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Texas Has No Income Tax, Which Is A Big Draw For Corporate Executives Who Do Business There. But It's Hardly Tax-free. The Property Taxes Are High For A Southern State. The Sales Taxes Are High. One Study Found That The Bottom 20 Percent Of The Texas Population Pays 12 Percent Of Its Income In State And Local Taxes.

For Years I've Been Hearing 20-somethings Say They Don't Expect Social Security To Be Around When They Hit 65. Eventually, I Came To Realize That They Really Mean That They Just Don't Expect To Be 65. Or 40. Neither Did I, When I Was 22.

The Whole Student Loan Thing Drives Me Completely Nuts. If It Wasn't Possible For 18-year-olds To Sign Themselves Up For Tens Of Thousands Of Dollars In Debt In Order To Pay Their College Bills, The State Governments Wouldn't Have Found It So Politically Easy To Cut Taxpayer Support For Public Colleges And Universities.

Of Course, Texas Is So Huge It Really Is Empty Places; People Can Easily Drive An Hour And A Half To Work Every Day, So Even If They're Actually Living In The Suburbs, It Sure Feels As If They're In A Remote Location.

Bin Laden Wasn't All That Central To The Terrorist Network Any More, But Taking Him Down Created A Kind Of National Catharsis. It's Been A Really, Really Long Time Since We Had Something To Celebrate That Didn't Involve A Sports Team. I'd Rather It Had Been A Non-death-related Occasion, But We'll Take What We Can Get.