The real welfare queens are finally turning up in the sights of law enforcement.
UBS clients seek amnesty on U.S. taxes
Mon Nov 24, 2008
Reuters
Some wealthy clients of UBS AG are coming forward to make amends with U.S. tax authorities after a former UBS private banker was indicted, a sign that U.S. efforts to battle offshore tax evasion are having the desired effect, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website...
The UBS clients are hiring tax lawyers and pursuing amnesty through an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) voluntary disclosure program, the paper said.
Under the program, U.S. citizens would be allowed to avoid criminal prosecution if they acknowledge evasion and agree to pay taxes and penalties, the paper said...
Monday, November 24, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Blind woman threatened with loss of home over 1-cent bill
I'm wondering what percentage of human beings who work for public entities are so rigid that they would threaten someone with a $48 penalty for not paying a 1-cent bill.
Why wouldn't the worker simply pay the penny and then, if the worker felt this was an unacceptable financial loss, simply reimburse himself/herself the next time he/she passed by the spare-pennies container sitting out on the counter of a 7-11?
I doubt that the worker knew that the target of the threat was a 74-year-old blind woman. So that's not the point. The point is that it cost more to send the letter than to pay the bill, and it was gratuitously harmful to a citizen.
Mass. woman 1 cent debt to city paid by former city councilor she does not know
Associated Press
November 19, 2008
ATTLEBORO, Mass.
A 74-year-old blind woman's 1 cent debt to a Massachusetts city has been settled.
People from across the country called Attleboro City Hall on Tuesday offering to pay the 1 cent balance owed by Eileen Wilbur for an overdue water and sewer bill.
Antonio Viveiros, a former city councilor who does not know Wilbur, wrote a check for one penny. He says he was "irked" by the fact that the federal government can spend billions for bailouts, yet a senior citizen was threatened with a lien on her home over 1 cent.
Wilbur's daughter first noticed the letter that warned of a lien and a $48 penalty if the overdue bill was not paid by Dec. 10.
Mayor Kevin Dumas says the whole situation was blown out of proportion.
Why wouldn't the worker simply pay the penny and then, if the worker felt this was an unacceptable financial loss, simply reimburse himself/herself the next time he/she passed by the spare-pennies container sitting out on the counter of a 7-11?
I doubt that the worker knew that the target of the threat was a 74-year-old blind woman. So that's not the point. The point is that it cost more to send the letter than to pay the bill, and it was gratuitously harmful to a citizen.
Mass. woman 1 cent debt to city paid by former city councilor she does not know
Associated Press
November 19, 2008
ATTLEBORO, Mass.
A 74-year-old blind woman's 1 cent debt to a Massachusetts city has been settled.
People from across the country called Attleboro City Hall on Tuesday offering to pay the 1 cent balance owed by Eileen Wilbur for an overdue water and sewer bill.
Antonio Viveiros, a former city councilor who does not know Wilbur, wrote a check for one penny. He says he was "irked" by the fact that the federal government can spend billions for bailouts, yet a senior citizen was threatened with a lien on her home over 1 cent.
Wilbur's daughter first noticed the letter that warned of a lien and a $48 penalty if the overdue bill was not paid by Dec. 10.
Mayor Kevin Dumas says the whole situation was blown out of proportion.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
CEO bonuses: Will the people who caused the meltdown be rewarded in the bailout?
Ten percent of $700 rescue package may go to bonuses
Bloggingstocks
Oct 19th 2008
by Douglas McIntyre
Wall Street walked into the path of its own oncoming stupidity. Of the $700 billion in Treasury rescue money, as much as $70 billion could go to bank and brokerage bonuses.
According to The Guardian, "Financial workers at Wall Street's top banks are to receive pay deals worth more than $70bn (£40bn), a substantial proportion of which is expected to be paid in discretionary bonuses, for their work so far this year." The paper goes on to say that the Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) pool is large enough to buy the entire company when its stock was at a recent low.
Although this information get filed under "things you can't make up," it will probably have such a severe backlash that Congress will run hearings until the bankers have exhausted the extra money they are making on legal fees.
The contrary argument to punishing the firms is that some of the people getting big pay-outs work in departments that actually contributed huge sums of money to their parents.
If the management at these firms has any sense at all, they will pay nothing to the staff who worked in operations that lost money and file with the SEC to show the amount of operating income made from the operations where people are getting an extra check...
From AOL Money and Finance
A Goldman Hotshot Doles Out the Money
Neel Kashkari, a 35-year-old former Goldman Sachs whiz kid who believes in free markets, is getting the job at the Treasury Department of dispersing the government's $700 billion rescue. Is he really the right person for the job? Lots of observers have wondered if a seasoned vet with a little more political experience might be a better fit for the task at hand.
Bloggingstocks
Oct 19th 2008
by Douglas McIntyre
Wall Street walked into the path of its own oncoming stupidity. Of the $700 billion in Treasury rescue money, as much as $70 billion could go to bank and brokerage bonuses.
According to The Guardian, "Financial workers at Wall Street's top banks are to receive pay deals worth more than $70bn (£40bn), a substantial proportion of which is expected to be paid in discretionary bonuses, for their work so far this year." The paper goes on to say that the Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) pool is large enough to buy the entire company when its stock was at a recent low.
Although this information get filed under "things you can't make up," it will probably have such a severe backlash that Congress will run hearings until the bankers have exhausted the extra money they are making on legal fees.
The contrary argument to punishing the firms is that some of the people getting big pay-outs work in departments that actually contributed huge sums of money to their parents.
If the management at these firms has any sense at all, they will pay nothing to the staff who worked in operations that lost money and file with the SEC to show the amount of operating income made from the operations where people are getting an extra check...
From AOL Money and Finance
A Goldman Hotshot Doles Out the Money
Neel Kashkari, a 35-year-old former Goldman Sachs whiz kid who believes in free markets, is getting the job at the Treasury Department of dispersing the government's $700 billion rescue. Is he really the right person for the job? Lots of observers have wondered if a seasoned vet with a little more political experience might be a better fit for the task at hand.
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