Warren Buffet pleads to have his taxes raised (from the New York Times)

Our leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched.

Last year my federal tax bill — the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf — was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.

G.O.P. on Defensive as Analysts Question Party’s Fiscal Policy (from the New York Times)

I think the U.S. has every chance of having a good year next year, but the politicians are doing their damnedest to prevent it from happening — the Republicans are — and the Democrats to my eternal bafflement have not stood their ground,

– Ian C. Shepherdson, chief United States economist for High Frequency Economics, a research firm, said in an interview.

For further political comment, see What Would Eisenwhower Do?