Recommended reading

• Andrew Sullivan notes indications that age discrimination laws result in increased difficulties for older workers seeking jobs. More well-intentioned public policy gone awry.

• Tino says even the rich in Europe are poor -- and explains why that's not good for anyone. 

• PricewaterhouseCoopers has concluded US businesses face the 6th highest effective tax rate (actual taxes paid divided by income) in the entire world. That is not how we, erm, win the future. 

• Here's a nifty tool for seeing how your tax dollars get spent. For someone making $50K, over $1,000 is devoted simply to paying interest on the national debt!

• Sometimes we hear that the national debt and deficits are no big deal because interest rates on servicing that debt are low. Catherine Rampell casts some doubt on this theory.