John,
You made your stance quite clear by the way you posed your question and refused to look at the answers.
Regarding your last question;
"Do they want to raise everybody UP to the same level?"
Depends on what your 'ups' and 'downs' are,
Your 'ups' appear to be the people who, by their greed, dishonesty and incompetence, have managed to drive us into the mess we are in today.
Your 'downs' are those who, by their hard work, sacrifices and taxes are now expected to get us out of the mess created by your 'ups'.
You appear to see something logical about maintaining a status quo of this nature.
Jim Carroll