I hear the term used on Fox News by Juan Williams, on NPR, CNN, MSNBC. I hear it thrown around in casual conversation as a “given”. Not questioned, not discussed. Not challenged.

The rich, “those who have benefited the most from this economy” should pay their “fair share”. Those who have benefited the most? Do tell. Did the economy start knocking on people’s doors and handing out checks again? Because I thought that was only to the people who were NOT working, but maybe I’m wrong. Did the economy send telepathic signals with money-making ideas into the heads of these “rich” people? Economy, how dare you! I’ve been here this whole time, being so nice to you, and you haven’t done that for me!

Did the economy give the rich faster patent approval than the poor? Allow them to drive on nicer roads? I want access to these roads. Or my own helicopter, whichever is more expensive.

OR, as oh, I don’t know… LOGIC would suggest, did the wealthy (or rich-dirty-word-spit!) actually benefit this economy the most? Let’s think about this. Who paid for the roads? Tax dollars. Who paid for those tax dollars? Well, according to the CBO, in some rather dry-reading on that website (they should hire facebook to design the way they present information) “In 2007, the highest quintile earned 55.9 percent of pretax income and paid 68.9 percent of federal taxes.” Meaning, the rich people already pay BY FAR the most taxes. The top 20% of earners pay 70% of the taxes.

So, if the liberal speak is right, and those who are benefit most from the economy should pay the most, they may need to check the numbers. Those who create wealth actually create benefit–major benefit–for those who do not create the most wealth. In other words, all those services, roads, agencies, departments, buildings, etc are built primarily by those darn rich folks who laugh at us from their ivory towers. Which means that… wait! WE benefit the most from the economy which the rich have helped create. Dang it! That means that WE would have to pay our “fair share”. I don’t like this at all. Logic. Ripping. Time and space.

So, maybe “fair” isn’t the best way to look at this. Mainly because it wouldn’t help MY cause any, and it’s all about ME. And because fair is a really juvenile, impractical way to look at the world. And though I generally endorse juvenile and impractical, perhaps it isn’t best in this case. And while we’re on the topic of juvenile, isn’t blaming the people who have created the most jobs in this country, pay most of the burden and shoulder the most risk for the prosperity of us all, rather… um… “juvenile”?