For lawmakers who believe that 90% tax rates would be an effective way of punishing the financial malefactors who continue to flourish as the rest of us founder, take careful note: Not only will you punish the innocent as well as the guilty, you could also extinguish the innovative spark we’ll need to eventually make this moribund economy catch fire.

President-elect Barack Obama is faced with the daunting challenge of fulfilling his campaign promises – promises he actually made, along with those that voters think he made.  Unfortunately, the latter category predominates.