The Roosevelt Institute has kicked off its own weekly show on Bloggingheads, aptly named "Fireside Chats," with a conversation between Senior Fellow Mark Schmitt and author William Voegeli. In the clip below, Mark makes the case for not just reforming taxes for the 1%, but asking the middle class to share the responsibility:
President Obama's pledge not to raise taxes for anyone making under $250,000, Mark says, was "one of the gravest mistakes." It was short-sighted, he points out, as the country needs the revenues not just from top earners, but from a broader base. Plus it makes many feel that they don't share any obligation for financially supporting their country. "The illusion that it's all about somebody else, someobody in that 1%... is a real abdication of the responsibility" that comes of sharing in the prosperity of the 2000s and for the remaining middle class that avoided most of the recession's blows, he says. "The obligation is enormous."
Watch the full conversation below for a discussion of whether liberals envision limits on the welfare tate, if there are "more dragons to slay" for liberals after healthcare reform, and under what circumstances entitlements can be cut: