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ANR: Tax Reform Battle Would Occur in Romney’s First Year; Tim Flynn on JPMorgan Risk Panel; More Magic From Zynga | 08.27.12

Fight over tax reform would dominate first year of a Romney presidency [The Hill]
Washington experts and congressional aides from both parties say that for political and procedural reasons, year one of the Romney-Ryan administration would be much more about taxes and “ObamaCare” than about Medicare, let alone Ryan’s ideas on Social Security. With the Ryan choice, any fear or hope that Romney would pivot to Obama-style stimulus spending after the election is effectively dead. But enacting the elements of Ryan’s House-passed budget will rely on arcane budget procedures — and could depend on the ability of Ryan to cut some deals with vulnerable Democrats, experts said.

JPMorgan Appoints Ex-KPMG Chairman Tim Flynn to Risk Panel [BBW]
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s board of directors assigned former KPMG International Chairman Timothy Flynn to its risk committee after an internal probe blamed lax controls for a $5.8 billion trading loss in London. Flynn, who retired from the accounting firm in October and was elected to JPMorgan’s board in May, joined the risk panel in July, said Joe Evangelisti, a spokesman for New York-based lender. JPMorgan, led by Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, 56, is the largest bank in the U.S. by assets. The risk committee came under scrutiny after the trading loss became public May 10, when it was estimated at $2 billion. JPMorgan blamed large and illiquid trades at the chief investment office that couldn’t be unwound without disrupting markets. The risk panel’s three members included only one with Wall Street experience, James Crown, and he hadn’t been employed in the industry for more than 25 years.

Mitt Romney Reaped Huge Tax Benefits Based On 'Active' Role At Bain Capital [HP]
FYI.

What Is Zynga's "Real" Growth Rate? [GOA]
Zynga's revenue recognition hocus pocus: "Apparently, Zynga recognizes revenue the way it does and also discloses bookings so it can have the best of both worlds.  It more than doubles revenue growth rates by applying its revenue recognition method of choice, but also shows higher revenues via the bookings metric.  Ah, what magic!"

IRS: OJ Simpson hasn’t paid income taxes since 2007 [GE via MH]
The IRS claims Simpson hasn’t paid income taxes since 2007. That’s the year he got in trouble for robbing and kidnapping a sports memorabilia dealer in Las Vegas. He was sentenced to 33 years in prison in 2008. The taxman now claims former Buffalo Bills running back owes $15,927.89 for 2007, $105,119.71 for 2008, $49,490.27 for 2009 and $8,897.20 for 2010 — for a grand total of $179,435.07! Incidentally, the filing demonstrates that Simpson still makes quite a bit of money while in prison. His NFL pension, for example, still pays him about $19,000-a-month.

Man arrested after calling 911 for sexual favors [Examiner]
Joshua Basso, 32, called 9-1-1 seven times between August 22nd and August 24th, asking female deputies to respond to his home to help assist him in achieving sexual gratification, according to a news release from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office. The release states that Basso began his series of 9-1-1 calls on Wednesday morning at 10:15 a.m. His calls continued for two days, with the last call being made on August 24th at 7:39 a.m. Deputies arrested Basso at his home on Friday around 11:20 a.m. where he reportedly admitted to making the calls asking for sexual gratification. Basso is no stranger to making fraudulent 9-1-1 calls. In fact, he was arrested in 2009 for making four calls to the Tampa 9-1-1 call center and gratifying himself while speaking with emergency dispatch. According to that police report, Basso allegedly told police that he ran out of minutes on his LG phone and called 9-1-1 because it was free.

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