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One month of slower job growth might have been a blip. Two suggest a worrisome trend: The economy may be faltering again.

The United States generated just 115,000 jobs last month, well below expectations and the fewest since October. The unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent, but for the wrong reason _ workers abandoned the labor force.

From December through February, employers added 252,000 jobs a month on average. But the figure dipped in March and dropped further in April, raising doubts about an economic recovery that can’t seem to reach escape velocity.

The report Friday by the Labor Department indicated “an economy that is losing momentum _ especially on the jobs front,” said Tom Porcelli, chief U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets.

It also dealt a blow to President Barack Obama’s re-election prospects. His presumed Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, called the report “very disappointing.”

Romney said the country should be adding 500,000 jobs a month and said any unemployment rate above 4 percent is “not cause for celebration.” The rate has not been that low seen since the last days of the Clinton administration.

“We seem to be slowing down, not speeding up,” Romney said on Fox News Channel. “This is not progress.”

Obama, at a Virginia high school to promote a freeze on interest rates for student loans, focused on the six-month total of more than 1 million jobs created. But he said: “We’ve got to do more.”

The 8.1 percent unemployment rate is the lowest since January 2009, the month Obama was sworn in.

Still, the weak job growth caused stocks to fall sharply on Wall Street. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 1.6 percent and closed its worst week of the year. The price of oil fell more than 4 percent because of fears of a slowing economy, which should mean lower gasoline prices soon.

Some of the slower job growth may be because an unusually warm winter allowed construction firms and other companies to add workers ahead of schedule in January and February, effectively stealing jobs from the spring.

The weaker job growth in March and April “looks like some weather payback,” said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics.

The balmy weather probably exaggerated job growth in the winter and makes it look small now, Ashworth said. He expects job creation to settle into a lackluster range between 175,000 and 200,000.

The economy may not be growing fast enough to produce anything stronger. Economists surveyed by The Associated Press expect the economy to grow 2.5 percent this year. That is consistent with monthly job growth of only about 135,000, according to calculations by Brad DeLong, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley.

That is barely enough to keep up with population growth not nearly enough to recover the jobs lost in the Great Recession quickly. At this year’s pace, it will take until May 2014 to restore employment to its 2008 peak of 138 million.

The United States has only recovered 3.8 million, or 43 percent, of the 8.8 million jobs lost between the peak, in February 2008, and January 2010.

David Boyce, 30, is one of those still looking for work. He lost his sales job two years ago and ran out of unemployment benefits in September. He and his wife, who is working reduced hours as a nanny, are struggling to get by.

“We lived off savings for a while,” he said. “And now we’re living off ramen noodles basically.”

April’s hiring slump was broad. Only two of 10 large categories tracked by the government, retailers and professional and business services, hired more workers in April than they did in March Low fee payday loans.

The categories of manufacturing and education and health services added the fewest jobs in five months. Hotels, restaurants and entertainment companies added the fewest in eight months.

Friday’s report noted that that the average hourly wage went up one penny in April. Over the past year, average pay has increased 1.8 percent, almost a full percentage point shy of the inflation rate, which means the average American isn’t keeping up with price increases.

Even April’s bright spot, the lower unemployment rate, fades on closer inspection.

The government only counts people as unemployed if they’re looking for work. And 340,000 Americans stopped looking and dropped out of the labor force in April, which is why the unemployment rate fell slightly. The dropouts mean just 63.6 percent of working-age Americans were working or looking for work, the lowest since 1981.

It has been almost three years since the Great Recession ended in June 2009. Economists say countries usually flounder for several years after a financial crisis like the one that hit the United States in 2008.

Damaged banks are reluctant to lend. Borrowers who took on too much debt in the good times change their ways, cut their spending and try to repair their finances. The economy grows slowly.

And after this financial crisis, the economy is trying to gather speed without two of the engines that usually help power economic recoveries: housing and government spending.

A housing collapse caused the crisis, and home construction isn’t doing much to lead the way out. Housing hasn’t contributed to economic growth since 2005, though a recent burst of apartment construction might change that this year.

Government hiring also normally boosts employment after a recession. Not this time. Cities, towns and counties, especially, have been cutting employment. Private employers have added jobs every month since February 2010, noted Gary Burtless, senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution. Over that same period, government payrolls have dropped by 500,000.

Local governments are beginning to recover some of the tax revenue lost in the recession and its aftermath. But government hiring hasn’t started yet: 15,000 government workers, most of them in local schools, lost their jobs in April.

The recovery has one thing going for it: Even meager gains in jobs will feed on themselves and create growth that eventually becomes self-sustaining. The hiring leads to spending, which stimulates demand and leads to more hiring, which leads to more spending. The country has created 1.5 million jobs in eight months.

The economists AP surveyed said they believe the economy has entered such a “virtuous cycle.” But they said they don’t expect unemployment to reach a healthy level _ below 6 percent _ until 2015 or later.

Until then, many companies are likely to behave like the North American division of Philips, the healthcare and consumer products company. It is hiring, but more slowly than in years past.

The company is trying to fill 400 jobs, including 127 in Cleveland, where it has a plant that makes medical imaging equipment. Things are improving, said Cynthia Burkhardt, the company’s vice president of talent acquisition. But “I wouldn’t say that we’re full steam ahead right now. Everyone’s cautious about the economy.”

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News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch is unfit to lead his global media empire, an influential group of British lawmakers said Tuesday.

In a scathing report, the lawmakers said his company misled Parliament about the scale of phone hacking at one of its tabloids.

Parliament’s cross-party Culture, Media and Sport committee said News International, the British newspaper division of Murdoch’s News Corp., had deliberately ignored evidence of malpractice, covered up evidence and frustrated efforts to expose wrongdoing.

Murdoch has insisted he was unaware that hacking was widespread at his now-shuttered News of the World tabloid, blaming underlings for keeping him in the dark.

The legislators said if that was true, “he turned a blind eye and exhibited willful blindness to what was going on in his companies.”

“We conclude, therefore, that Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company,” the report by the panel of 11 lawmakers said.

Labour Party panel member Tom Watson said the decision had not been unanimous, and Conservative lawmakers Louise Mensch _ who opposed condemning Murdoch _ said the split had been along party lines Same day payday loans.

The judgment on Murdoch implies that News Corp., which he heads, is also not a fit to control British Sky Broadcasting, in which News Corp. holds a controlling stake of 39 percent.

The committee agreed unanimously that three key News International executives misled Parliament by offering false accounts of their knowledge of the extent of phone hacking at the News of The World _ a rare and serious censure which usually demands a personal apology to legislators.

Murdoch closed down the 168-year-old Sunday tabloid last July amid public revulsion at the hacking of voice mail messages of celebrities and victims of crime, including murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

Throughout the scandal, News International’s approach “was to cover up rather than seek out wrongdoing,” the legislators wrote.

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Investor fear calmed on both sides of the Atlantic on Wednesday, one day after the worst plunge on Wall Street this year.

In the United States, Alcoa reported a surprise profit after the stock market closed on Tuesday, raising hope that corporate earnings may not be as weak as analysts think. More reports will trickle out over the next few weeks.

And in Europe, borrowing costs for Spain edged down after nearly reaching 6 percent the day before. Seven percent is generally considered the point at which countries must seek bailouts.

The result was a U-turn on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 100 points in early trading, to 12,815. It had a 214-point drop Tuesday, its biggest this year and the fifth straight day of declines.

European markets rose, too. Stocks climbed roughly 1 percent in the major capitals after losing 2 to 3 percent the day before. The dollar and Treasury prices fell.

The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 13 points to 1,371. The Nasdaq composite index re-crossed the closely watched 3,000 mark, rising 26 points to 3,017.

Alcoa’s stock soared 8 percent in the morning, investors’ first chance to react to its report that it had turned a quarterly profit and handily beat the expectations of Wall Street analysts, who were predicting a loss. Since Alcoa is the first company in the Dow to report earnings, its results have a greater ability to propel the market than companies that report later.

Investors on Wednesday seemed to latch onto a few pieces of good news out of Europe. Spain’s borrowing rate on its 10-year bonds dropped back to 5.87 percent, down from Tuesday’s four-month high of 5.93 percent. Seven percent is usually considered the point at which a country can longer afford to borrow money.

But there were other signs that problems in Europe are still hibernating rather than solved. Spain’s borrowing costs are still dangerously high. Italy sold 12-month bonds but was forced to pay more than double the interest rate compared to last month, a concession to investors who are nervous about Europe’s health. Even Germany, whose bonds are considered a much safer investment, struggled in its own debt sale. Germany failed to sell all the 10-year bonds that it intended to on the open market.

Upcoming elections in Greece and France also threaten to unravel some of the uneasy peace that has been reached between the weak and the strong countries in Europe. Opposition candidates have promised they won’t go along so easily with the European deals that have been hammered out calling for weaker countries like Greece to cut spending if they are to continue to get rescue funds. Uncertainty in Greece went to a new level Wednesday when the country announced it will hold parliamentary elections months ahead of schedule.

In Cleveland, Planned Financial Services CEO Frank Fantozzi hoped that Alcoa’s good earnings portended more strong reports on line pay day loans. But he was still keeping a close eye on Europe.

“You have people kind of on pins and needles right now,” Fantozzi said. “Europe is spiraling into recession. The question is, is it going to ripple across the Atlantic to the United States.”

The Dow’s 550-point plunge of the previous five days is small potatoes compared to last summer’s frightening swings, including an eight-day plunge when the market shed 858 points as Congress bickered about government debt limits and the S&P prepared to downgrade the U.S. government’s debt rating.

In recent weeks, Europe’s debt crisis and concerns about U.S. earnings haven’t been the only problems. There are also signs that jobs growth is slowing and that the Federal Reserve is disinclined to pump more money into the economy. Some of the sell-off is also probably from investors trying to get out of the market now with their first-quarter gains still intact. If the Dow closes higher today, it will be the first time since April 2 and only the second gain since the second quarter began.

Despite the uncertain second quarter, the first quarter was stellar. The market rose steadily, and that has fueled its ability to handle recent negative news.

“It’s like a person,” Fantozzi said. “If you’re feeling good overall and a couple negative things happen, you just shrug it off. If you’re feeling lousy overall and then you get some good news, you still feel lousy.”

Investors remain concerned that high gas prices could rekindle a recession, forcing companies to raise prices and crimping household budgets.

Oil prices inched up toward $102 per barrel Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, reversing Tuesday’s decline. Though they’re down from the nearly $110 per barrel reached last month, they’re still above October’s price of $75.

The rising prices are partly because of international tension over Iran’s nuclear program, with new talks scheduled to begin Saturday. Iran, which has already cut off shipments to several European countries, said Wednesday it had stopped shipping to Germany.

Among stocks making big moves:

_Avon rose nearly 3 percent, two days after naming a new CEO that it hopes will turn around a company plagued by bribery allegations and an unwanted takeover bid.

_Owens-Illinois Inc., which makes glass containers for the food and beverage industries, jumped 10 percent. The company said it expects its earnings per share to surge 35 percent because of more productive manufacturing methods and cost cuts.

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China swung to a surprise trade surplus of $5.35 billion in March as exports grew faster than expected and import growth eased from a 13-month peak, customs data showed on Tuesday.

Import and export growth were both down sharply from February’s Lunar New Year distorted surge, and within sight of the government’s target of 10 percent expansion for 2012.

The data reinforced the view of most analysts that China’s trade-sensitive economy is set for a soft landing, with GDP growth likely to have eased for a fifth successive quarter to 8.3 percent in the first three months of 2012 and remaining on course for its slowest year of expansion in a decade.

“The trade data looks okay… it shows the global economy is recovering, albeit slowly,” said Zhou Hao, an economist with ANZ Bank in shanghai.

“Given that China had a trade surplus in the first quarter versus a deficit in the Q1 last year, it indicates a positive contribution to GDP growth. We reckon Q1 GDP growth should be 8.6 percent. I think the market is a bit too pessimistic about China’s economy.”

Import growth of 5.3 percent in March compared with economists’ expectations of 9.0 percent and February’s 39.6 percent growth, while export growth of 8.9 percent compared with a consensus call for 7.2 percent, still a marked easing from February’s 18.4 percent rate.

The two numbers left the overall trade balance in surplus, reversing February’s $31.5 billion run of red ink on the balance of payments and confounding market expectations of a $1.3 billion deficit.

But despite the unexpected return to surplus, the relatively slack pace of export growth may still concern investors who believe the risks of recession in the debt-ridden European Union — China’s top export market — could be a dangerous drag on growth in the world’s number 2 economy.

March data provided the first hard economic numbers of the year not distorted by the impact of the Lunar New Year holiday that fell in January this year, causing considerable skew in comparisons with the February 2011 holiday.

China’s data releases build to a crescendo through the week with first quarter GDP numbers expected to be published on Friday and forecast to show the slowest quarter of growth in nearly three years.

Inflation data published on Monday kept the government on stand-by to deliver more growth-oriented policies, with a trend of easing consumer costs in the first quarter confirmed while producer prices revealed risks to the industrial sector recovery.

The People’s Bank of China has cut the proportion of deposits banks must keep as reserves by 100 basis points in two moves since autumn 2011 in a bid to keep credit growing in the face of a recent slowdown of foreign capital inflows, which had underpinned money supply growth for much of the last decade.

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Consumers have become accustomed to lots of choice for entertainment and information services. Music and movie services offer single downloads and a range of subscription models, while newspapers and magazines sell their content as individual issues or subscriptions on multiple platforms.

Yet Canadian cable and satellite providers remain a stubborn holdout. The broadcast community has long resisted a market-oriented approach that would allow consumers to exercise real choice in their cable and satellite packages, instead demanding a corporate welfare regulatory framework that guarantees big profits and mediocre programming. That could change if the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has the courage to push back against Bell Media in a major case involving the terms of broadcast distribution.

The case pits Canada

About 100 students protested Friday ahead of a speech at Cambridge University by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former International Monetary Fund chief whose career collapsed after he was charged with sexual assault.

The 62-year-old French politician, often called DSK, was scheduled to speak on Europe’s financial crisis at the university’s debating society later Friday despite calls for the event to be canceled. The protesters said the university should not give a platform to a man with such a troubling attitude toward women.

“It’s got nothing to do with freedom of speech,” said student Francesca Williams, 21. “They’re inviting a man who hates women. I don’t think DSK should be given the privilege of speaking in front of a private audience.”

Earlier, police arrested a man and a woman, both in their early 20s, on suspicion of vandalizing The Cambridge Union Society building. The Cambridge News website displayed photos showing its walls defaced with messages including “DSK GO AWAY” and “WOMEN DESERVE BETTER.”

Strauss-Kahn resigned as head of the IMF after allegations last May that he sexually assaulted New York hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo no fax payday advances. Prosecutors later dropped criminal charges against him, but Diallo has brought a civil case against him.

In an unrelated case, he was questioned by police in Lille, France, last month about a suspected hotel prostitution ring.

Diallo’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, spoke to about 100 Cambridge students and journalists on her behalf at a rival event earlier Friday. Letting Strauss-Kahn speak at the prestigious university was “giving him a platform to use Cambridge University to help his publicity campaign,” Wigdor said.

A statement posted Friday on the debating union’s website states that the invitation was made well before Strauss-Kahn’s controversial departure from the IMF. His experience in French politics mean that he was “exceptionally well qualified” to speak on the financial crisis and the French presidential election, it said.

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Optimism over the state of the U.S. economy supported markets on Friday ahead of a weekend meeting of the finance ministers of the leading 20 industrial and developing nations in Mexico, where Europe’s debt crisis will likely be a key topic of debate.

With Greece pressing ahead with demands to get its hands on a euro130 billion ($173 billion) bailout, market concerns over an imminent default by the country have diminished, and that’s helped the euro spike to two and a month highs against the dollar.

On Friday, Greece is expected to launch a public offer for a massive bond swap designed to knock euro107 billion ($142 billion) off its debt held by banks and other private investors.

“We have reached a point where concerns over Europe have been abated for the time being, allowing investors to focus properly on the rest of the global economy, and what people are seeing is pretty positive,” said Simon Furlong, a trader at Spreadex.

Particularly encouraging has been the recent economic newsflow out of the U.S., especially with regards to jobs. Later in the day, investors will focus on the closely-watched consumer confidence survey from the University of Michigan and figures on new house sales.

Economic recovery in the U.S. is hugely important for the global economy because it could help Europe’s ailing economy, further ease the debt concerns and shore up confidence in financial markets.

Last summer, when Europe’s debt crisis became particularly acute, worries over the U.S. economy, symbolized best by Standard & Poor’s decision to strip the world’s largest economy of its triple A rating, fueled the turmoil in the financial markets.

In 2012, signs of calm in Europe coupled with encouraging U.S. economic indicators have supported markets, with many of the world’s leading indexes back at levels they were trading at before last summer’s massive sell-off.

The positive momentum continued on Friday, when the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.1 percent at 5,941 and Germany’s DAX rose 0 instant payday loan lenders.8 percent to 6,866. The CAC-40 in France was 0.5 percent higher at 3,465.

The euro traded up 0.2 percent at $1.3394, its highest level since Dec. 12.

Wall Street was poised for a similarly solid opening _ Dow futures were up 0.2 percent at 13,002 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures rose 0.3 percent to 1,367.

Over the weekend, investors will be interested in what transpires at a meeting of the G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Mexico. While the gathering will focus on promoting global economic stability and growth, Europe’s debt crisis will remain a key topic.

In particular, European officials will press for countries like the U.S., China and the U.K. to allow the International Monetary Fund to contribute more money to eurozone rescue measures. Several countries are reluctant, however, to expose the IMF to more risk in Europe.

Earlier in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.5 percent to close at 9,647.38 and South Korea’s Kospi added 0.6 percent to 2,019.89. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.1 percent to close at 21,406.86.

Mainland Chinese shares were boosted by speculation local governments would relax restrictions on the property market and monetary authorities would tweak policy to stimulate growth.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.2 percent to 2,439.63, its highest close in more than 3 months. The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index gained 1.4 percent to 972.62. Shares in real estate, cement and coal minters led the advance.

One growing concern is the price of oil, which has been driven higher by tensions over Iran and the weakening dollar _ kept Asian markets in check because of worries it could crimp the U.S. economic recovery.

Benchmark crude for April delivery was up 66 cents to $108.49 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Faced with growing competition from the likes of Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, more than 100 community banks have joined forces to take on the megabanks.

Once rivals, these smaller financial institutions have banded together under a common brand called Kasasa. A total of 128 banks and credit unions across 35 states have joined this brand alliance to pool their advertising and marketing resources and offer more competitive products to their customers.

The banks’ customers still conduct business directly with their individual bank (and their account is still FDIC-insured through the bank), but they are also getting the added benefits of being part of the broader network. For example, customers of member banks are able to open free Kasasa-branded rewards checking accounts and Kasasa high-interest savings accounts.

Started in 2009, Kasasa is the brainchild of Gabe Krajicek, the CEO of BancVue, which serves as the parent company of the alliance. Once a bank joins Kasasa, the company trains the staff on setting up Kasasa-branded accounts and handles all of the marketing and promotion for the banks.

‘I dumped my bank!’

In exchange, the bank pays a series of fees, both upfront and ongoing. There’s a setup fee, a monthly software license fee and a success fee for each Kasasa-branded account that the bank opens. All of these costs depend on the size of the institution. Plus, the banks give a portion of their marketing and advertising budget to Kasasa.

For many of the banks that have joined Kasasa, the fees have been worth it.

Fighting a megabank invasion: As the megabanks kept opening branches in his area, David Krause, CEO of Pioneer Bank in St. James, Minn., reached out to his competitors to discuss banding together.

"I’ve been in banking for 25 years and viewed every other bank as a competitor," said Krause. "But over the past couple years, I’ve realized that other banks like us that serve their communities shouldn’t be the ones we’re competing with. We should really be highlighting our strengths and looking at megabanks as the competition."

A small community bank with six branches and only $223 million in deposits, his outfit was no match for banks like Bank of America, with nearly $1 trillion in deposits. Pioneer didn’t have the resources to market itself or offer products that could compete with the big banks in terms of online features, rates and incentives.

So last year, Krause held a meeting at a local hotel with a handful of other community bank presidents. And by the time the meeting was over, he had convinced two other banks to join Kasasa faxless cash advances.

Pioneer Bank currently offers three of Kasasa’s products and has more than 1,500 Kasasa account holders with deposits totaling more than $14 million. In the first 15 months that the bank has offered the accounts, checking and savings deposits have increased 25%, compared to an increase of only 5% for the 15 months prior to that.

Economies of scale: The more banks that sign on from a specific region, the more money Kasasa has to reach potential customers in that area.

By getting seven banks in Ohio to join forces, for example, Kasasa was able to become the official sponsor of the Cleveland Cavaliers this January — something one of the seven community banks would never have had the resources to do on its own, said Krajicek.

Are big banks really changing their ways?

Momentum has been picking up recently as more consumers seek alternatives to fee-heavy big banks. Last year, Kasasa nearly doubled the number of community banks and credit unions in its network. Nearly all of the new members joined in the last four months of 2011.

At the rate things are going, Krajicek expects to double its membership by the end of the year and hit 1,000 members in three to five years. It is currently in discussions with 49 additional institutions. By the end of the first quarter, it expects to have an advertising budget of about $13.5 million.

Jeff Elsea, CEO of the Bank of Weston in Missouri, is one of the network’s new recruits. After watching the number of community banks shrink from 10 to 3 as banks like Chase and Bank of America popped up in the area, he started reaching out to his rivals.

"[Megabanks] come in and put a branch here and there, and because of their marketing power they can run four-page ads all over the ‘Kansas City Star,’ they have billboards everywhere, and us little people can’t do that," said Elsea.

Funny money? 11 local currencies

Over the first two years of becoming part of Kasasa, the bank has generated $12 million in new deposits — about a 10% increase — which is a "big deal" for a bank with only about $100 million in total deposits, he said.

While some bankers were initially skeptical about teaming up with their rivals, he’s confident that they will soon be following his lead.

"They were curious as to why in the world I would be calling them up and getting them to meet up, and the first time we got together there was some skepticism, but once they see the results we’ve had, I think they’ll be coming back around," he said. 

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Poor you. You slave over your taxes, hating every minute of it, but knowing you’ll get a nice reward at the end when you see how big your refund will be.

Then what happens? No refund. The Internal Revenue Service wants YOU to pay THEM. The nerve.

Worse: You don’t have the money.

There are lots of ways this could happen. Suppose you were laid off and collected unemployment insurance. That’s taxable, and Missouri doesn’t automatically deduct the taxes.

You might have raided your 401(k) plan to pay the rent. The withdrawals are taxable, and there’s a 10 percent penalty if you’re under 59 ½ years old.

“That’s really bad. Not only do you lose your job, but you owe taxes,” says Serita Eldridge, president of the Missouri Society of Enrolled Agents - people approved by the IRS to represent citizens in tax cases.

Or suppose you had some big wins at the slots. Uncle Sam wants his cut.

People who start small businesses sometimes misunderstand the law and get nailed come April. Workers cobbling together a living out of several part-time jobs sometimes discover that too little money was withheld for taxes.

No matter why, you may have to stiff the IRS come April.

So, let’s look at ways to fend off the tax man until you can pay up. We’ll also review ways to beg for mercy if you owe so much that you can’t possibly pay ever. (Good luck with that.)

First, file your tax return even if you can’t pay. The penalty for not filing is much bigger than that for not paying. If you don’t file, the IRS will fine you 5 percent per month, compounded monthly, plus interest at 6 percent per year, also compounded monthly on your unpaid taxes.

If you file but don’t pay, the IRS will want a one-time penalty of 5 percent, plus six percent annual interest compounded monthly.

So, send in whatever money you can spare to keep the cost down.

You can set up an installment plan by filling out an IRS form. Suggest a payment you can afford - defaulting on the IRS is a bad idea.

If you can pay it all off within 120 days, the plan is free. Need longer and you’ll pay a $52 set-up fee if you let the government tap your bank account for the payments, or $105 if you don’t. There’s a lower fee for low-income people.

The IRS does have a heart, albeit a small and stony one. If you’ve been knocked flat by life, you can file for an “Extension of Time for Payment of Tax Due to Undue Hardship.” You’ll have to list your assets and expenses, and explain the personal disaster that befell you. Death often counts. Serious illness might.

If you appear pitiful enough, the IRS may waive penalties, although interest will still run.

If you are extremely and hopelessly pitiful, you can make an “Offer in Compromise.” You offer to pay part of what you owe, if the IRS forgives the rest.

Forgiveness is limited among tax collectors. The IRS rejects three out of four compromise applications.

The program works best for people in dire straits - those too sick to work or needing expensive medical care. The IRS calculates how much it can squeeze out of you over the next few years if you sell what you own and subsist on a spartan budget dictated by the government. If you offer that amount, the IRS may take it.

The IRS doesn’t give a hoot about your other debts. It costs $150 to apply, and the taxpayer must make a partial tax payment with the application.

“If you have to owe money, the IRS is not the person you want to owe money too,” says Mark Luscombe, tax analyst at CCH Inc., the tax analysis and software company.

If your IRS debt is three years old, you might be able to dump it by going bankrupt, says Luscombe.

There’s no reason for panic if you can’t pay on time. “The IRS doesn’t come after you with full force,” says Eldridge. “They’ll tell you exactly what they’re going to do before they do it.”

Above all, the IRS doesn’t like to be ignored. Answer their letters promptly. If you’re attempting to pay, they are much less likely to get nasty and file liens and garnishments.

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Every auto show, these days, is "all about plug-in cars and hybrids," they say. Everyone’s gawking at the cherry on top while few notice how different the ice cream underneath is.

At the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, you can see the auto industry changing — deeply, quickly and probably forever. The reasons are stricter fuel economy regulations and changing attitudes toward environmental responsibility.

Yes, those are things car companies talk about when showing off cars such as the new Ford Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid or the Acura NSX hybrid performance car concept.

But fuel economy and the environment are, just as much or maybe even more, the reasons that cars such as the Dodge Dart are equipped with fuel-efficient 4-cylinder engines, or why General Motors (, Fortune 500) unveiled the very small Buick Encore compact SUV.

They’re also why there was one notable omission from this year’s Detroit show. Not a single truck or large SUV was unveiled at any of the show stands this year. There have been auto shows in recent memory at which it seemed there were nothing but massive trucks rolling out under every drape.

Cool cars from the Detroit Auto Show

There were SUVs, of course — there always will be — such as the Buick Encore.

There was also the new Nissan Pathfinder, but even that roomy, 3-row SUV proves the point that fuel economy has become the big bogie. The Pathfinder you see on the roads today is a truck-based vehicle built to withstand real off-road use. The new one rides on car-like engineering, which will allow it to be lighter and less thirsty.

Engines themselves are getting smaller, too. Even the venerable Bentley is downsizing. The British ultra-luxury automaker unveiled the Continental GT V8 at the show.

Under the hood of this car is a relatively modest twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 which, Bentley estimates, will quaff 40% less premium than the 6.0-liter V12 in the less stingy version of the car. Even with the V8, performance will still be "exhilarating," Bentley promises.

In more pedestrian cars, the "bigger engine" option is pretty much out. Today, the Ford Fusion is available with a V6 engine. The new one will not be. Only various 4-cylinder engines will be offered. The Dodge Dart, as well, will be available only with 4-cylinder engines.

Even performance is being subtly redefined. It used to be that performance was measured in one, single, easily stated number: horsepower. In auto shows past, carmakers would compete to see who could unveil the car with most eye-popping horsepower number.

And that’s not entirely over. Shelby American Inc. was on hand with its display of modified Ford (, Fortune 500) Mustangs with horsepower outputs stretching all the way to a gut-crunching 800.

The "new performance" could be found at the Subaru and Toyota () stands, where the identical Subaru BRZ and Scion FRS were on display. These cars put out a relatively slight 200 horsepower out of 2.0-liter flat-four engines. That’s an impressive figure, given the size of the engine and the fact that it doesn’t have a power-boosting turbocharger or supercharger.

But these cars aren’t about zero-to-60 times, Scion and Subaru representatives say. They’re about driving fun. Engineers put the engine as low as possible in the car to create the lowest possible center of gravity, the idea being to optimize cornering while still going quick enough to produce a healthy grin.

This new trend in less showy fuel economy was perhaps best exhibited in the show’s opening moment. A jury of automotive journalists awarded the North American Car and Truck of the Year Awards to the Hyundai Elantra and the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque.

The Elantra, a compact car, gets 40 miles a gallon without sacrificing driving fun. The Range Rover Evoque uses a turbocharged 4-cylinder engine to provide enjoyable driving performance while still getting an impressive — in this context — 22 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving.

Of course, there are still those plug-in cars. But with standard, run-of-the-mill gasoline-powered cars pushing the fuel economy bar ever higher, they seem likely to remain car show sideshows for a few years longer. 

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