Business

Europe has banned the use of €500 bills.

The reason?

They claim these bills are used in money laundering and for drugs. And if you believe that is the concern, you probably believe the earth is flat.

The fact of the matter is that Europe is now the center for misguided Central Planning for monetary policy. ECB President Mario Draghi has cut interest rates not once, not twice, not even thrice, but FOUR times into NIRP.

The end result has been two items:

• Europe shares, oil snap four-day losing streaks (Reuters)
• Oil rallies as Canada fire and Libya violence threaten supply (Reuters)
• How Trump Won—and How the GOP Let Him (WSJ)
• Hedge Fudge Managers Lose Their Swagger (BBG)
• Turkey Premier Said to Give Up as Erdogan Tightens Grip (BBG)
• Health Insurers Struggle to Offset New Costs (WSJ)
• Judge says Clinton may have to testify in email lawsuit (Reuters)
• Trump's deportation plan could slice 2 percent off U.S. GDP (Reuters)

While UBS agreed to pay $1.5 billion to quickly settle charges that the bank manipulated LIBOR, trader Tom "Libor is too high, 'cos I've kept it artificially high" Hayes wasn't so lucky however. Alas, Hayes' pockets weren't that deep and he was the scapegoat UBS chose to offer up to the masses in the wake of the scandal, eventually being found guilty and sentenced to 14 years in jail (later reduced to 11 years).

While markets remain relatively subdued ahead of tomorrow's nonfarm payrolls report, after several days of losses in US stocks, which have taken "sell in May" to heart and pushed the S&P500 to three week lows, overnight markets ignored the latest weak data out of China where the Caixin Services PMI was the latest indicator to disappoint (dropping from 52.2 to 51.8), and instead focused on crude, which rebounded from yesterday's post inventory-build lows and briefly printed above $45/bbl over uncertainty related to the impact of Canada wildfires on production and how long will last.

A Big Bank Suggests WEALTH Taxation

Written by Jeff Nielson (CLICK FOR ORIGINAL)

There is a two-word phrase which is virtually never heard within the vacuous propaganda machine known as the mainstream media: “wealth taxation”. There are very obvious reasons for such conceptual censorship.