European Union

• U.S. Republicans left scrambling after health bill sinks again (Reuters); Republicans Give Up on Health-Care Reform, Now Seek Straight Repeal (BBG)
• Trump Blames Democrats and a ‘Few Republicans’ for Health-Bill Wreck (BBG)
• House Republicans Set Out Plan to Rewrite Tax Code (WSJ)
• House GOP Budget Ignores Trump’s Cuts to Domestic Agencies (BBG)
• House Republicans unveil 2018 budget with tax reform instructions (Reuters)
• UK inflation unexpectedly falls and eases rate-hike fears (AP)

Bitcoin and other digital currencies are seemingly tailor-made for use by organized crime groups, given that they’re widely used and allow for a level of anonymity. But a study by the European Union exploring financing options used by organized crime and terror groups claims that the technological barriers associated with using bitcoin and other digital currencies have so far prevented widespread adoption.

The use of cryptocurrencies by criminal groups – other than hackers - is fairly rare.

In its conclusion, the report claims that:

Another new week, another day with not much going on. So much, or rather little so, that in its daily wrap Citi starts off with the following: "Pop Art pioneer Andy Warhol, who once said “I like boring things”, would have been a huge fan of today’s session thus far. Though several events of note linger on the horizon for later this week, G10 is firmly on the beach as of this morning."

Authored by Danielle Lacalle via The Mises Institute,

Angela Merkel used to say that “the European Union is about 5% of the world’s population, about 25% of its GDP, and about 50% of global welfare spending.”

The real data is more concerning.

The European Union is:

• 7.2% of the World Population.
• 23.8% of the World’s GDP.
• 58% of the World’s Welfare Spending.

Something has to give.

Authored by Nauman Sadiq via Oriental Review,

According to a recent infographic by New York Times, 79,000 US troops have currently been deployed in Europe out of 210,000 total US troops stationed all over the world, including 47,000 in Germany, 15,000 in Italy and 17,000 in the rest of Europe. By comparison, the number of US troops stationed in Afghanistan is only 8,400 which is regarded as an occupied country. Thus, Europe is nothing more than a backyard of corporate America.