Dale,

I don't know where I'd put the top marginal bracket but I do remember feeling Reagan was correct (for a change) when he lowered the top rates a bit upon taking office. They were approaching confiscatory levels if my memory serves me correctly.

As to Lisa, I'm glad you brought her up. I heartily agree that Lisa should not be allowed to simply remain at home at taxpayer expense. I believe the enormous rise in out-of-wedlock births is thoroughly destructive (assuming this is the case with Lisa). I believe government assistance usually should be tied to work (real work). Obviously there are people who can't work for legitimate reasons. In cases where the father is not supporting the children, the government must work to garnish his wages. In cases where the children are not in school, some sort of subsidized daycare is needed.

Let's focus for a moment on Lisa's four children. Sadly, due to many irresponsible parents, we have millions of them. My concern is that these kids are not going to be adequately cared for from perspectives (health, education to name a few). If we don't focus on them (for relatively short money now) we will deal with them later in the penal system for a heck of a lot more money (and after they have committed who knows what crimes). It's a dilemma, we want to stop destructive parental behavior and save the children.

Peter T.