Fabulousness, in two parts

Part 1--send to certain Congressmen--"What Onions Teach Us About Oil Prices". They teach us that 1) even in a market in which futures trading is prohibited by statute, price can rise (and fall) astonishingly fast, and 2) "The volatility has been so extreme that the son of one of the original onion growers who lobbied Congress for the trading ban now thinks the onion market would operate more smoothly if a futures contract were in place."

Part 2--send to certain candidates for Congress--"Middle-Income Tax Burden: Lowest Level in Decades". Mark J. Perry at Carpe Diem links to a press release from the ranking Republican member of the Joint Economic Committee which states, "Recently released Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data show that the total effective federal tax rate of the middle fifth of households declined after 2001 to its lowest levels since at least 1979."