andrew ross sorkin. thank you. >>> and there was that startling moment during the hearing today when a guy attacked rupert murdoch with a cream pie and then murdoch's wife got up and took a roundhouse swing at the attacker. that kind of fierce devotion and protection seemed familiar to those familiar with wendi murdoch. nbc's andrea mitchell has more on the wife of rupert murdoch. >> reporter: she responded in a flash, leaping forward to protect her husband from an attacker. instinctive, fierce, athletic. a former volleyball player in school. all that, plus a lot more. the young, glamorous, chinese-born third wife of rupert murdoch. >> i think all the people are movers and shakers here. >> reporter: for hours, all through her husband's grueling testimony today, wendi murdoch was right behind him, willing him on, clearly ready to respond. >> watching him so carefully, she was the first to be able to get up and, before the police or before anyone else, swat away this aggressor. >> reporter: now, 42, wendi

andrew ross sorkin is a financial columnist for the "new york times," and co-anchors cnbc's "squawk box." and gillian tett is the u.s. managing editor for the "financial times." i want to go round quickly with a "where are you now"? >> we're in a mess. there's going to be a vote in the house tomorrow on the boehner plan. it's under siege from the right tonight not from the left. conservatives have come out and said it didn't do enough. we want more. we want a balanced budget amendment. there will be conservatives who vote against it. the question is can it pass the house? if it doesn't then the action moves to the senate and it will be harry reid's ball there. >> brown: what about on wall street and international markets? where are we today? >> international markets are absolutely on tender hooks because up until now there really has been a pretty... assumption that sooner or later politicians would strike a deal. probably last minute but a deal would be done before august 2. right now the thinking is not only is there a growing risk know the rating agencies could downgrade the u.s. eve

joining me, co-host of "squawk box," the great writer andrew ross sorkin, who wrote "too big to fail,and ezra klein, whose column was brilliant today. take a look. do you want to lead me through this, andrew, about the breakout? "morning joe's" analyst steve ratner, helped put together the following charts which show just how much less as a percentage of income the richest americans are paying now as compared to, say, 15 years ago. according to the irs, the 400 wealthiest americans were paying taxes at a rate of about 18% under president bush in 2008. back in 1993 under clinton, those individuals were paying rates at about 29.4%. that's a drop of ten percent points in 15 years. well what do we make of this now, how they're better off? look at that, seems to me 18% is now about what poor people pay at a much lower percent than middle class people. andrew? >> here's what's happened? the rate has clearly gone down. in large part, it's actually a function of investment accounts. think of the top 400 individuals in the country and where they're making their money, a lot of it is investment