A new, non-partisan study by Thomas Hungerford of the non-partisan Congressional Research Service confirms that the explosion of income inequality over the past 15 years is fueled by rapidly rising income from capital gains and dividends. 

Mitt Romney’s bid for the presidency is built on the idea that his success in the leveraged buyout industry and the fabulous wealth he’s accumulated is evidence that he knows how to create jobs and foster economic growth. He argued in Tuesday night’s debate that we should just trust him when he says he can cut the deficit and cut taxes by 20% across the board because of his credentials as a leveraged buyout titan.

The problem with Romney’s argument is that the leveraged buyout business does not create jobs. The tax breaks that the industry relies on, like the discounted tax rate for capital gains and offshore tax shelters, add tens of billions of dollars each year to the deficit.

Today, The Nation is reporting on yet another example of how Romney and the shadowy private investment industry really makes its money—offshoring jobs, taxpayer subsidies and bailouts and cutting workers’ pensions.

One of the biggest tax loopholes that helps keep hedge fund managers in the top 1 percent would be closed by new legislation introduced this week by Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.).

Donna Gatehouse, who blogs at DemocraticDiva and elsewhere on all things Arizona, sends us this.

Arizona, as the pithy Jon Stewart put it a while back, is the “meth lab of democracy.” The Grand Canyon State has achieved international notoriety for legalizing guns in bars, SB1070 [anti-immigrant legislation], a Birther Bill, and of course, the antics of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, among other things.

Warren Buffett, one of the world’s richest men, has said repeatedly U.S. taxes should be higher on him and his fellow billionaires and millionaires. Today he lays it on the line in a New York Times op-ed piece.