David Dayen reminds us why it’s important that the rich not get new tax cuts when the Bush-era ones expire at the end of the year:

Mind you, it’s amazing that we have to wait on pins and needles wondering if the Democratic President will support ending tax cuts for the rich – one of the standard promises he made for two years on the campaign trail. Those tax cuts, and I hope Obama mentions this today in Cleveland, did absolutely nothing of value for the economy in their ten-year history, coinciding with wage stagnation and pathetic job growth, the weakest of the postwar era. If they led to anything at all, it’s the mind-boggling inequality and wage stratification, which has turned the middle class into an endangered species and set up an economy that almost can’t succeed. It’s offensive that anyone calling themselves Democrats would think twice about extending these tax breaks, given all the damage they’ve caused.

At a time when neither the administration nor Democratic leaders in Congress seems willing to challenge the Republican premise that only tax cuts can stimulate the economy, it isn’t surprising that this is a big issue that progressives are forced to take a wait and see attitude towards. But it’d be nice if core Democratic principles and campaign promises did survive as core planks of governance.