What Congress doesn’t want to talk about (tax hikes)

The federal deficit is growing, and a former U.S. Treasury secretary is offering a solution: raising taxes! We’ll get into why talking tax hikes is a big no-no in Congress and why spending cuts may not cut it this time either. And, foreign nationals aren’t allowed to contribute to U.S. elections. But a loophole is seemingly allowing some foreign-influenced companies to do just that. Plus, the story of an astronaut and a dangerous ultimatum. Here’s everything we talked about today: “Joe Manchin’s debt crusade” from Politico “Rubin Says US In a ‘Terrible Place’ on Deficit, Urges Tax Hikes” from Bloomberg “All these government shutdown close calls cost money” from Marketplace “Foreign-Influenced Corporate Money in State Elections” from Open Secrets “Jon Stewart Returns to ‘Daily Show’ as Monday Host, Executive Producer” from Variety “What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he’s not coming back?” from Ars Technica We love to hear from you. Send your questions and comments to [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.