Barry Ritholtz returns from Europe, where they think we are weird but still follow us anyways.
Ezra Klein has a wildly interesting thought on Joe Lieberman's nonsensical positions.
And finally, Planet Money has a great idea for taxing the rich. Rich people have gotten us into a lot of messes, so it's ok with me if they actually have to (gasp!) pay for it.
The notion that lower-income people make up the majority of our armed forces has led to sayings like "rich man's war, poor man's fight."
Now, Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has an unsual idea to equalize the cost of war: a war tax on the rich.
An "additional income tax to the upper brackets, folks earning more than $200,000 or $250,000" a year, could fund more troops, Levin proposed in an interview for Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital With Al Hunt," this weekend.
White House Budget Director Peter Orszag has estimated that each additional soldier in Afghanistan could cost $1 million, for a total that could reach $40 billion if 40,000 more troops are approved.
The tab, Levin said, should be paid by wealthier taxpayers. "They have done incredibly well, and I think that it's important that we pay for it if we possibly can," the senator said.
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