>Again, right or wrong, that is how the rich view the situation when they are facing increased taxes and dilution of their wealth through inflation. Whether you agree with it or not, it's not hard to understand.
Statistically, the rich are getting richer. The middle class are the ones who should be angry as they are the demographic who have suffered the most economically in recent decades.
This political cartoon nicely counters the rich's complaints about tax burden:
I would attribute the recent anger of the rich, and their tea party proxies, more to greed than rational self-interest. I see the present greed as irrational because it creates the potential of political blowback that will likely imperil the greedy in the long term.