Felix Salmon:

If you were structuring a tax code from scratch, it would look nothing like this. But the problem is that tax hikes seem to be politically impossible no matter which party is in power. And since any revamp of the tax code would involve tax hikes somewhere, I fear we’re fiscally doomed.

There has to be a conversation about the tax code that includes arguments by Democrats for making corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes. Unless and until Democrats are willing to forcefully make this argument to the public, we will continue to be incapable of doing what is fiscally necessary, viz. raising taxes on the wealthy.