The theme of last night's State of the Union was "an economy built to last." Vowing to protect the middle class and correct economic inequality, President Obama laid out his plans for financial reform: regulating home prices, penalizing banks that participated in the housing crash, imposing the "Buffet rule," and tightening regulations on private equity and Wall Street.

After months of budget negotiations, tensions between Congressional "super committee" members have reached what seems to be a breaking point. With only three days left before their deadline to cut 1.2 trillion dollars from the federal debt, 12 super committee members made the rounds to the Sunday political news outlets and publicly aired their grievances. Republican Jeb Hensarling told "Fox News Sunday," the following: "Unfortunately, what we haven't seen in these talks from the other side is any Democrats willing to put a proposal on the table that actually solves the problems." 

The Joint Deficit Reduction "Super Committee," put in charge with finding $4 trillion to cut from the deficit, held their fifth public meeting on Tuesday. But the fate of the Super Committee remains unclear as it is unlikely they will come to consensus any time soon. Todd Zwillich, The Takeaway's Washington correspondent, says the hearing was both a pep talk to the committee but also partly a threat. There is a lot riding on them to succeed and a lot of heads could roll if they fail.

Mitt Romney lost the New Hampshire GOP primary to John McCain in 2008, but he's hoping 2012's primary will be different. Romney received a key endorsement from the granite state's former governor, John H. Sununu. New Hampshire will hold the first presidential primary in the nation in January after the Iowa caucuses. While Romney continues to be the front runner in the GOP race, support for the former Massachusetts governor remains tepid at best. With a history of modified positions and the albatross of "Romneycare," the Massachusetts health care reform legislation that served as a model for President Obama's health care reform, hanging around his neck, many in the GOP base question Romney's conservatism.

The rallying cry from Zuccotti Park has been — "We are the 99 percent" — essentially that 99 percent of the population has been disenfranchised by a slim minority. The phrase sparked a Tumblr blog where people tell their stories of despair in the economic downturn. But recently, another Tumblr blog has popped up that looks eerily similar to the 99 percenters. "We are the 53 percent" is a reference to the 52 percent of Americans who pay taxes. The blog is collecting stories from people who are frustrated by fellow citizens who the believe are asking for government handouts instead of working themselves.

Americans have a fear of taxes, period. There's a historical precedent for this, detailed in every middle school kid's history book, and as it relates to the history of tyranny, it's an understandable fear.

We often bury this fear in mounds of denial and guilt, sort of like the silly idea that we live in a world without obscenities. You know, Planet Family Values, where the Gods bleep out everything we're not supposed to hear. Bleeps are, of course, a form of emphasis, not suppression.

On Thursday, President Obama spoke at a press conference from the White House on his jobs proposal, calling it "an insurance policy against a possible double-dip recession." Obama hopes to fund the plan via a plan pitched by Senate Democrats this week, to tax Americans with incomes above one million dollars per year. Senate Leader Harry Reid plans to bring the jobs bill to the Senate floor next week.

On Wednesday, Senate Democratic leaders proposed a five percent surtax on Americans with incomes of $1 million or more per year. Senate majority leader Harry Reid said the surtax would raise nearly half of $1 trillion over the next decade, which is the amount necessary to cover President Obama's jobs bill. A recent CBS news poll showed that 64 percent of Americans think that those who earn more than $1 million per year should pay more in taxes, which means the public may be on board for the new tax. Now, Democrats will need to gain Republican support for the measure.

President Obama will announce a deficit reduction plan today that will reduce government spending by $3 trillion through cutting entitlements, tax increases, and war savings. The plan is the White House's opening offer to the Congressional "super committee," which has until Dec. 23 to reach a deal on deficit reduction. GOP lawmakers have already labeled the proposed tax hikes "class warfare," particularly the so-called "Buffet Rule." Named for billionaire Warren Buffett, who has repeatedly called for higher taxes on the rich, the rule imposes a minimum tax rate on those earning more than $1 million per year. Many Republicans contend that taxing the wealthy will only worsen the economy.

This week, Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve will hold a rare two-day meeting to decide on interest rates, which are currently close to zero. Meanwhile, President Obama will release details of his deficit reduction plan this morning, and one key component is taxing the wealthy, which has many Republicans screaming "class warfare." The Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting begins tomorrow, and the primary topic of discussion will be jobs, as unemployment and poverty prove to be an ever-increasing global problem. Later in the week, the Palestinian Authority will ask the United Nations Security Council for full membership, which the U.S. has already said they will veto.

President Obama will announce a deficit reduction plan that will reduce government spending by $3 trillion through cutting entitlements, tax increases, and war savings. The plan is the White House's opening offer to the Congressional "super committee," which has until Dec. 23 to reach a deal on deficit reduction. GOP lawmakers have already labeled the proposed tax hikes "class warfare," particularly the so-called "Buffet Rule" — a minimum tax rate on those earning more than $1 million per year named for billionaire Warren Buffett.

This week we’ve been asking listeners to suggest big ideas on how to fix the economy, and you've given us a huge response. We’ve talked about raising inflation, boosting housing prices, capping total compensation for CEOs, taxing the rich, and the potential financial impact of legalizing pot. We received over 200 responses, and noticed some interesting trends. One in six of those who responded suggested reforming the tax code. The second most popular idea was to cut military spending.

This week we’ve been asking listeners to suggest big ideas on how to fix the economy. We’ve discussed raising inflation, boosting housing prices, and capping total compensation for CEOs at $5 million. Today we're talking about another idea: taxing the rich. The Bush Tax Cuts essentially mean that if you make money with money, you pay less in taxes. And if you make money from a job, you pay more. Economists and tax analysts agree that the cuts disproportionately benefit the richest Americans. And some wealthy Americans — including Warren Buffett — are calling for the rich to be taxed at a higher rate.

The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction was part of the Budget Control Act of 2011, which Congress passed last week. The bipartisan committee is made up of six Senators and six Representatives, with an equal number of Republicans and Democrats represented. These are the same Democrats and Republicans who spent weeks and months in a deadlock over the national debt. The committee must produce debt-reducing legislation by November 23 — what is the likelihood that they will be successful?

Earlier this morning, Rep. John Mica (R-FL) told The Takeaway the Democrats were to blame for partial shutdown at the Federal Aviation Agency, after Congress failed to pas a funding extension last weekend. But what does this shutdown mean for consumers at the airport? Barbara Peterson, senior aviation correspondent for Conde Nast Traveler, talks about how airfare has changed since the government can no longer collect taxes on airline tickets.

Partisan fighting over the debt ceiling on Capitol Hill has affected more than just the markets. Over the weekend, Congress failed to pass a funding extension for the Federal Aviation Administration, following a disagreement over cuts in subsidies. As a result, the U.S. government was forced to suspend collection of federal airline taxes, at a loss of approximately $200 million per week. The F.A.A had to furlough 4,000 employees, and airport modernization projects worth billions of dollars are now on hold.

Another week ends with little progress made in the debt ceiling talks in Washington. President Obama will speak at a press conference for Friday morning at 11 a.m. (EST), but all indicators point to little headway being made towards a compromise. 

The online retailer Amazon is getting into the ballot initiative business. The company is pushing for a referendum in California that would eliminate sales tax for online retailers that have a limited physical presence in the state.

Some of the U.S.'s largest corporations—including Apple, Google and Microsoft—have a lot of their profits saved in low-tax countries overseas. Some of these companies are lobbying Congress and the Obama administration for a tax break. In a move these companies say would function as a stimulus to the economy, they are proposing a repatriation holiday, in which their profits could be returned home with a much smaller tax penalty than they would normally incur. David Kocieniewski, tax reporter for our partner The New York Times, speaks with us about which companies are lobbying, and how measures like this have fared in past years.

Yesterday was the deadline to file taxes in the U.S. and in what has become a tradition, President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden released their tax returns to the public. The Takeaway's Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich  shares his findings.