"the american middle class ought to pay a lot of taxes to benefit the lower classes as is the case in europe" uh, nope. That the billionaires should pay their share of taxes, and thy are definitely not "middle class" by any sane definition. And so is in Europe too. I'm sorry that I don't buy this fake antagonization, we all know the really wealthy pay next to zero taxes claiming all kinds of loopholes they created for themselves. Actually that would be a good measure to define middle class: those who _still_ pay taxes are middle class, and once you get the taxes decreasing it's a sign you moved into the riches land.