Interesting op-ed by Robert Kuttner in the Boston Globe:  Tax Cuts: Shameful Sham:

A minimum wage increase, the first in nearly a decade, got sidetracked yet again on Thursday when Senate Republicans tied its passage to a permanent estate tax cut for the wealthiest one percent of American families. Democrats refused to take the bait, and both measures failed.

The Republicans seem to be going out of their way to dramatize their passion for favoring the interests of the very richest over the livelihood of the working poor — their brand of class warfare….

After the Senate’s deplorable action this week, our society remains a little more unequal, but our political choices have greater clarity.