DislikedWhy would you say that? I think increasing taxes is great. A lot of harm has already been done, but reducing the government deficit should help the US credibility issue in the future, right?
Also - and correct me if I'm wrong - US income tax rates are historically low. Of course everybody is entitled his own opinion about the role of government and their prefered level of taxes, but hypothetically there would be "room" for raising taxes.
Fundamentally the difference between PIIGS and other modern economies isn't really that big, and it is quite...Ignored
Concerning consumption, you might assume that taxing them doesn't affect their consumption behavior, cause they have so much money, but it really does. Thousands of jobs are just based on their consumption. And guess what, less consumption leads to a downturn in luxury companies leads to destruction of jobs in that industry and less taxes from the companies and workers.
Taxing more is a bad idea in a fragile economy.