STEALTH TAX HIKE: Why the New $450,000 Income Threshold Is a Political Fiction. “Mr. Obama purports this is merely ‘a return to the Clinton-era tax rates.’ But capital-gains rates will be about three to five percentage points higher than in the 1990s, the Medicare tax is higher, and his stealth tax will raise personal rates higher than advertised. Forget the golden Clinton memories. Mr. Obama is pushing the U.S. back to the Carter era.”

As I keep saying, a Carter rerun is the best-case scenario, and it’s now looking implausibly optimistic.