House committee seeks IRS documents on healthcare law [Reuters]
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa demanded all documents and communications between the IRS and President Barack Obama's White House after the healthcare overhaul law was signed into law in March 2010, in a letter released on Wednesday. Issa has challenged the Obama administration's authority to administer the healthcare law in states that are refusing to cooperate. A handful of Republican governors have opted not to establish health insurance exchanges that are required by the law. The IRS is charged with distributing health insurance tax credits through the state exchanges. Issa argues that federally-created exchanges, set up in the resisting states, cannot deliver the tax credits.
HSBC in Settlement Talks With U.S. Over Money Laundering [Bloomberg]
HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), which is under investigation by U.S. regulators for laundering funds of sanctioned nations including Iran and Sudan, is in talks to settle the matter, two people with knowledge of the case said. The bank, Europe’s largest by market value, made a $700 million provision in July for any U.S. fines after a Senate Committee found it had given terrorists and drug cartels access to the U.S. financial system. That sum might increase, Chief Executive Officer Stuart Gulliver has said
In Effort to Curb Money Market Funds, a Plan B Is Considered [DealBook]
After the failure of one effort to overhaul a major part of the mutual fund industry, top government officials worked on Thursday to find alternative ways to rein in what they see as a systemic threat to the financial system.
Letter: Who elected Grover Norquist to dictate U.S. fiscal policy? [TCPalm]
Former Bush Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill said, "Congress is willing to cause severe economic damage, because they are slaves to an idiot's view of the way the world works." Former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson described Norquist's view as, "No taxes even if the country goes to hell!" States and towns are going bankrupt; our economy teeters on the brink, while the mindless bow to the great God Grover.
Put the Federal Government on Autopilot to Solve Deficit Crisis [U.S. News]
Wednesday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, known as the CBO, waved a red flag about the looming "fiscal cliff." The cliff is a combination of tax increases and mandated cuts to federal spending that we will reach in 2013. If we run off the cliff, says the CBO, 2 million people will lose their jobs.
Romney Condoms 'Great For Any Position'; Obama Rubbers Won't Break 'As Easily As His Promises' [HuffPo]
Talk about a mood killer.