Business

McDonalds have been fined $341 million dollars (300 million euros) for unpaid taxes in France after French discovered that the fast food corporation had funnelled cash through Luxembourg and Switzerland as part of a huge tax avoidance scheme.  French authorities have accused the fast food giant of taking advantage of a Luxembourg-based entity, McD Europe Franchising, in order to dump their profits and fool the government. Reuters.com reports: McDonald’s France declined to comment on developments in the ongoing French tax investigation, first reported in 2014.

Tomorrow's ECB meeting "looks set to be sleepy" according to Saxo Bank's Mads Koefed as Draghi is largely cornered into confirmation he will do "whatever it takes" and some additional details on the corporate bond purchase plan.

Submitted by Nick Giambruno via InterntionalMan.com,

If you’ve never heard of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), you’re not alone.

Few people have, and even fewer fully grasp the terrible things it foreshadows.

FATCA is a U.S. law that forces every financial institution in the world to give the IRS information about its American clients. Complying with it is a huge financial and administrative burden, measured in hundreds of billions of dollars. It’s a paper shuffler’s dream come true.

Submitted by Tony Sagami via MauldinEconomics.com,

How long will interest rates stay low?

I expect the Fed to keep rates very low for a long, long time. After it raised rates in December, the Fed made it clear that future hikes will be gradual and data dependent. Apparently, the central bank hasn't changed its position:

A dark storm is brewing in the world of private pensions, and all hell could break loose when it finally hits.