memeorandum: Living in the 70s* — A bunch of standard measures … (John Quiggin/Crooked Timber)

4:45 PM ET, September 18, 2011

Top Items:

Jackie Calmes / New York Times:

Obama Tax Plan Would Ask More of Millionaires — WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday will call for a new minimum tax rate for individuals making more than $1 million a year to ensure that they pay at least the same percentage of their earnings as middle-income taxpayers, according to administration officials.

Lori Montgomery / Washington Post:

Ever-increasing tax breaks for U.S. families eclipse benefits for special interests — As President Obama and congressional Republicans argue over how to rewrite the U.S. tax code, the debate has revolved around “loopholes” for corporate jets and ending “carve-outs” for well-heeled special interests.

Discussion: Prairie Weather, Outside the Beltway, ThinkProgress, AMERICAN FUTURE and americanthinker.com

Washington Post:

Obama to call for new minimum tax rate for millionaires — President Obama plans to call Monday for a new minimum tax rate on millionaires as part of a comprehensive rewrite of the U.S. tax code to force the wealthiest Americans to pay the same share of income in taxes as middle-class families.

Discussion: Runnin' Scared, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Daily Kos, Don Surber and Instapundit

Jessica Yellin / CNN: Obama to propose new tax rate for millionaires

Steve Chapman / Chicago Tribune:

Why Obama should withdraw — When Ronald Reagan ran for re-election in 1984, his slogan was “Morning in America.” For Barack Obama, it's more like midnight in a coal mine. — The sputtering economy is about to stall out, unemployment is high, his jobs program may not pass …

Discussion: The Crawdad Hole and Hot Air

Maureen Dowd / New York Times:

Egghead and Blockheads — THERE are two American archetypes that were sometimes played against each other in old Westerns. — The egghead Eastern lawyer who lacks the skills or stomach for a gunfight is contrasted with the tough Western rancher and ace shot who has no patience for book learnin'.

Discussion: Prairie Weather, Northern Reflections and Althouse

Gail Collins / New York Times:

Rick Perry, Uber Texan — YOU think of Rick Perry, you think of Texas. And more Texas. Perry the cowboy coyote-killer, the lord of the Texas job-creation machine, the g-dropping glad-hander with a “howdy” for every stranger in the room. He barely exists in the national mind outside of the Texas connection.

Discussion: Connecting.the.Dots, The Crawdad Hole, Althouse and Prairie Weather

Washington Post:

Book portrays dysfunction in Obama White House — The book, which covers Obama's presidency through February of this year and is based on more than 700 hours of interviews, suggests that the president was not always the dominant figure in his White House. — Suskind cites a series of memos …

Discussion: Firedoglake, JustOneMinute, NewsBusters.org and Ben Smith's Blog

Mike Allen / The Politico:
W.H. pushes back hard at Suskind

Discussion: The Crawdad Hole and National Review

National Post:

Rex Murphy: The media's love affair with a disastrous president — As the bad economic news continues to emanate from the United States — with a double-dip recession now all but certain — a reckoning is overdue. American journalism will have to look back at the period starting with Barrack Obama's rise …

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, Questions and Observations, M.JOSEPH SHEPPARD'S …, Conservatives4Palin, Pajamas Media and Instapundit

Matthew Yglesias / ThinkProgress:

Reinventing The HMO — The Stewart Community Choice health care plan concept, being launched in Massachusetts, seems like an obvious future step for a financially constrained world. They'll be essentially offering people lower insurance premiums if they accept less choice of where they accept treatment.

Discussion: Boston Globe, Washington Post and Modeled Behavior

Imtiyaz Delawala / ABCNEWS:

President Clinton Says Gridlock in Washington Hurting the Economy — On the eve of the annual meeting of his Clinton Global Initiative, Former President Bill Clinton says that partisanship in Washington is hampering any ability to reach economic solutions for the country.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

Tom Kington / Guardian:

Silvio Berlusconi wiretaps reveal boast of spending night with eight women — Conversations show that Italian PM resented meetings with the Pope and world leaders interfering with his partying — Magistrates investigating an alleged prostitution ring in Italy have published wiretaps …

Discussion: Mediaite, Gawker, Taegan Goddard's … and Business Insider

John Quiggin / Crooked Timber:

Living in the 70s* — A bunch of standard measures of US economic wellbeing (median household income, real wages for workers with high school education, educational attainment by age 25 and so on) show strong improvement from 1945 to the early 1970s, followed by stagnation or very slow growth thereafter.

Discussion: Mother Jones and ThinkProgress

New York Times:

For Palestinians, U.N. Is Best Chance to Change Conflict's Dynamics — RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian decision to apply for full United Nations membership at the Security Council, announced Friday by President Mahmoud Abbas, was the most viable of the only options possible: surrender …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and Guardian