NEW YORK: Lehman Brothers Holdings and Bear Stearns, the Wall Street firms most dependent on the fixed-income market, crowned their best year with record fourth-quarter earnings, bolstered by corporate bonds and derivatives.
Profit at Bear Stearns rose 38 percent to a record $562.8 million, and Lehman's earnings rose 22 percent to $1 billion in the quarter ended Nov. 30. While both beat analysts' estimates, they lagged behind Goldman Sachs Group, which reported a better- than-expected 93 percent jump in quarterly profit this week.
I've posted stories before about attempts to get the IRS to provide information about child abductors, but did you know there are parental abductors some who blatantly claim their kidnapped children on their federal returns? The hubris here is astonishing.
Washington Examiner reports:
Hardly a week passes without hearing something about missing children in this country. Some are believed stolen for sexual purposes, some are found murdered, and thousands of other children are kidnapped by one of their own parents.
Today, let's focus on parental abductors.
For the parent left behind after a former spouse has kidnapped their child, there is the agony of not knowing when -- or if -- they will ever see their baby again. Even the tiniest clue as to their son's or daughter's whereabouts is vitally important if there is ever to be a reunion.
To those heartsick parents, I say: The IRS may very well know where your missing child is, but the agency won't tell you.
Believe it or not, there are some parental abductors who file tax returns and blatantly claim their kidnapped child as a dependent!
Some of them apparently need the refund money, while others don't want to attract attention for failure to pay. When they file their return, they list their employer and their home address, along with the child's name and Social Security number.
All are major pieces of information the abandoned parent would love to know. But the IRS cloaks itself in Watergate-era privacy laws, shrugs its bureaucratic shoulders and says it just can't help the grieving parent locate the missing child.
Due to tighter standards from Frannie Mae and Freddie Mac, getting approved for a mortgage is getting more and more difficult for average Americans. People are getting denied left and right, sometimes for things beyond their control.
CNN reports:
Banks are reluctant to make loans without the Fannie and Freddie guarantee, and loans backed by them account for just about every mortgage written these days.
In 2009, the agencies lifted the minimum credit score that borrowers must have from 580 to 620. That's probably for the best.
But they've pushed through a host of other requirements as well, and that means real estate deals don't get done, even for some relatively low-risk borrowers.
"You can have one Fannie/Freddie guideline you violate and that gets you rejected," said Alan Rosenbaum of GuardHill Financial.
A quarter of all mortgage loan applicants get denied for loans, according to the Federal Reserve. Many other potential homebuyers never even try to get loans, said Jerry Howard, president of the National Association of Home Builders.
According to reports, the number of taxpayers attempting to claim inflated refunds was on the rise. When the economy falters people start looking for more cash. And that means more people are willing to “push it” on their taxes. Good luck, when the audits start rolling in.
From Yahoo Finance:
The IRS identified 335,341 tax returns claiming $1.9 billion in fraudulent refunds as of March 4, 2011, according to the findings of an audit conducted by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. That's a whopping 181% increase from the same period last year.
While the IRS has become more effective in its screening process, a weak economy has also driven more people to cut corners, said Tim Gagnon, assistant academic specialist of Accounting at Northeastern University.
"When the economy gets really bad, people get more touchy about how much they're paying in taxes and look at where they think they can push the envelope a little more," said Gagnon. "100 extra dollars really makes a difference to people now."
Many taxpayers tried to boost their refunds or reduce their tax liability by claiming deductions and credits they didn't qualify for, TIGTA found.
For example, the Earned Income Tax Credit, aimed at helping lower-income taxpayers, has been a large source of fraud, with people falsely lowering their income to qualify or claiming children they don't have. The IRS estimates that 23% to 28% of EITC credits are wrongfully paid to Americans every year, totaling $11 to $13 billion.
More here
Uploaded by www.cellspin.net
