memeorandum: Mankiw's Taxes — Greg Mankiw admits that he could afford … (Kevin Drum/Mother Jones)

4:35 PM ET, October 10, 2010

Top Items:

N. Gregory Mankiw / New York Times:

I Can Afford Higher Taxes. But They'll Make Me Work Less. — AN important issue dividing the political parties is whether to raise taxes on those earning more than $250,000 a year. Democrats say these taxpayers can afford to chip in a bit more. Republicans say raising taxes …

Discussion: Economist's View, Marginal Revolution, Balloon Juice, Greg Mankiw's Blog and Wake up America

Kevin Drum / Mother Jones:

Mankiw's Taxes — Greg Mankiw admits that he could afford to pay higher tax rates, but says that higher rates do affect his incentives to take on more work: … Do you see the card he palmed? Basically, the effect of letting the Bush cuts expire is so tiny that the only way to make it noticeable …

Discussion: Emptywheel

Emptywheel:

Remember cramdown? It was a proposed change to bankruptcy law that would have allowed judges to modify the mortgages on primary homes for people entering bankruptcy. Supporters of the change argued that cramdown would provide an important stick to force lenders into modifying loans …

Zachary A. Goldfarb / Washington Post:

Government had been warned for months about troubles in mortgage servicer industry — Consumer advocates and lawyers warned federal officials in recent years that the U.S. foreclosure system was designed to seize people's homes as fast as possible, often without regard to the rights of homeowners.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

CNN:
Axelrod signals White House opposition to foreclosure moratorium

Discussion: Raw Story

New York Times:

Outraged, and Outrageous — Top row from left: RT America; Atlas Shrugs; ABC News; Atlas Shrugs. Second row: Fox News; Canadian Broadcasting Company; Atlas Shrugs; MSNBC. Third row: CNN; Atlas Shrugs (Three photos). Bottom Row: CBS NEWS; CNN; Atlas Shrugs (2 photos).

Discussion: Israpundit, Hullabaloo, Atlas Shrugs and Little Green Footballs

Mark Townsend / Guardian:

English Defence League forges links with America's Tea Party — As the far-right group marches in Leicester, details are emerging of growing contacts with extremist US groups in a 'war on Islamification" — The English Defence League, a far-right grouping aimed at combating the …

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, American Power, Outside the Beltway, Raw Story and Gates of Vienna

New York Times:
Pamela Geller: In Her Own Words

Discussion: Power Line, Atlas Shrugs and Jihad Watch

Brad / Think Progress:

Gillespie Claims NY Times And Wash. Post Have ‘Refudiated’ ThinkProgress On Secret Corporate Spending — On Face the Nation this morning, host Bob Schieffer grilled both White House advisor David Axelrod and GOP strategist Ed Gillespie on the millions of dollars being secretly funneled …

Discussion: CNN, Beltway Confidential and The Political Carnival

Jimmy So / CBS News:
Axelrod Hits Out at Foreign Money in Elections

Discussion: The Politico and Big Government

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Number of Competitive House Races Doubles from Recent Years — The House forecast that we released on Friday establishes an over-under line for Republican gains at a net of 47 or 48 seats. But, as I noted at the end of the article, the confidence interval on this forecast is very wide.

Discussion: Prairie Weather and Moe Lane

Associated Press:

‘SNL’ hits O'Donnell again — WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — “Saturday Night Live” has taken another jab at Christine O'Donnell - and the Delaware Senate candidate says the riff on her recent television campaign ad “was really funny.” — In the ad that debuted this week, O'Donnell tells the camera, “I'm not a witch.”

Discussion: CNN, The Political Carnival and Gateway Pundit

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:

I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE GOP TO LOVE OBAMA IN 2026.... In light of the news that Democrats love to see former President Bill Clinton out on the campaign trail, while former President George W. Bush keeps a much lower profile, it's almost amusing to see Republicans decide maybe the Big Dog wasn't so bad after all.

Discussion: Ballot Box and Associated Press

Washington Post:

Beyond the tea party: What Americans really think of government — If there is an overarching theme of election 2010, it is the question of how big the government should be and how far it should reach into people's lives. — Americans have a more negative view of government today than they did a decade ago, or even a few years ago.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, Daily Kos and The Political Carnival

Maggie Haberman / The Politico:

Jerry Brown: Mammograms not effective — Smelling blood after a Jerry Brown associate used the word “whore” in connection with Meg Whitman's campaign strategy, Republican sources have provided a 15-year-old video of the Democratic gubernatorial hopeful dismissing mammograms in an old interview.

Discussion: Scared Monkeys, Left Coast Rebel, The Last Tradition, Ben Smith's Blog, The New Editor, NO QUARTER and American Power

Jeff Dunetz / YID With LID:
Jerry Brown “There Is No Evidence That Mammograms Are Effective”

Discussion: Moe Lane and GayPatriot

Laura M. Holson / New York Times:

Outflanked on Right, Coulter Seeks New Image — “I WROTE a new speech for the gays and I don't have it memorized yet!” said Ann Coulter, as she ducked into a hallway in the Union Square apartment of the venture capitalist Peter Thiel on a recent Saturday night, flicking a half-empty packet of Habitrol gum between her fingers.

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay, iOwnTheWorld.com, TigerHawk, GayPatriot and Comments from Left Field

Sebastian Thrun / The Official Google Blog:

What we're driving at — Larry and Sergey founded Google because they wanted to help solve really big problems using technology. And one of the big problems we're working on today is car safety and efficiency. Our goal is to help prevent traffic accidents, free up people's …