally, I too request that you define 'fair' please.

It appears that most of the responders use chop logic to avoid the main issue here. The glaring fact is that none of you would be blogging if you were on a Calcutta street begging for a food; surely you would not have a laptop with you.

Hey come on, there are many ways in which a person is taxed, not just financialy. And no one is taxed like the middle and lower classes. The constant stress of making ends meet while hoping a major expense (an illness in the family or costly repair job) doesn't put one out in the street, is a very taxing way to live. I agree a lot with Calor's editorial. No one suffers like those caught in the bind of living hand-to-mouth whilest making the richest 2% richer.

You have some good points, but you could make your argument more powerful with more comparisons to other countries. Scandinavia has few wealthy people because of high taxes. Although the court system isn't perfect, compared to Mexico, for instance, it is far less corrupt, etc.