The nation's financial woes can be solved entirely with a simple, three-part solution, that will eliminate the need to raise taxes on the wealthy.
Step 1- Limit total compensation to company's highest-compensated employees (ie CEO) to no more than mildly obscene compared to the average of all employees' compensation- say 10x the company non-management annual average.
Step 2- Raise the minimum wage to something that one can actually live on, working 35 hours a week.
Step 3- Limit dividend payouts based on employee compensation. Perhaps something along the lines of $1 in annual dividends for $20 in employee compensation.
The results of this, as I see it, would be as follows. Senior management would push for average employee compensation to increase, and for the company to only hire full-time employees, so that their own compensation could increase. Every full-time employee would make enough to live on, and thus would stimulate the economy with increased spending. Shareholders would push for total employee compensation to increase so that annual dividends could increase. As the lower rung of employees receives a more equitable compensation, they begin paying more taxes reducing the need to tax the wealthy. They also become eligible for health insurance as full-time employees.
