Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Friday Footnotes: Time to Invest in Handbags; IRS Wait Times; Lovers and Haters of Nickelback | 01.15.16

Wall Street’s Straight Man in Washington [Bloomberg, Earlier]

What’s the better investment: The S&P 500, gold, or an Hermès Birkin bag? [Quartz]

More mergers: Dixon Hughes Goodman gets Stegman & Co. Then there's this choice quote from the Midwikis & Granger PC merger with Wagner Eubank & Nichols:

"Most of our folks are 50 years old and older," Granger said, while Wagner Eubank & Nichols, which employs 45 people, "has a number of younger folks."

I'm sure the culture fit will be snug.

“The voluntary submission of high-quality analysis by industry experts can be every bit as valuable as first-hand knowledge of wrongdoing by company insiders,” said Andrew Ceresney, Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division.  “We will continue to leverage all forms of information and analysis we receive from whistleblowers to help better detect and prosecute federal securities law violations.” [SEC]

GAO:  Only 38% Of Taxpayers Who Called IRS Got Through In 2015 (Down From 74% In 2010); Wait Time Increased From 11 To 31 Minutes [TaxProf]

 

Tony Pizza, a 53-year-old newspaper advertising salesman and a Nickelback fan, says the vitriol might be a byproduct of the band’s variety of heavy, but not very original, rock. He laughed dismissively at the recent protesters of Messrs. Cruz and Trump. “I think it’s just a new kind of way of saying they [the politicians] are uncool. Time will show that Nickelback is a fine working band of this age,” Mr. Pizza says. [WSJ]