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Income Tax
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2012
Sep. 30, 2011
Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]    
Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]

9. Income Tax

The Company's provision for income tax expense differed from the amounts computed by applying the U.S. federal income tax statutory rate of 35% to pre-tax income as a result of the following (dollars in thousands):

   Three months ended September 30, Nine months ended September 30,
   2012 2011 2012 2011
Tax provision at U.S. statutory rate$ 70,517 $ 54,739 $ 209,347 $ 199,612
Increase (decrease) in income taxes resulting from:           
 Foreign tax rate differing from U.S. tax rate   (3,174)   (4,382)   (10,063)   (9,583)
 Differences in tax basis in foreign jurisdictions  (5,073)   (1,604)   (7,991)   (4,550)
 Subpart F income  943   --   6,015   --
 Travel and entertainment  111   147   350   396
 Deferred tax valuation allowance   105   --   250   795
 Amounts related to audit contingencies  (747)   984   1,276   4,499
 Change in cash surrender value of insurance policies  (164)   756   (907)   173
 Canadian corporate rate reduction  330   (30,687)   (1,319)   (30,687)
 Prior year tax adjustment  (4,869)   1,778   (6,013)   1,784
 Other, net  (975)   63   (1,715)   415
  Total provision for income taxes$ 57,004 $ 21,794 $ 189,230 $ 162,854
              
Effective tax rate 28.3%  13.9%  31.6%  28.6%

During the three-month and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2011, the Company recognized an income tax benefit associated with previously enacted reductions in federal statutory tax rates and adjustments to various provincial statutory tax rates in Canada. This 2007 tax rate change enactment included phased in effective dates through 2012. These adjustments in tax rates should have been recognized beginning in 2007, when the Canadian tax legislation was enacted. For the three-month and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2011, the Company recorded a cumulative tax benefit adjustment of $30.7 million in “Provision for income taxes” to correct the deferred tax liabilities that were not properly recorded. If the impact of the tax rates had been recorded in the prior years, the Company estimates that it would have recognized approximately $3.0 million, $6.0 million, $9.0 million and $12.0 million of tax benefit in the years ended 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, respectively, and would not have been significant in the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2011.