By Dustin Beilke

President Obama has declared a two-year pay freeze for federal employees. His spokespeople say this decision was very difficult for him, but that the difficult financial times call for "shared sacrifice."

Meanwhile, bonuses on Wall Street are up big, and demand for tables at fancy restaurants and appointments for plastic surgery is increasing faster than suppliers can accommodate.

At the same time, President Obama--who has been called a socialist at least once in every major print and broadcast media outlet in the United States--has appointed a commission to address the deficit. On November 10 that commission recommended a bunch of things, including reducing social security benefits and raising the age of eligibility, that neo-conservatives have wanted for a long time. But the neo-con members of the panel are unlikely to vote for the recommendations because there is not an unequivocal rejection of tax increases.

Tax increases are not on the table for elected officials. But David Stockman, Warren Buffet and virtually every responsible adult who is not an elected official says they are necessary and essential. The author of this New York Times article even makes the very unpopular observation that Americans are the lowest taxed people in the advanced industrialized world.

Here in old Wisconsin, the guy who is not even governor yet is calling on his former colleagues in the Legislature not to approve the state employment contracts that have been settled and ratified. Assembly Minority Leader Jeff Fitzgerald says he is reluctant to vote for the contracts because "contracts have a lot of language in them."

Apparently contract language is another thing that we who aren't commodities traders must sacrifice.