AT&T to cut employee benefits due to $1B tax increase.

[NJ5]

The US government is now seen as a riskier borrower than some American companies (as interest rates on treasury bonds are higher than some corporate bonds).

So you may be simply seeing the effects of the government needing a lot of money to keep bailing out banks, paying depositors for bank failures, propping up the housing market with money given to home buyers (instead of letting prices correct themselves), etc etc etc. Raising taxes alleviates the need for borrowing.