US Slavery Reparations: Uneccessary and Implausible

Question: Should the American government apologize and give reparations to the descendants of African slaves in America?

Scenario: I wish this was just an imaginary issue, but it's not. Steve Cohen of the US House has decided that it's high time some white people start apologizing for the actions of people who may or may not have been their great-grandparents. http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/usa/features/article_1420551.php/US_House_apologizes_for_slavery_reviving_reparations_call
In this ideal reparations paid future, Jewish descendants will be taxed to pay for the deeds of people they are not related to. Though slave-descendants themselves, they will be punished for crimes they never committed all based on their skin color. As I am sure the only way to decide who owes who will be the consensus check-box which lumps all pale-skinned men and women into the group of "White/Caucasian" regardless of their past.

Thoughts:
First off, learn some history. The African slave past is nothing unique nor original. In fact, in some corners of the globe, women are still sold as sex slaves and tribes still hold their POWs as slaves. The idea that African Americans have somehow "suffered" more than any other race is ludicrous. It is part of our collective social structure to take advantage of one another when we can. In our collective past, every race on this planet has at some point been both slave and master. No one deserves special treatment based on their skin color. NO ONE.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_%28Ottoman_Empire%29
http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/slaves_freemen.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_medieval_Europe
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26296

Secondly, people seem to forget that in order for this whole "idea" to come to fruition, taxes would have to be raised or a special tax introduced in order to raise this money. This means that all working Americans, even those who are NEW to this country or descended from people who never owned slaves would be financially punished for crimes which they are not guilty. In some cases, the very descendants themselves would be taxed to pay for these reparations. Money doesn't magically fall from the sky. It comes from real, working people. And at the end of the day, reparations would be punishing people who were never alive during nor responsible for the actions of the past.

Lastly, who is to receive these reparations? Jamaicans who moved here months ago and had nothing to do with slavery? What about the Native Americans and Mexicans who served as slaves in America BEFORE Africans were ever purchased from their original slave owners: the Muslims. Who are we really punishing and rewarding? People are so quick to blame someone for the wrongs of society now that they are focusing entirely too much on the past of a select few citizens and ignoring the very real PRESENT conditions which are really contributing to imbalance in this society.