President Obama has repeatedly urged Congress to let the Bush tax cuts expire for those earning more than $250,000 a year. Increasing rates on top earners is an obvious way to raise revenue from those who can afford it most.

Most arguments for instituting or raising a minimum wage are based on fairness and redistribution. Even if workers are getting a competitive wage, many of us are deeply disturbed that some hard-working families still have very little.

Our estimates suggest that a tax increase of 1 percent of GDP reduces output over the next three years by nearly 3 percent. The effect is highly significant.

You care about the deficit because it allows you to do things you need to do to help people who are suffering.

The very first email I got [was] from a women's group saying 'We don't want this stimulus package to just create jobs for burly men.'

I think something that forces financial institutions to write down underwater mortgages, I think, would be a sensible thing to do.

What I desire to point out is that I wish the law was not so, but that being the law, I must follow it.