"Spreading the Wealth"

hilzoy has a great post about the Obama/Joe-the-Plumber/McCain interaction.
Definitely worth a read.
Quote:

But that's just not what Obama said. He did not say that he wanted to spread Joe's wealth around. He certainly did not say that he thought he was entitled to simply expropriate Joe's wealth and distribute it to poor people, like Robin Hood. He said he wanted to spread the wealth: i.e., to have a tax code that is less skewed towards the wealthy. That's Obama's radical idea: progressive taxation.

Hand me my smelling salts!