Paul Krugman crystallizes the issue of income inequality(sub. req'd). Yet in spite of all this technological progress, which has allowed the average American worker to produce much more, we’re not sure whether there was any rise in the typical worker’s pay. Only those at the upper end of the income distribution saw clear gains — gains that were enormous for the lucky few at the very top.

After intense horse-trading and vote-counting, the House voted 245-171 this afternoon to impose upon itself a "house" rule requiring that a House committee identify the sponsor of each earmark contained in legislation that it reports. The rule will stay on the House books until the current Congress adjourns; it would have to be re-approved de novo to apply to succeeding Congresses.

With time running out before adjournment and the House Republican Study Committee now openly urging that the tax credit extension component of the “trifecta” (HR 5970), be passed as a separate bill, GOP House and Senate congressional leadership is beginning to look desperate. Yesterday, House Ways and Means Chair Bill Thomas (R-CA) floated the idea of adding a fourth piece to the trifecta that would stop the scheduled 5.1 percent cut in Medicare payments to physicians now set for Jan. 1.

This afternoon, the House Rules Committee released H. Res. 1000, providing for earmarking reform in the U.S. House of Representatives. It hasn’t gone through Committee yet. It won’t have the force of law even if ultimately passes. It will have a shelf life of maybe three months in any case. And it doesn’t inclujde a single of the lobbying restrictions passed by the House earlier this year and now withering in conference.