How rich is too rich ? income and welth in America

Alexis de Tocqueville, that perceptive observer of American life, once said, "The love of wealth is therefore to be traced, as either a principal or ac cessory motive, at the bottom of all that the Americans do." The wise Frenchman usually made more cogent observations about the United States in a page than most historians do in a book, but in this case he may have gone too far. To ascribe all-or even most-American actions

to "love of wealth" is a bit exaggerated. Still, there is no denying our fascination with money, wealth, and their inevitable handmaiden, disparities. Pick up the paper and you will see it in black and white: "Congress Moving to Limit Tax Breaks on Luxury Vehicles for Business"; "Taxes Held Less Progressive than Law Implies"; "The Return of Inequality"; " 'Fairness' and Income Equalization";

"America's Income Gap: The Closer You Look, the Worse It Gets." What do these claims of fairness or unfairness mean? The headlines are random ripples in a vast sea of thoughts on income and wealth. Unless we focus our reasoning, much as a wave-energy device takes water motion and transforms it into power, we will be tossed back and forth intellectually.