Recommended reading

• Steve Chapman on the 10th Amendment's fickle Republican friends.

• Sen. Tom Coburn explains why he voted against the debt deal (answer in the third paragraph). Also like this parting shot: "The real debt crisis is not a debate that has been imposed on Washington by Tea Party activists. It is a crisis Washington has imposed on the American people through laziness, incompetence, dishonesty and political expediency."

• Richard Epstein explains the problem with tax expenditures. I really don't get why so many on the right view efforts to remove these as simply tax increases.

• A dramatic example of taxes affecting behavior. Check out the first comment.

• Shame on you, Joe Nocera.