Free Talk Live

Federal workers owed more than $3 billion in income taxes in 2008, according to the Internal Revenue Service, a figure down slightly from the year before.

The agency reported that 276,300 current and retired federal employees owed $3,042,200,000 in 2008, down from $3,586,784,725 in unpaid taxes in 2007. The list includes White House and Congressional staffers and current and former active-duty and reserve members of the military.

Several U.S. states have started reassessing their medical marijuana laws after stern warnings from the federal government that everyone from licensed growers to regulators could be subjected to prosecution. The Department of Justice said two years ago that it would be an inefficient use of funds to target people who are in clear compliance with state law. But U.S. attorneys have said in their recent memos that they would consider civil or criminal penalties for those who run large-scale operations — even if they are acceptable under state law.

By at least one measure, illegal immigration is not the problem that it used to be for the United States -- the number of arrests of people trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally has decreased sharply in the last five years, according to federal statistics.

Unpaid parking tickets? That’s a strip search. And no leash on your doggie? That’s a strip search too. It might sound weird, and a wee bit terrifying, but that’s the verdict out of the United States Supreme Court this week.

Tax evasion, both at home and abroad, is stealing potentially tens of billions of dollars in revenue from federal coffers and ultimately sapping money out of the pockets of law-abiding Canadian taxpayers."People that don't pay their fair share of the taxes means the rest of us have to pay more," says Liberal Sen. Percy Downe, who has been leading the fight in Parliament on tax evasion. "It's a tremendous revenue loss to the country." He wants the government to boost the CRA's funding for fighting tax evasion.

Bus companies are operating "illegally" to work around regulations. The feds are cracking down and now the people relying on these buses are SOL.

The States People Are Fleeing In 2013

Long-term shifts in the U.S. economy coupled with the recent recession means Americans are more likely to pack up and move for employment-related reasons. Although the total number of residential moves is down, new data shows a clear pattern of the states that people are fleeing the fastest.

"There are no jobs!" That is what people told me outside a government "jobs center" in New York City. But, 4 researchers quickly found 40 job openings. So what goes on at these government "job centers?" I asked a college intern, to find out. Her conclusions:
--It's easier to get welfare than to work.
--The government would rather sign me up for welfare than help me find work.
--America has taxpayer-funded bureaucracies that encourage people to be dependent. They incentivize people to take "free stuff," not to take initiative.

Best States to Live (most recent) by state

# 1 New Hampshire
# 2 Minnesota
# 3 Vermont
# 4 Wyoming
# 5 Virginia