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IRS Commissioner Discusses UBS Settlement

Tyler Durden's picture




 

The big question - "Why Now?" (is it because we have a big deficit) is strategically left unanswered.

For earlier perspectives on this development, read here.

Additionally, we may soon be revising the analysis of the "top decile" consumer capacity to lead the economy out of the recession. It would be interesting to evaluate the impact of the billion of dollars that were just removed from the upper class' consumption capacity, and redirected to a much more "cost effective" Uncle Sam, to spend as he sees fit.


Courtesy of Fox Business Network

 

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Wed, 08/19/2009 - 13:51 | 41361 AnonymousMonetarist
AnonymousMonetarist's picture

We need our dollars back whilst they are worth something.

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 14:55 | 41458 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

To understand why you have to understand the mind of a politician...

Basically they are trying to replay the Great Depression playbook by going after random wealthy people and making them scape goats. Meaning, current politicians know that they must settle the public's anger towards the "unfair wealthy" so this type of settlement is ideal. They will believe (wrongly so I might add) that the public's thirst for flesh will be settled.

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 13:52 | 41363 Cheeky Bastard
Cheeky Bastard's picture

Again, FUCK YOU IRS; go home; we are NOT Iraq. Go after Cayman Island you fucking morons, you could find couple of TRILLION dollars there. 

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 13:56 | 41376 Hephasteus
Hephasteus's picture

They won't that's the IRS farms. They cultivate the drug dealers. Grow the drug dealers. Cut them down and keep the money. There's at least 4 trillion just from drug dealer farming plus the 2.3 trillion that congress wanted to know about the day before 9/11.

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 14:05 | 41381 Project Mayhem
Project Mayhem's picture

Haha the international drug cartels grow tall , healthy and strong!   You gotta park your money somewhere.

 

I hear BCCI is a good spot

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/

 

Also that missing $2.3 trillion disappeared into Rumsfeld's claws

 

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 15:48 | 41518 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

bravo. biggest tax fraud and 'blanchiment d'argent' is backhome in US jurisdictions. could the question be who risks losing their qualified intermediary status? how much will it be worth in the future?

let the collateral be spent

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 16:22 | 41558 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

I like the Obama as anarchist image. Too bad he's actually a corporatist clown.

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 13:55 | 41369 zeropointfield (not verified)
zeropointfield's picture

I am not so sure that anything was really settled here. There could still be some roadblocks that make this fail.
It seems that they are just back to square one. Now, what was all the fuss about?

http://zeropointfield.wordpress.com/2009/08/19/looks-like-a-fad-irs-v-ub...

 

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 18:34 | 41630 thomd (not verified)
thomd's picture

This about sums it up. The UK/US duopoly is working in concert -- will the new Japan regime fall in line?

good articles; good articles 4 slow news day ..http://www..
hat tip: finance news & finance opinions

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 13:56 | 41374 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Dear Tyler,

What will happen when 40% of the workforce gets sick with the swine flu?

Check this out, approx 1% dies.

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_08_19/en/index.html

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1349-Depression-Assured-Mayb...

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 14:24 | 41391 Project Mayhem
Project Mayhem's picture

This is what I have been saying but people laugh.  Yeah bird, human, and pig genes from multiple continents with 4-8% new genetic material -- this virus is SO natural.  Even though Dr. Taubenberger/US Army Institute of Molecular Pathology dug that shit up from the Alaskan permafrost and has been playing around with ressurected 1918 viruses since mid-90s. 

 

A case fatality rate of 1-3% will be sufficient to cause social breakdown and martial law.  It's unfortunate this virus came from a weapons lab. But alas, we are dealing with late-phase systemic corruption, so this I suppose this is to be expected.  

 

FYI , don't take the vaccine -- it contains squalene , and will ruin your immune system permanently.  (Squalene is an experimental adjuvant, and the precursor to testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, etc.  If you develop antibodies against it your HPTA is more or less destroyed.  So don't take the shot -- no matter what lies the government whispers in your ear.). 

 

 You are better off treating any pandemic flu with Vitamin C, Vitamin E, NAC, green tea, etc.  These all reduce influenza case fatality rate in animal models.  See Pubmed for details.

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12657201

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12808470

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9230243

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 15:11 | 41482 zeropointfield (not verified)
zeropointfield's picture

A hot bath for relaxing also does wonders.

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 15:12 | 41483 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

I don't read/listen to US media (other than blogs), so I ask: is there any sort of preparation taking place in local governments or large companies, universities, etc., as to what to do in case H1N1 really takes off?

I remember when there was the SARS outbreak in Canada a few years back, especially in the Toronto area. The preparations were extensive and very well communicated.

A propos of nothing, it's the sort of problem that gov't sponsored health care would be better equipped to deal with, as opposed to the patchwork system here...

linda in chicago

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 15:17 | 41486 Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now's picture

This is a credibility cover for when the recovery doesn't come, and can be used to declare M.L. - originally the plan was to incorporate the recent executive orders as well as provisions in the new national health care proposal to take over.  I fear a night of the long knives (syringes) is not far off (if you know your history).

In addition, there is a link to a killer nervous system disease called Guillian-Barre Sydrome (GBS), a brain disorder that affected 1 in 800,000 Americans in during the 1976 swine flu vaccination, while swine flu itself killed only one person.  Read the memo for yourself and watch the 1976 60 minutes government propaganda piece on this link:

http://www.examiner.com/x-20147-Schuylkill-County-Independent-Examiner~y2009m8d18-Swine-flu-virus-linked-to-killer-nerve-disease

There are 25 cases of individuals that contracted this nerve disease already following flu vaccinations.

In addition, pharamaceutical companies have just been excused from lawsuits from side effects and deaths from their vaccinations in the event of "a declared emergency" - ahem, swine flu.

There is a plan here, remember the propaganda pieces on Swine Flu stirring the public into a fury over fear of death, when one sick baby died? To put this into perspective, thousands die from the regular flu a year, 40,000 people die in car accidents, millions die from cancer and heart disease.  Swine Flu is "1984", and it forces the world to work together to fight a common enemy (in the words of Kissinger - "whether real or promulgated") - much like terrorism did with knocking down the building with the most international workers.

Beware the military-industrial-pharmaceutical complex indeed.

Thu, 08/20/2009 - 01:02 | 42002 theadr
theadr's picture

Vitamin D, too.  Lots of Sunshine (no, not that kind PM) and fresh air.

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 14:44 | 41446 blackebitda
blackebitda's picture

i think swine flu is a hoax, a way to disguise the effects of increased unemployment, moonlighting, prevent layoffs, and increase focus upon healthcare.  

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 17:09 | 41609 Arm
Arm's picture

Don't be such an alarmist.  The real number is much lower than 1% as most cases are not diagnosed.   What is significant is that you will have to decrease worker productivity for the year.   Say 5 days for 40% of the entire workforce.

About 140 million x $45.8k GDP per capita x 5/250  x 40%= $51.2B in lost productivity

I am assuming that labor is fully employed and that it cannot make up lost production further on

----correction----

That should be GDP per worker about $70k.  So it comes out to $78.4B

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 17:43 | 41666 Project Mayhem
Project Mayhem's picture

Yes current case fatality rate is approx 0.1 -0.4%.  HOWEVER , this does not include present spread of now-endemic Tamiflu resistant strains nor does it include either a 1) a future recombination/reassortment event or 2) a new strain which is released in Fall 2009.

 

If you read the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) documents leaked by Judicial Watch, you will realize that a pandemic is what is used for initiation of many of the 'harmonization' clauses present in these bilateral agreements between U.S, Canada, and Mexico, and ultimately under the WHO worldwide in all 193 member states.

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 13:57 | 41378 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Why now? This IRS/DOJ action started in February of 2008. They finally reached an agreement with the Swiss that doesn't require a change in US law. Things like these take time. But it will not be the end of it.

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 14:05 | 41388 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

To TD:is it possible to show how much money was saved in options contract,by buying up the calls after the drop on FRI and MON, and now by buying back the puts after the liftoff?just how much Citadel would be making in this week(since there is virtually no time value left in them)?I know it is a daunting task, but it is probably doable.

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 14:10 | 41396 Tax Man
Tax Man's picture

No TD, this is a process that has been going on for years. The roof had started to cave in on the Swiss secrecy well before Lehman et al. It might be that the present situation made the US goverment push harder than they would have done with a budget in surplus, but this time they either had to get the names and facts or let the whole world see that could be pushed around by some Swiss bankers.

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 14:19 | 41403 . . .
. . .'s picture

You guys are nuts.  Treasury can't push too hard in attacking bank secrecy.  The reason is that Congress and Treasury like having dirty money invest in US treasuries to fund the US deficits, and they can't get that money if they push for too much disclosure.  Because Latin American agriculture barons and such won't invest any where they need to make disclosures.  And it is near impossible to get information on US people investing in the US using haven accounts, but not foreign people investing haven accounts.

Congress and Treasury just want to sabre rattle so the little people think they care about rich people evading taxes.  That way when the Dems and Republicans double US taxes on the middle class to fund the deficits, Congress can try to claim the moral high ground by claiming that they are also targetting rich people.

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 14:23 | 41411 glenlloyd
glenlloyd's picture

we need the tax revenue on these assets because we're running the biggest deficits ever! In fact it's a secret but we're broke...literally!

 

 

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 14:25 | 41412 juno9604
juno9604's picture

The anwer to why now is that Obama had promised during the campaign to crack down on tax cheats and the IRS is doing just that.  Frankly, the fact that people will put their freedom in peril to avoid taxes strikes me as extremely messed up; do you value the quality of your life, or just value money?

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 14:33 | 41429 Ben_the_Bald
Ben_the_Bald's picture

But the previous administration started this action, not Obama.

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 18:34 | 41629 thomd (not verified)
thomd's picture

No people actually make decisions, cut checks, draft and sign statements.

good articles; good articles 4 slow news day ..http://www..
hat tip: finance news & finance opinions

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 14:31 | 41424 Hephasteus
Hephasteus's picture

Let's go to the play book. Found this about 4 years ago.

Chippewa Prophecies

No-Eyes, Medicine Woman of the Chippewa Nation

Mary Summer Rain - 'No-Eyes'

No years are given for the events predicted.
Most information references the US.

Economic

    Massive blue collar strikes
    Relocation of key factories overseas
    Extended import-export embargoes/taxations
    Widespread factory shutdowns
    Excessive taxation
    Small business failures
    Insolvency of many banks
    Stock market misdealings/decline
    Drastic construction decline
    Devaluation of real estate
    Increase in corporate crime
    Drop in level of manufactured goods
    Increase of corporate monopolies/takeovers
    Increase in personal bankruptcies
    Widespread layoffs
    Cash as only accepted tender

Natural Disasters

    Major devastation in California
    Earthquakes in new areas
    Inactive craters become unsettled
    Mountains become unstable
    Return of the dust bowl
    Record-breaking flooding
    Tornadoes increase intensity and occasion
    Liquefaction of soil beneath faults
    Intensified hurricane devastation
    Freak wind gusts/accidents
    Soil erosion
    Increased radon levels
    Insect infestation
    Sink holes
    Rapid temperature inversions
    Unusually frigid winters/deadly blizzards
    Seeping natural gas (fires/explosions)
    Widespread surface blazes
    Major quake of the New Madrid Fault
    Greenish hue to atmosphere
    Higher pollution levels

Transportation Accidents

    Plane crashes increase
    Shipping disasters increase
    Higher incidents of train derailments/accidents

Freak Deaths and Accidents

    Amusement park disasters
    Increase in homicide/suicide
    Freak household accidents
    Disease outbreaks
    Several catastrophic propane explosions
    Germ Warfare release accident Gulf War Illness?

Discord Amng Nations

    Grave economic differences
    Arms escalation
    Terrorism increases
    Undeclared wars
    Clandestine dealings between countries
    High-level secrecy

Spiritual Unrest and Awakening

    Questioning masses
    Political church actions
    Government interventions
    Repression from certain religious sects
    Increased UFO sightings
    Interaction with other intelligences
    Acceptance of the paranormal and the afterlife
    Religious sects going to court to force their restrictions on all

Nuclear Incidents

    Several close meltdowns/leaks
    Seeping radioactive dump sites
    Two catastrophic meltdowns One to go.
    Radioactive pollution of land/rivers
    Major accidents of trucks carrying nuclear missiles/radioactive waste
    Radioactive releases caused by geological instability

Civil Unrest

    Resistance movements
    Draft evasion
    Public's discovery of coverups
    Nuclear exchange

Massive Revolts and Government Turnaround

    Taxation refusals
    War resistance
    Policy disagreements within government
    Major upheaval within governments

Rise of the Age of Peace

    Total equality among people
    Discontinuance of all meat ingestion
    Construction reforms
    Cessation of most severe natural disasters
    Pollution-free energy innovations using Earth's magnetic field
    Rise of the Indian Nation through widespread adaptation of its ways of natural living

 

Pretty much everything in the economic section is happening or has such a high probability of being the correct actions/reactions you can put a fork in it. Disease outbreaks are natural occurances of discord. You can always find something in language about it's relationships. DIS EASE. People making things unecessarily tough or complicated on each other causes disease. The entire world is currently drilling the governments of the worlds butt to make sense. They'll come clean bit by bit. People just have to continue to assert their right to know and continue to own the power of you stop being psychotic and I'll stop giving you psychotic breaks.

If enough discord energy gets going you can have an event where that discord energy tranforms a normal flu into a killer flu. That happened during the great depression. It could happen again but it could also get faked through biological warfare. You can bet it'll get watched very closely both on the earth plane and the heavenly plane. What happens and doesn't happen is not as important as people being able to fully understand and judge what is happening and what it means for everyone and everything. People die from the flu every year. This swine flu is no different. Don't let things that are nothing get turned into focus shifters or attention whores.

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 14:34 | 41430 Whatta
Whatta's picture

buy long calls on FBI and IRS

puts on Obamacare and Crapntrade

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 15:15 | 41485 ToNYC
ToNYC's picture

Don't you mean Obamascare and Crapnfade?...double-counted and imaginary forest credits to swap and default swap if leaf drop devaluation event..oh! the wool to be spun!! be still my fluttering heart...long on SWAT teams as well to control the guns n' ammo hoarders. Lots of urban warfare practice in Muslimyland.
Crusader rabbits come home to roost..blowback's a bitch.
Learn to barter, my social animals.

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 15:05 | 41473 juno9604
juno9604's picture

The notion that "top decile" consumers will the lead the U.S. out of recession is so wrong; the Department of Commerce publishes statistics on U.S. consumption...maybe BAC should have read them before advancing this silly notion.  What would BAC have to gain from publishing this malarkey?  hmmm?

 

 

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 16:02 | 41536 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Much ado about nothing. Only the small fry/imbeciles will get caught.

Small fry: the truly wealthy have their accounts set up thru multiple layers of lawyers and shell accounts/trusts. Lawyer 2 doesn't even know who hired lawyer.

Imbeciles: again, the truly wealthy don't do their own taxes, so they won't be tripped up by the reporting procedures on their legal money.

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 16:11 | 41542 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Obama could easily push for sanctions against the Cayman's and find out where the big money hides. But he won't because he'd get the Kennedy treatment, fast. The true power got him and all of Congress elected... wouldn't stand for that.

This is all just a PR stunt -- catch a few small frys and look look like a tough guy.

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 18:34 | 41625 thomd (not verified)
thomd's picture

Of course, the money was just put on the welfare recipients card with no restrictions.  anyways, they put the money on the cards before the letter was

good articles; good articles 4 slow news day ..http://www..
hat tip: finance news & finance opinions

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 17:50 | 41676 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

The credit card account holders from Cayman (creditcards = how you spend your secret cash) were revealed to the Clinton Admin after much hard work by the DOJ. This was at the very END of BC's admin. Offfshore accountnholders were then given 2 YEARS amnesty to refile and pay. The Fed HAS the NAMES. And people in Cayman banking will tell you if we know who owned those accounts we'd riot in the streets. I'm told that ALL our idols would fall.

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 22:33 | 41903 defender
defender's picture

My question, and the one that very much needs a public answer, is how was the sample of names chosen from the larger set?  I would like to give the government the benefit of the doubt and say that it was a truely random process, but my cynicism gets the best of me.  My best guess is that this list is all accounts that are a million or less.  Someone needs to FOIA the method used for this, and please let it be soon.

Wed, 08/19/2009 - 22:40 | 41910 Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now's picture

Yes indeed, my guess would be they looked at the list, their list of friends on the list, their list of political enemies on the list, then sliced and diced to include the least number of friends and the greatest number of enemies.  This would reduce the amount of resistance to their agenda and future campaign contributions to opponents.

That would be Chicago politics at its finest.

Thu, 08/20/2009 - 00:38 | 41987 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

It's happening now because if Swiss banks want TARP funds they gotta turn over their client lists.

Follow the money.

Thu, 08/20/2009 - 01:40 | 42011 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

The US Feds need the Swiss tax monies which could total 10 billion. That would go a long way to pay for the 25 trillion dollars for wall street bailout. Wait, this doesnt add up.

Thu, 08/20/2009 - 06:39 | 42051 jbeyer
jbeyer's picture

Tyler, your double standard is amusing.  When you complain about flash orders (which I'll point out for the umpteenth time, are completely optional) it is all in the name of fairness.  But when the IRS should, God forbid, expect people to pay all of their taxes, you snidely suggest that it is not a matter of fairness, but because there is a large deficit.  So if I had to guess, you are an out-of-work NYSE specialist who has a lot of money hidden in Switzerland.  No?

Thu, 08/20/2009 - 07:00 | 42054 Cheeky Bastard
Cheeky Bastard's picture

i don't defend TD, but your conclusion is a fallacy, solely because your premises are not proven. your A is 0 B is zero ( rather empirically verified, or in some other way ), yet your conclusion is C 1. Logically, it doesn't make sense. Yes you can guess, but you can not KNOW. And it is not about hypocrisy, but rather about intrusion on the laws of another country. Again, we ( the Swiss ) are not Iraq and your redneck institutions can not insist for sovereign laws to be broken. If you want to play fair and expect something in return ( co-operation ) you should ( and by that i mean the US ) sign a bi-lateral contract with The Hague and have your military officials ( Abu Ghraib and numerous other examples throughout the 20th century ) to stand trial there if independent body decides that the Geneva convention was broken. Do not insist upon or enforce legality when you do not act upon it yourself. And to be fair to TD, he did not imply any view on this matter, he solely provided the information.

Thu, 08/20/2009 - 07:09 | 42056 Raymond Shaw
Raymond Shaw's picture

Not to mention the fact that only 5000 out of the possible 52K are to be exposed.  Where's the logic in that?  Are they hiding Government officials and possible slush accounts of illegal activities?

Thu, 08/20/2009 - 07:23 | 42060 Cheeky Bastard
Cheeky Bastard's picture

good afternoon Ray. yes, that also; and i would like for the IRS to take a little investigation into Haliburton and its Swiss accounts; i mean if this shit is going trough, lets do it seriously; take all accounts, publish them so the people can read them; and take court action against ALL individuals and companies who held Swiss accounts. This is pure BS what the IRS is doing and it seems to me its only targeting special individuals; history has shown us that keeping SOME of your wealth in undisclosed location is good; and for those who think that is bullshit; ask the Jews who are still alive and who's wealth was seized in Germany, or Cubans during castro, or Iranian during Homeini is it a good idea to have your money hidden or not. 

Thu, 08/20/2009 - 07:31 | 42063 jbeyer
jbeyer's picture

What conclusion are referring to?  My conclusion that Tyler is an out-of-work NYSE specialist with money hidden in Switzerland?  That was, errrr, a joke.

If you were referring to my double standard comment, Tyler does have a double standard.  He is the utmost champion of "fairness" for the little guy when it comes to flash orders, but seems to assume that the IRS pursuing fairness with ulterior motives.

 

As for the second half of your post, I don't speak stupid.  WTF does Iraq have to do with anything?

Thu, 08/20/2009 - 07:41 | 42064 Cheeky Bastard
Cheeky Bastard's picture

As for the second half of your post, I don't speak stupid.  WTF does Iraq have to do with anything?

 

Neither do I, so I'm sorry if i don't understand the rest of your post; but this was only the example of general US political hypocrisy. Want fair; extradite the last 20 administrations to The Hague, or reveal CIA files ( ALL OF THEM ) or something third; but don't expect co-operation if you offer none.

Thu, 08/20/2009 - 17:12 | 42689 Ben_the_Bald
Ben_the_Bald's picture

"Tyler does have a double standard."

 

Absolutely agree. I sense faux populism on TD's part. At the core, TD is just another Ayn Rand acolyte. Mark Cuban comes to mind.

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