QUOTE OF THE DAY

USA Today: Why tax increases don't work

Congress and President Obama are in a stalemate in negotiations over the "fiscal cliff." If Congress fails to act, most Americans will pay higher taxes and the federal government will cut spending on Jan. 1. At the root of this impasse is the president's dogged insistence that raising marginal tax rates on the wealthy must be at the center of any solution.

The Sacramento Bee: High-income Californians may pay nation's highest tax rate

Thanks to passage of Proposition 30 last month, high-income Californians would pay the nation's highest marginal income tax rates -- nearly 52 percent -- if President Barack Obama and Congress fail to make a deal to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff," according to a new study.

Without a fiscal cliff deal to the contrary, the Bush era tax cuts on high-income taxpayers would expire next year and rates would return to their previous levels.

Daily Caller: Online sales tax to be added to defense authorization bill

This may be the last Christmas of online shopping without paying sales tax.

A proposed online sales tax has been offered as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, much to the ire of opponents.

The Computer and Communications Industry Association, a group that opposes this move, says that an online sales tax will burden small businesses, “some of the most promising candidates for future economic growth.”

CNBC: Santelli: We're not really a democracy

"We're a Republic!" shouts CNBC's Rick Santelli sparring over polling data and what's best for the long-term economic health of the country, with CNBC's Steve Liesman.

Investors Business Daily: 21 States And Counting Reject Obamacare Exchanges

ObamaCare's subsidized insurance exchanges are supposed to be up and running in little more than a year, putting a key piece of the federal health care law into action.

But it's unclear that will happen, especially with a growing number of states saying they don't want the cost and regulatory headaches.

Reason: Many doctors will reject ObamaCare patients

The big selling point of the Affordable Care Act — "Obamacare" to you and I — has been the extension of health-plan coverage to uninsured Americans. The implicit promise was that extending coverage would extend actual care. But yet another study suggests that these new medical customers, many of whom would be accommodated by expanding Medicaid, may not be able to find physicians willing to take them on.