October 17, 2011 at 3:30pm
Edenred keeps goals, Latam boosts Q3 sales
Edenred, which competes with catering companies Sodexo
and Compass Group , as well as credit card
networks MasterCard and Visa, reiterated a goal of annual
organic growth in issue volume — the face value of its vouchers
and the amount put on prepaid cards — of 6-14 percent in the
medium term.This was after like-for-like issue volume grew 9.1 percent
in the third quarter, driven by a 19.4 percent jump in Latin
America.
October 15, 2011 at 9:01am
Brazil FinMin: Govt ready to protect economy -paper
* Sees median growth of over 5 pct in next two yearsFRANKFURT, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Brazil stands ready to take
additional policy steps to protect its economy in the event of a
recession in the United States and Europe, its finance minister
told a German Sunday newspaper.In an interview with Euro am Sonntag, Guido Mantega said
Brazil was relatively insulated from the ongoing turmoil in
parts of the world, since exports contribute only 13 percent to
its output and its debt-to-GDP ratio is a low 39 percent.”We are less dependent on fluctuations in the international
economy due to buoyant and dynamic internal demand,” Mantega
told the paper.”We would nevertheless take the necessary measures
naturally, whether it’s policies regarding taxes or the
currency, should the crisis escalate.”Mantega reaffirmed his comments from September 2010 that
governments were resorting to beggar-thy-neighbor tactics to
gain a competitive edge: “Without a doubt we are in the middle
of a currency war.”The warning could be a further sign that the government’s
improvised steps to shield Brazil’s economy — including a 30
percent increase in taxes on imported cars — might continue in
the sudden months.President Dilma Rousseff’s willingness to make sudden,
unexpected changes to economic policy is becoming one of the
biggest risks of doing business in Brazil.Speaking in the Euro am Sonntag, Mantega reaffirmed his
expectation that inflation, which had been triggered by higher
prices for commodities and food in particular, was on the
decline in the country.POVERTY HALVED”External factors are responsible (for the rise in
inflation), primarily the enormous global excess liquidity due
to the monetary policy of quantitative easing in the United
States, as well as an increase in production costs,” he said.”It (inflation) has already reached its peak and will soon
resume its decline. For the entire year it will be below 6.5
percent.”Mantega said he expects Brazil’s economy to continue to
expand in the middle term.”For the coming two years we forecast mid-range growth of
over 5 percent, assuming the crisis doesn’t escalate further. It
should be a healthy growth paired with inflation that is under
control,” he said.According to Mantega, sustainable gains in output should
help reduce poverty in Brazil, which was cut in half over the
past eight years.”In these eight years, more than 29 million people joined
the middle class, to which 100 million Brazilians already
belong. Seventeen million jobs were created during a period of
time when the country grew by 4 percent on average,” he added.
October 12, 2011 at 11:46am
Michael Moore giddy over Occupy Wall St.: “Finally!”
The controversial filmmaker seems to have gotten exactly what he wanted with the emergence of the Occupy Wall Street movement.TheWrap’s Steve Pond caught up with the documentarian earlier this week to discuss the protest and what he thinks they mean.TheWrap: On your Web site a couple of days ago, you put up the sentence, “You are about to witness the end of ‘Capitalism: A Love Story.’” Did you make the connection with that film right away?”I was instantly thrilled that there was finally a response. Not to the movie, but to the greed and corruption of the captains of industry who have overplayed their hands in the last few years.”The first time I went down there, somebody tweeted, ‘I saw Michael Moore,’ and there was so much joy on his face that if somebody took a picture, the caption should read, ‘Finally!’” And I have been kind of giddy about the grassroots nature of this, and how it’s just sprung up out of seemingly nowhere, without organization, without dues-paying members, without political leaders.”At the end of “Capitalism: A Love Story,” the last scene is me by myself wrapping crime-scene tape around the New York Stock Exchange, and pulling a Brinks truck up to Goldman Sachs to get our money back.”And I say at the end of the movie, “I’m tired of being alone and sticking my neck out, and I’m not gonna do this anymore. I’m not gonna make another documentary until I see other people doing things.” And I’ve stuck to my word.”TheWrap: Why?”It really doesn’t do me or other people any good for me to be the poster boy for Fox News or Rush Limbaugh. It’s harder for them to attack a movement, and it’s harder for them to attack me if there are a million Michael Moores or a million Joe Blows or whoever. Whose picture are they going to put on the screen to bring out the hate?”But this has happened in ways that I never would have imagined. I would have been happy for just a small response, but this has just exploded. And not just here in New York, but across the country. I mean, I get things every day from people every day from the smallest towns saying “We’ve started an occupy movement in our little town.”TheWrap: In “Capitalism,” there’s a scene where Wallace Shawn says, “There are little hints that the unimaginable could occur, which is that people could actually become angry at the wealthy.” Did it seem unimaginable at that time?”Yes. But the hints had been around for some time. This assault on the middle class had been taking place since Ronald Reagan fired the air traffic controllers 30 years ago. At the beginning of the movie I describe capitalism as a system of “giving and taking — mostly taking.” And I say, “all that was missing was the revolt.”TheWrap: The most common criticism of the Occupy Wall Street movement is that it doesn’t have specific goals. It’s unfocused anger, and the participants are not telling us what they’re trying to achieve.”Those who are part of the system that has made life miserable for millions of Americans, they don’t understand something that happens when it’s not happening within the system. That’s why they can’t process what they’re seeing. To them, it looks like chaos and disorganization and nobody knows what they really want. In truth, everyone down there seems to be very clear about what they want.”When something new happens like this, culturally, politically, socially, those who are the old guard and those who populate the Sunday morning talk shows and those who are the analysts on Fox News and CNN can’t wrap their heads around it.”But when you’ve got 50 million people who don’t have health insurance, I can guarantee you that every one of those 50 million can wrap their head around it. When you’ve got 46.2 million living in poverty, I’m going to guess that the majority of those 46.2 million know what this is about. They just don’t own cable stations, and they don’t host Sunday morning talk shows.”TheWrap: So what is it about?”There’s a shared feeling among people down there that this economic system that we have is unfair, and it’s unjust, and it’s not democratic. We don’t have a say in how this economy is structured and run. That’s at the core of everything else.”That’s why the group is not saying one thing, like, ‘We support Obama’s 5.6 percent tax increase on the rich,’ even though I’m sure most people agree with that. Or, ‘We support bringing back Glass-Steagall, so there’s regulations on Wall Street,’ though I’m sure everybody supports that.”This group is very much in touch with where the majority of Americans are at. It all seems very clear to me, but because it doesn’t fit into the punditocracy dictionary, they don’t understand. They are without a compass. ‘There’s something happening here, and you don’t know what it is.‘“TheWrap: What do you expect to see accomplished, and what do you want to see accomplished?”The first victory has already been won. It’s been an apathy killer. If nothing else happened beyond this — and there will be much more that will happen beyond this — but if nothing did, it’s already accomplished something very, very important. It’s ended people’s apathy and their inability to feel like they can stand up against Wall Street.”These people are worried about it, because they know what they’ve done. They’ve stolen the futures of many of these young people, and people want their future, and they want hope, and they don’t have much hope now. So I think the first thing’s already been accomplished.”TheWrap: And what do you see happening next?”We don’t know what the next step is. The next step is we’re gonna see what happens. It’s kind of like, you know, if you were the person who made “Bonnie and Clyde” or “Easy Rider,” or if you were Dylan and you put out your first album. It’s so shocking to people. Go back and read the New York Times review of “Dr. Strangelove.” They did not know what the hell it was.”If you look at the first news reports from three plus weeks ago, it was just hippies beating on bongo drums, and it was being dismissed. Well, they’re not writing those stories anymore.”TheWrap: Do you see any signs that government is sympathetic and ready to help?”Well, earlier today, David Pouffe, Obama’s senior advisor, came out and said Obama is on the side of Wall Street protesters. So that’s pretty quick. After three weeks, with no organization, no leader, nothing but the will of the people rising up in scores of cities across the country, it’s enough for the White House to recognize it and to side with it as best they can.”But this movement is not about endorsing politicians right now. This is about how the politicians have had their time to try and fix this, and it’s clear that they’re not going to, because they all feed at the same trough on Wall Street.”This is going to go much larger and deeper than ‘Let’s get Senate Bill 2537 passed.’ People are tired, and they’ve given up on that. And they’re somewhat tired of President Obama, too. I bet most of the people down there voted for him, if they were of voting age at the time, and he’s acted too slow, and appeased too many of the Republicans.”That’s not what he was elected to do. He was given a mandate to go in there and clean house, and he didn’t clean house. He just tried to rearrange the furniture a little bit, and then he let the Republicans come in and sit on the furniture. Trust me, if they had won, that’s not the way they’d have acted. So there’s a lot of disappointment with him, but he’s got another year. He can change.”TheWrap: You said you weren’t going to make another film until the people took action. Now that they have, are you doing another movie?”Yes, I am. But I’m not making a film about this.”TheWrap: What are you making a film about?”I’m not gonna tell you what I’m going to do film-wise, but it will be something that’s not being addressed. It will be funny and shocking and hopefully will help move the ball down the field.”And as long as I am one among many … That is why I love going down to Occupy Wall Street. Because I stand there with hundreds as part of this general assembly, and I am one voice. If feels so much better to me to have hundreds of other people sharing in that and saying, ‘We’re all going to put the yoke on our shoulders and carry this forward.‘“That feels better than standing alone on the Oscar stage being booed off it.”TheWrap: I was standing in the wings of the stage that night, and I saw you come offstage and get a big thank-you from Diane Lane, who presented the award.”Yeah, Diane came up to me, and I felt so bad. I said, ‘I’m so sorry I dragged you into my mess,’ and she said, ‘Oh my god, don’t be sorry, I just got to be a part of history.‘“So you were there? Help me out, okay? I don’t remember a single person booing on the main floor where all the nominees are. But it was deafening, and I thought, ‘Where is the sound coming from?‘“TheWrap: There were definitely boos coming from the audience — but there are three balconies in that theater, so there are lots of people that you just can’t see from the stage. And in the back where I was, a few of the stagehands were definitely shouting at you. There were clearly people who were pissed off, and people who were supportive.”Yes, there were people who were applauding. Scorsese was applauding, I could see him. I could see Meryl Streep. I have a visual of that in my head.”And now I’m on the board of governors. That’s a long way to go from being booed off the stage.”
7:00am
Tax preparers fret over first IRS fees, rules
Some fear the IRS campaign against tax fraud could squeeze out small, independent businesses and allow large competitors such as H&R Block Inc and Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc to capture market share.The IRS, which plans to finalize the new fees in coming months, recently said it was open to ways to mitigate costs.To get certified, preparers will need to register and pass a competency test. Some will need to be finger-printed, pass a background check with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and take continuing education classes.The IRS estimates the licensing fee for each tax preparer at between $250 and $275, but H&R Block expects the cost will be more than $400, including state fees and its own background-check expenses.The IRS fees are “a touchy and sensitive topic,” said Mark Steber, chief tax officer at Parsippany, New Jersey-based Jackson Hewitt. “The fees “do seem large, and they are large.”Practitioners say the fees, some still in flux, will trickle down to Americans who pay for personalized help with their taxes. Faced with a complex tax code, more than half of all U.S. taxpayers filed a return last year with the help of a preparer, according to the Government Accountability Office.The tax-preparation business has traditionally been a free-wheeling industry. Only California and Oregon have laws regulating it. In the rest of the country, anyone can hang out a shingle and fill out tax returns.The IRS wants to weed out illicit tax preparers who open for business in tax season and then disappear before they can be charged. Last month, for example, the Justice Department prosecuted a Florida woman who filed returns for homeless people claiming first-time-homebuyer tax credits.SHULMAN BEHIND CRACKDOWNIn June 2009, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman started an overhaul of the tax preparer system.As the proposed rules stand now, fees would hit about 450,000 preparers particularly hard — those lacking professional certifications as lawyers or certified public accountants, and those registered with the IRS as preparation supervisors.Fees and competency tests could drive out honest preparers along with swindlers, said Chuck McCabe, chief executive officer of the Income Tax School Inc in Richmond, Virginia.”The fees definitely do pose a barrier to entry,” said McCabe, whose school offers tax-preparation classes. The certification requirements are “definitely a deterrent.”Tax preparation has been a valuable job opportunity for many older people and mothers with young children looking for part-time work, he said.Older preparers might not want to pay the fees and might struggle with the competency test, McCabe said, predicting that the consequences “will create a vacuum” of preparers.Meanwhile, analysts say big firms may pay for their staffs’ certifications to retain experienced employees, and are poised to gain a competitive edge over small, independent preparers.Jackson Hewitt preparers filed 2.6 million retail U.S. tax returns for the 2010 year, while H&R Block handled 14.7 million, or about 11 percent of the total.COSTS ADD UPH&R Block said it would cost about $8 million to get roughly 100,000 company employees certified. Its 1,733 corporate franchises will also have to pay fees.”It’s definitely going to add costs,” especially for H&R Block’s franchises, said Kartik Mehta, director of research at Northcoast Research Holdings LLC in Cleveland.Still, Mehta added: “I don’t think the costs are that onerous.”The IRS agrees. David Williams, director of the agency’s return preparer office, said the costs bring the preparation business in line with the professional needs of the work.”In virtually every service profession, there are basic, minimum standards for suitability,” said Williams, who led the regulatory overhaul.Most barbers and hair stylists must pass some suitability test. “You will see those licenses on the wall,” he told Reuters, while tax preparers, who face no such requirements in most states, have access to an individual’s “most intimate financial information.”INDUSTRY WEIGHS INAt a hearing last week, industry groups raised their concerns with IRS and U.S. Treasury Department officials.The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants said it supported certification, but disapproved of its costs.”We have serious concerns regarding the level of burden that the user fee regulations will place on CPA firms, primarily small- and medium-size CPA firms,” said Patricia Thompson, who chairs the AICPA tax executive committee.H&R Block asked if the IRS would consider allowing firms to fingerprint their employees and forward the information to theFBI.Williams said the IRS would take another look at the costs, especially for fingerprinting. “Maybe there is a viable alternative that would suffice in lieu of an FBI fingercheck,” he said.The public comment period on fingerprinting fees closes on October 26.
