I like quoting bits from the Patriotic Millionaires press releases because people ought to know that every millionaire is not a selfish, greedy elitist monster. Aside from anything else it does help to encourage the downhearted. It is also Epicurean at heart. This is their latest message:

President Trump spent his entire campaign criticizing Wall Street and the carried interest loophole, claiming to be a man of the people who would drain the swamp and stand up to the oligarchs using their wealth to control our country. But now that he’s President, he’s seemingly forgotten about his promise to close the carried interest loophole. Instead, he’s filled his team in the White House with Wall Street tycoons and proposed a trickle-down tax plan that would give them (and himself) a massive tax cut.

A few days ago the Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires Morris Pearl joined Senator Tammy Baldwin and Representative Sander Levin as they reintroduced the Carried Interest Fairness Act, which would close the egregiously unfair loophole that allows Wall Street managers to pay lower tax rates than ordinary working Americans. Despite his campaign promises and widespread bipartisan support for closing the loophole, President Trump has yet to comment on the issue and did not include it in his recent tax proposal.

Morris issued a powerful challenge to Trump: keep the promise you made to your voters, or the voters will hold you accountable. The President’s supporters voted for him because of his promises to stand up for working Americans, not because they thought he would help billionaires pay less taxes. This is an opportunity for Trump to be truly presidential by reaching across the aisle and working together with Democrats to build a fairer tax system for all Americans. (Patriotic Millionaires)

The instincts of these rich people are impeccable, but regrettably the Trump regime is not there to address tax unfairness. Indeed, in an Epicurean effort to mention a policy that helps the population at large, I find I come up with very little. The regime says it wants to make sure that people with pre-existing medical conditions, for instance, shouldn’t be disadvantaged; but there isn’t even agreement that they know how to do this, given the reluctance of their donors to cough up more tax for the benefit of other (undeserving) people. As for the carried interest issue, above, forget it; it’s demise simply isn’t going to happen. Why else do you pack the top jobs with WallStreet types?

“You claimed during your campaign that you could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and your voters wouldn’t care. We will see if they likewise forgive you for continuing to let hedge fund managers get away with murder.” (Morris Pearl’s message to President Trump).

I have news for the well-meaning Mr. Pearl: the Trump supporters don’t seem to care. They fully support the Trump policies that are manifestly not in their economic interest. It’s been like this for decades.