If you've ever met a whistleblower, or heard one give a speech, you never get the sense that they're too caught up in their 15 minutes, marching around to the beat of their kick ass do-gooderness. Typically, it's more of a matter-of-fact story and less a reflection on the heroic moments that turned an ordinary white-collar working stiff into Superman.
Of course, when you blow the whistle on Switzerland's largest bank for evading a few bajillion dollars in U.S. taxes, it's entirely possible that you might wake up one day and think, "I blew the whistle on Switzerland's largest bank for evading a few bajillion dollars in U.S. taxes."
From the Wall Street Journal, here's an old quote from new multi-millionaire Bradley Birkenfeld that appeared in Bloomberg back in 2010 when the story was rolling:
"I'm the most famous whistleblower in the history of the world. It's a question of doing the right thing, and that's what I did."
You got that? Sherron Watkins = chopped liver.
[WSJ via Tax Update]
The head of the IRS said Thursday that a government shutdown during tax season would be a challenge the agency has never confronted before — and one that would become more complicated as the April filing deadline draws closer. Doug Shulman, the IRS commissioner, also signaled at a House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing that his agency was discussing how to address a potential shutdown with the Obama administration, though he did not spell out any details of those talks. “We run a $13 billion financial services operation, so the idea of stopping it for a few days or a few weeks is strange,” Shulman said, adding that he was hopeful, based on ongoing negotiations, that a shutdown could be averted. [