>>There is nothing that a flat tax could not fix

See if you can get hold of Joseph Stiglitz's article in April's Vanity Fair. He is a Nobel-winning economist who asserts that not only is the top 1% NOT shouldering an unfair burden as has been asserted here, they're imposing huge costs on the US economy and sense of identity, including the sense of fairness that you mention. Most critically, the great driver of productivity- the ability for the middle classes to "make it" through hard work and business success to become truly wealthy- is increasingly unlikely. Stiglitz backs it up with employment figures and youth disillusionment with the current system in which they feel they have little stake.