The past 35 years have ushered in a considerable drop in the top rate paid by the most wealthy Americans, effectively narrowing the difference between the rates for the 1% and the rates for middle America.

Washington's obsession with tax cuts and deficit reduction is distracting the American people from the slow dismantling of the social contract, and its devastating impact -- financial and otherwise -- on all but the wealthiest among us.

What irritates me is the extent to which Noonan is still out of touch with reality when it comes to the Republican brand. As long as Republicans can't see that people making $400,000 a year are actually rich, they will have a hard time building a new constituency for their party.