Take a look at that down-trodden family at the left. Maybe, they’re lining up for shelter after a natural disaster, or waiting for the food bank doors to open or at a donation center to gather up winter coats for the kids. Damn, they look so sad.

But no, none of the above is true. They live in “Wall Street Journal World.” It’s a place where, according to a recent Journal story on the impact of the new federal tax rates, most Americans—those of us who make less than $180,000 a year and pay taxes—"don’t exist" (we're not mentioned at all).   

America’s workers are existing on the edge of financial disaster: 40 percent say they live paycheck to paycheck, according to a recent CareerBuilder survey. Worse, 37 percent say they sometimes need to rely on the next payday to make ends meet. Although the percentage of those literally living for payday has decreased from 42 percent in 2011 and from 46 percent in 2008, the height of the recession, this is not good news.

In addition, the survey found:

In a reverse of last week’s Senate action, the U.S. House of Representatives today approved (256-171) a bill (H.R. 8) to extend the Bush tax cuts for the nation’s wealthiest 2%— about $160,000 a year for the average millionaire. The House defeated (257-170) a Democratic alternative amendment to maintain the cuts for the middle class but end the tax breaks for the rich.

If the bad guys in the classic movie, “Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” had been corporate apologists or obnoxious Trump-like rich tycoons, the classic line about badges might read this way, “Government? We don’t need no stinkin’ government.”  

In a column on AlterNet Paul Buchheit dispels what he calls “the bull of Wall Street” and cites five good reasons why the super-rich and big business may need government more than the rest us.

We regularly hear variations on that theme from the wealthy in the form of the tired old saw “I made it on my own…didn’t need any government help.” Corporate CEO’s and lobbyists rail against rules and regulations that supposedly stifle entrepreneurship and eat profits.

The U.S. Senate today voted 51-48 to end the Bush tax cuts for the nation’s richest 2% and maintain the cuts for middle-class families. Also, by a 45-54 margin, lawmakers defeated a Republican bill that continued the tax breaks for the wealthy. However, today’s action was largely symbolic as the Republican-controlled House will not take up the Senate bill that ends the Bush tax breaks for the wealthy. But it's certainly further evidence about whose side congressional Republicans are on.

The U.S. Senate will vote tomorrow on a measure to end the Bush tax cuts for the nation’s richest 2 percent but maintain the cuts for middle-class families. Because of a Republican filibuster, it will take 60 votes before the Senate can even take up the legislation. Call your senators at 888-744-9958 and tell them to vote for the Middle Class Tax Cut Act (S. 3412).

There are responsible tax cuts—and then there are tax giveaways for the already really rich.

In discussions over extending the Bush tax cuts, Republicans propose massive tax giveaways for the wealthy while the middle- and lower-income families would pay slightly more, according to a new analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP).

There's always a lot of noise on campaign trails about cutting taxes. But as the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) points out, the real question is: Whose taxes? 

A new report by EPI finds that since 1995, the wealthiest of the wealthy in this country have gotten far more tax breaks than those in the middle- and lower-income brackets, with the average effective federal tax rates falling more than 9 percentage points for the top 0.01 percent of households and more than 6 percentage points for the remaining households in the top 1 percent. Effective tax rates also have fallen for households between the 20th and 99th percentile, but by less than 3 percentage points.

Republican presidential candidates and party and conservative leaders holler that the rich are paying far, far too much in taxes. Here are the facts: Rich Americans are not overtaxed. Not by a long shot. From 1996 to 2007, the overall federal tax rate for the richest 1 percent fell by more than 6 percentage points. The top marginal income tax rate dropped from 70 percent in 1980 to 35 percent today. And that’s just for starters.

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) supposedly wants to talk about the nation’s inequality—but not to just anyone. Cantor, at the last minute, canceled an appearance this afternoon at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was slated to speak. Curiously enough, Occupy Philadelphia had organized a march from City Hall to the campus to protest Cantor’s speech. But Cantor’s not giving a reason for the cancellation.