Flush with cash from its then- booming memory chip business, Samsung enlisted Nissan in 1994 to build a world-class auto business from scratch.

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That's exactly how a death tax that was originally sold in 1916 as hitting only billionaires like the Rockefellers gradually began to apply to middle-class families who own, say, a successful auto-repair shop or invested wisely during the stock market booms of the 1980s and 1990s.

WSJ: Review & Outlook: Death Tax Made More Deadly

It includes -- both sides include very strong consumer protections, which in many ways is where middle-class families interact with the financial system -- getting an auto loan, getting a college loan, getting a credit card.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing