Why Practice Thrift You Can Extort More?

Headline: "States hitting residents with big tax hikes" 'cos times are tough -- unemployment is up, y'know, and the stock markets are lookin' gloomy. People are being asked to take pay cuts, reduce overtime, go part-time.... I know! Let's tax 'em even harder!

Hemp fans may find a silver -- or golden -- lining in this cloud. In California, "one assemblyman’s proposal to legalize marijuana for personal use and allow counties to tax it is gaining public support. It’s 'one of the wacky things you might be able to get away with now,'" he says. Maybe they could go shall-issue and profit on the license fees, too? Guess that'd be just too whacky.

Government: turning market adjustments into recessions and recessions into depressions since...well, since forever. I'm startin' to think the bottom's never going to fall out of that bucket.