NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The U.S. Postal Service renewed its pleas for congressional support Thursday as the floundering agency reported another massive quarterly loss.

The Postal Service announced that it sustained a net loss of $3.3 billion in the last three months of 2011, as declining mail volumes and mounting benefit costs continue to weigh on its business.

In the previous fiscal year, the Postal Service lost $5.1 billion and said its losses would have been roughly $10.6 billion if not for the passage of legislation postponing a $5.5 billion payment required to pre-fund retiree health benefits.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Close to 15% of federal taxes — or $385 billion — went unpaid in 2006, according to new estimates by the IRS.

That’s the net tax gap number — meaning what didn’t get paid even after the $65 billion the IRS managed to collect through audits.

And it’s the closest proxy policymakers have to the country’s annual revenue shortfall, said Mark Luscomb, the principal federal tax analyst at CCH, a tax information publisher.

What’s driving the shortfall? A whopping 84% of the total tax gap is due to underreporting of income by corporations, small businesses and individuals.

More than spirits are being lifted this holiday season.

During the four weeks leading up to Christmas this year, an estimated $1.8 billion in merchandise will be shoplifted from U.S. retailers, according to The Global Retail Theft Barometer, a survey of retailers worldwide. That’s up about 6 percent from $1.7 billion during the same period last year.

“They shoplift for Christmas gifts, they steal for themselves, for their family,” says Joshua Bamfield, executive director of the British-based Centre for Retail Research and author of the survey.

Sticky fingers are common during the holidays. The crowded stores and harried clerks make it easier to slip a tablet computer into a purse or stuff a sweater under a coat undetected. But higher joblessness and falling wages have contributed to an even bigger rise this year. People steal everything from necessities (think food) to luxuries they can no longer afford (think electronics or Gucci purse).

Nearly 2 million Americans currently receiving unemployment benefits stand to lose coverage this January if Congress does not extend the emergency federal unemployment insurance program. 24/7 Wall St. has reviewed a study by the National Employment Law Project to identify the ten states where the most people could lose benefits.

The supercommittee was responsible for extending the unemployment benefits. The group was supposed to reach a federal debt-reduction agreement that would have included an extension of the federal unemployment insurance for people who have run out of state-level benefits. Since the supercommittee failed to reach an agreement, the federal programs will expire on December 31 unless Congressional lawmakers renew it.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — American International Group is back in the red. Way in the red.

The bailed out insurer posted a net loss of $4.1 billion on Thursday, a loss per share of $2.16 for the third quarter. While analysts hadn’t expected the company to post a profit, the size of the loss exceeded expectations.

The outsized loss sent AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) shares lower after the closing bell, with prices dropping more than 1% to $24.35.

And that’s bad news for taxpayers, since the U.S. Treasury still owns a substantial chunk of AIG.

Back in 2008, the government agreed to help the giant insurer get back on its feet with a $180 billion lifeline. AIG has been slowly working toward paying back that loan.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Stocks ended a dismal quarter with heavy losses Friday as investors remain worried about the debt crisis in Europe and the outlook for global economic growth.

The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) fell 240 points, or 2.1%, to close at 10,913. The S&P 500 (SPX) slid 30 points, or 2.5%, to 1,131. The Nasdaq Composite (COMP) fell 65 points, or 2.6%, to 2,415.

The losses capped the biggest quarterly drop for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq since the fourth quarter of 2008. The S&P 500 lost 14% and the Nasdaq fell 13% over the last three months.

The number of borrowers defaulting on federal student loans has risen substantially, highlighting concerns that rising college costs, low graduation rates and poor job prospects are getting more and more students over their heads in debt.

The national two-year cohort default rate rose to 8.8 percent last year, from 7 percent in fiscal 2008, according to figures released Monday by the Department of Education.

The latest figures show the percentage of the more than 3.6 million borrowers whose first payments came due in the year starting October 2008 — at the height of the financial crisis — and who defaulted before Sept. 30, 2010.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The founders of the three largest Internet poker companies have been indicted for running illegal gambling operations, federal law enforcement officials said Friday.

The United States Attorney in New York unsealed the indictment against eleven people, including the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker. The charges include bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling offenses.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — President Obama on Monday may propose limiting tax breaks for the rich, budget and policy experts say.

In the president’s past two budget requests, he called for limits on the the value of itemized deductions for those in the top two tax brackets. That would include deductions for mortgage interest and charitable contributions.

Cablevision and Fox parent News Corp. have walked away from the negotiating table for the evening, leaving 3 million customers in the New York metropolitan area with little hope of watching the first game of baseball’s National League Championship Series from their couch.

Cablevision spokesman Jim Maiella said both sides met for hours Saturday afternoon before walking away. He said negotiators plan to meet again Sunday.

Instead of the baseball playoff game between the Phillies and Giants, Cablevision subscribers in New York City and some suburbs saw and heard a recorded message from Cablevision blaming Fox for its “corporate greed.”

Douglas Garhartt and Brandon Lively were just settling in to the ocean-view San Clemente townhome they bought in March when suddenly they were faced with the threat of eviction.

Less than a week after they closed sale on the condo, it turned out, a small group of investors had purchased the same property — at a foreclosure auction.

How could that have happened? How could one home have been sold to completely different buyers?

Both sides say they did everything right. Both sides have deeds. And both sides are in court right now, trying to sort out the mess.

‘Why are you getting evicted?’

FORTUNE — It’s not yet clear what Burger King’s new owner, the Brazilian-backed private equity firm 3G Capital, has in mind for the troubled No. 2 fast-food chain. But a total strategic revamp is in order.

Burger King (BKC), which went public four years ago after its previous private equity owners cashed out, has limped its way through the recession, losing sales and market share even as its far-better-managed rival, McDonald’s (MCD, Fortune 500), has thrived. Thriving is what fast-food purveyors are supposed to do during a recession, when diners tend to trade down. But Burger King has stubbornly stuck to a losing strategy, falling further behind with each passing quarter. The result: A loss in share value over the two years up until Tuesday — just before rumors of the buyout started to float — of 36%. McDonald’s shares over the same period rose 14%.