So the people having fits over USAID being shut down are either ignorant of what they've been doing,

or they like it.  All those politicians screaming their heads off either want more dead Americans, or are just to greedy to get their piece of that pie that they don't care.
Lots firings at the least.  And a bunch of people who need to wind up in cells.

The saying, as I recall, is 'The power to tax

is the power to destroy', but there's a corollary: The power to tax is the power to rob.
Starting Sunday, cash-strapped California will dig deeper into the pocketbooks of wage earners -- holding back 10% more than it already does in state income taxes just as the biggest shopping season of the year kicks into gear.

Technically, it's not a tax increase, even though it may feel like one when your next paycheck arrives. As part of a bundle of budget patches adopted in the summer, the state is taking more money now in withholding, even though workers' annual tax bills won't change.

Think of it as a forced, interest-free loan: You'll be repaid any extra withholding in April. Those who would receive a refund anyway will receive a larger one, and those who owe taxes will owe less.
Yeah. Right. A state that was paying refunds the past while with vouchers, which the state would not accept as payment, is going to give you a bigger refund. Uh huh. Pull the other one, etc. And I love the 'forced' part; if someone did this on the street it'd be called armed robbery, but when the government does it it's a 'forced, interest-free loan'.

The provision is one of numerous maneuvers state lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger approved in the summer to paper over the state's deficit. Many of the changes, including the extra withholding, were little noticed outside of Sacramento.
I wonder, did any of the major media professionals notice this at all? If they did, the apparently didn't bother to mention it since it was so 'little noticed'.

But(of course) at least some of the experts are saying it's no big deal:
But Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy, wasn't so sure.

"It's having a relatively small impact on people's income," Levy said, pointing out that many families will receive only $12 to $40 less each month.
Maybe this jackass has never been there, but I've had months where losing $12 to $40 bucks would have ruined me; I(and I include back when still married and the kids were small) often finished the month with nothing as was; having that much less to start with...

And they do this at the start of the holiday shopping season; aren't they a bunch of geniuses running the People's Republic of California?

Senator Baucus(Evil Party Sleaze-MT) needs to be dragged into the town square

and horsewhipped. And then charged extra- excuse me, taxed- on any medical supplies used on his sorry ass.
When Sen. Max Baucus, Montana Democrat and Senate Finance Committee chairman, proposed taxing medical devices to raise $40 billion over the next 10 years for his health care plan, opponents started digging in and looking at what would be taxed.

It turned out feminine products, like tampons, were classified as "class I medical devices" and thus, the "tampon tax" was born.

The backlash was quick and severe enough against the idea that the committee quickly drafted new language that would exempt those necessities from the tax, along with all other class I devices, like tongue depressors, and decided to only tax class II medical devices and higher that cost more than $100.
Hey, almost nothing will cost more than that, so it'll be a tax that rarely hits people, right?
Not exactly.
But, just wait for the revolt to start again because women will still pay a price under the new structure, such as new moms who want to use a powered breast pump to bottle milk for their babies. Those devices, labeled class II, typically retails for more than $100.

And all the rest of the more expensive, higher-class medical devices used by both men and women - such as pacemakers, ventilators, X-ray machines, powered wheelchairs and surgical needles - will also be taxed whether purchased by patients or doctors.
So for daring to need the Nanny State-provided 'high-class' devices(SURGICAL NEEDLES?!?), Baucus and the other tax monkeys want to rape you; somehow, in their minds, it's only fair after all, to screw you so they can have more of your money to entrench themselves in power wi- er, take care of you with.

Hey, Montana, he's YOUR senator; what'cha gonna do?


Found at Sondra's place