The IRS gives banks the kid-glove treatment

If I could be reincarnated, I would come back as a banker. The world revolves around them. They get multi-million dollar bonuses, live in Fifth Avenue apartments, own spreads in Greenwich, Conn., and summer in seaside cottages in the Hamptons. When their money-making schemes go awry, taxpayers bail them out -- and even pay their bonuses!

But we already knew that. What I didn't know until I read it was that banks also get the kid-glove treatment from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) when it comes to audits. In fiscal 2008, the financial services industry got audited at a 9 percent rate -- less than half the 19 percent audit rate for all other industries that fiscal year.