Today in the Taxosphere

Many bloggers are still processing the effects of the recent financial meltdown and bailout. Here are a few fresh views on that and other matters:

• Five Cent Nickel explains what happens to your mortgage if your bank goes under. Part of the trouble with the mortgage boom was that the mortgage was disconnected from the people who originated it — you might live a block away from your mortgage broker in Dubuque, and have no idea that your mortgage was being traded back and forth between hedge funds in Greenwich, bankers in London, and sovereign wealth funds in Dubai and Beijing. But that disconnect works out in your favor when the bank you have a relationship with collapses.
• An anonymous poster on Metafilter wants to know if he’ll get audited because his family refuses to pay income taxes. Lots of good comments on how far the IRS will go to collect (and how far they won’t go, too!).
• Linda Beale at A Taxing Matter lauds Rhode Island’s new disclosure rules. We all know how much we pay, but in Rhode Island they’re about to find out exactly what they get, too.
• The editorial staff at the Wall Street Journal launches a full-bore criticism of Joe Biden’s tax rhetoric. Meanwhile, The Angry Reporter responds, angrily.
• On a lighter note, Don’t Mess With Taxes parses Tina Fey’s Emmy speech to find out which cities and states treat the TV and movie businesses nicely.