Dithering in Washington over the "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax increases and spending cuts set for year-end is already hindering economic growth, according to economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. Most observers don't expect Congress to reach an agreement before the November elections. Lawmakers' "hesitation adds insult to injury to an economy already flirting with a stall rate," said Diane Swonk of Mesirow Financial, referring to the slow pace of economic growth so far this year.

US won’t adopt IFRS for at least five years, says AICPA chief [Accountancy Age]
IFRS adoption by the US is not coming any time soon, according to AICPA [chairman] Gregory Anton. Speaking at the institute's EDGE Conference in Orlando, Florida, Anton told delegates not to expect any movement until after the US presidential elections at the earliest. Anton said the AICPA supports giving US companies the option to use IFRS, and supports the issue of one set of high-quality standards, but warned that the "absolute soonest" IFRS will be seen in the US will be in five to six years' time.

Manchester United will make its New York Stock Exchange debut on Friday after a flotation that disappointed the English soccer club's American owners and has enraged some of its fans. Soccer is the world's most popular sport, but the setback for the initial public offering underlines the limited appeal of even its biggest names for investors. The IPO priced at $14, below the $16-20 range the club's bankers had been seeking. It valued the 19-times English champions at only $2.3 billion and shaved as much as $100 million off the proceeds expected for the team and its owners. The offering raised $233.2 million, to be split equally between the club and its owners, the Florida-based Glazer family.

 

Strippers of America, Get Your W-4s Ready. You’re Employees Now [DT]
FYI.

 

Perry County man pleads guilty to animal sex charge [PennLive]
Jeremy Johnson, a 20-year-old Buffalo Township man accused of breaking into a barn and performing oral sex on a horse, pleaded guilty in Perry County Court this morning to defiant trespass and sexual intercourse with an animal. He was sentenced to 2.5 years of probation. He broke into the Outlaw Stables on Cold Storage Road in Centre Township about 1 a.m. May 2. State police said Johnson told them he had previously been job-hunting at the barn but didn't realize the time. He told the trooper that he'd licked a horse, police reported. Johnson was also ordered to have a mental health evaluation. "I think there is some mental health issue here," Perry County D.A. Charles "Chad" Chenot said. "There's got to be something wrong with someone who does something like this."