Tag: news

WaPo ‘Busts’ Trump’s Doral Club For Hosting Charity Stripper Golf Tournament

Pulitzer-prize winning investigative reporter David Fahrenthold has published his latest bombshell about President Trump’s business empire (which is presently being run – at least nominally – by his sons, Eric and Don Jr.). And let’s just say that, if WaPo was trying to cast more aspersions on Trump the businessman, the paper didn’t do a very good job.

The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that a an area strip club had booked the Doral golf course for a tournament where participants can pay for a stripper to work as a caddy and accompany them around the course. Afterwards, a party for participants will be held back on the strip club’s premises, and it will feature bottle service for the high rollers and a “tasteful” burlesque show that will feature nudity. 

Stripper

But unfortunately for Fahrenthold, who is among a cabal of journalists desperately trying to expose Trump for profiting from his office, he was forced to admit (toward the bottom of the story, of course), that Trump’s Doral resort has actually been struggling thanks to the Trump presidency, since it has lost some of its biggest accounts, including its status as a stop on the PGA Tour.

Shadow Cabaret, the strip club organizing the tournament, has used the Trump name and family insignia in its marketing materials.

The “Shadow All Star Tournament” is organized by the Shadow Cabaret, a strip club in Hialeah, Fla. Emanuele Mancuso, Shadow Cabaret’s marketing director, said in a telephone interview that this was the first time the club had held a tournament at Trump Doral.

The Trump name and family crest are displayed prominently in the strip club’s advertising materials, which offer golfers the “caddy girl of your choice.”

The club’s owner said he didn’t pick the club for political reasons, but because a lot of the tournament’s participants are “VIPs” who demand luxury treatment. He added that the stripper caddies will be clothed “the whole time.”

Mancuso said the strip club did not intend to send a political statement by choosing Trump’s resort. Rather, he said, the choice was for luxury. These golfers are VIPs, Mancuso said. “They deserve a VIP environment.”

Mancuso said there would be no nudity at the resort. On the course, he said, the caddies would wear pink miniskirts and what he called “a sexy white polo.” Afterward, however, the golfers and the dancers would return to another venue – the cabaret itself – for what he described as a “very tasteful” burlesque show, which could involve nudity.

“They’re going to be clothed the whole time” at the golf course, Mancuso said. “At the venue is different.”

When Farenthold contacted the Trump Organization, it not only confirmed that the event would indeed take place at Doral, but also that a Miami children’s charity would receive a share of the proceeds. Farenthold managed to confirm this with the charity, a basketball themed charity called the Miami All Stars.

Contrary to a fiction propagated by the NYT and WaPo that the Trump “brand” had benefited from Trump’s involvement in politics, Doral has seen its revenue fall precipitously, shrinking 70% in two years.

After Trump entered politics, however, the club lost the famous tournament, and its revenue began to decline, according to documents that Trump’s company provided to Miami-Dade County in a tax dispute.

Those documents showed that the club’s net operating income fell 69 percent between 2015 and 2017. The club’s revenue rebounded slightly in 2018, according to Trump’s financial disclosure forms.

“They are severely underperforming” other resorts in the area, said a tax consultant for Trump’s company, arguing in a public hearing that the county should lower the resort’s tax assessment. She blamed the Trump name: “There is some negative connotation that is associated with the brand.”

If you’re looking for more information on the tournament, you can find it here. And we imagine the WaPo will continue writing stories about the more colorful clientele of Trump’s businesses as if they reflect poorly on the president, who has recused himself from involvement with his businesses.

via ZeroHedge News https://ift.tt/30x2ABp Tyler Durden

A Mural Quoting Trump at His Most Profane Is Protected Speech, Judge Rules

A New Orleans warehouse owner may keep up a mural featuring an artist’s interpretation of an infamously profane Donald Trump quote about grabbing women “by the pussy,” a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

The lawsuit pit local warehouse owner (and regular Reason reader) Neal Morris against the City of New Orleans over the city’s nebulous regulations of signs and artwork. In 2018, Morris permitted a street artist to paint a mural on his property featuring Trump’s quote, recorded by Access Hollywood and released to the public during the 2016 campaign. The artwork (shown above) was mostly a direct quote, with a few of Trump’s words—”tits,” “bitch,” “star,” and “pussy”—replaced with pictograms.

Morris went to the city to request information about permitting before putting up the mural, but the city was unable to explain the process of getting authorization. So Morris went ahead and let the artist do his work.

Then the mural got media attention. In response, the City of New Orleans started sending letters to Morris, telling him the mural violated city zoning laws and threatening him with fines and possible jail time. With the assistance of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Morris fought back, arguing that the mural was protected free speech and that the city’s review process for getting a mural approved amounted to inadmissible content-based prior restraint.

Reason first noted the lawsuit in March 2018. In the past year, the City of New Orleans has attempted to amend its regulations to separate artistic expression from commercial speech and advertising. But the new rules still obligated people to submit their mural plans to the city, which would determine if the proposal was actually a “work of art.” Morris and the ACLU argued that these new regulations still counted as prior restraint and were unconstitutionally vague about what counted as artistic expression, thus violating Morris’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman of the Eastern District of Louisiana agreed, granting Morris’ motion for a judgment declaring the city’s mural ordinance unconstitutional and blocking them from enforcing it.

Morris provided a copy of Feldman’s ruling to Reason and clarified the conflict with the city in a brief phone interview. He noted (as did a city employee’s testimony included in the judge’s ruling) that the city had a practice of not enforcing any sort of mural regulations unless somebody complained. Morris figures that a neighbor complained, which prompted the media coverage and the city’s response.

“If you only enforce [these regulations] when there are complaints what you end up with is a heckler’s veto,” Morris says. “There was a complaint about the pictogram of the boobs and a pussy hat. From what the artist was going for, I get it. Why is it okay for the president to say it and do these things, but if you quote it with a pictogram, that becomes obscene?”

As for the reason that he fought the city: “It’s really about government restriction of speech in the age of Trump,” Morris says. “Now more than ever we want to be careful about any encroachment on speech, even when well-meaning. What happens when it’s not your friends in power?”

Morris agreed to cover the mural with canvas during the legal fight. Now that he’s won, Morris says he actually hasn’t decided whether he’ll take the cover down.

“I may just paint over it,” he says. “The artist got his message out and its purpose has been served.”

Read the judge’s ruling here: 2019.07.09 Feldman Order MSJ Morris v. New Orleans

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A Mural Quoting Trump at His Most Profane Is Protected Speech, Judge Rules

A New Orleans warehouse owner may keep up a mural featuring an artist’s interpretation of an infamously profane Donald Trump quote about grabbing women “by the pussy,” a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

The lawsuit pit local warehouse owner (and regular Reason reader) Neal Morris against the City of New Orleans over the city’s nebulous regulations of signs and artwork. In 2018, Morris permitted a street artist to paint a mural on his property featuring Trump’s quote, recorded by Access Hollywood and released to the public during the 2016 campaign. The artwork (shown above) was mostly a direct quote, with a few of Trump’s words—”tits,” “bitch,” “star,” and “pussy”—replaced with pictograms.

Morris went to the city to request information about permitting before putting up the mural, but the city was unable to explain the process of getting authorization. So Morris went ahead and let the artist do his work.

Then the mural got media attention. In response, the City of New Orleans started sending letters to Morris, telling him the mural violated city zoning laws and threatening him with fines and possible jail time. With the assistance of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Morris fought back, arguing that the mural was protected free speech and that the city’s review process for getting a mural approved amounted to inadmissible content-based prior restraint.

Reason first noted the lawsuit in March 2018. In the past year, the City of New Orleans has attempted to amend its regulations to separate artistic expression from commercial speech and advertising. But the new rules still obligated people to submit their mural plans to the city, which would determine if the proposal was actually a “work of art.” Morris and the ACLU argued that these new regulations still counted as prior restraint and were unconstitutionally vague about what counted as artistic expression, thus violating Morris’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman of the Eastern District of Louisiana agreed, granting Morris’ motion for a judgment declaring the city’s mural ordinance unconstitutional and blocking them from enforcing it.

Morris provided a copy of Feldman’s ruling to Reason and clarified the conflict with the city in a brief phone interview. He noted (as did a city employee’s testimony included in the judge’s ruling) that the city had a practice of not enforcing any sort of mural regulations unless somebody complained. Morris figures that a neighbor complained, which prompted the media coverage and the city’s response.

“If you only enforce [these regulations] when there are complaints what you end up with is a heckler’s veto,” Morris says. “There was a complaint about the pictogram of the boobs and a pussy hat. From what the artist was going for, I get it. Why is it okay for the president to say it and do these things, but if you quote it with a pictogram, that becomes obscene?”

As for the reason that he fought the city: “It’s really about government restriction of speech in the age of Trump,” Morris says. “Now more than ever we want to be careful about any encroachment on speech, even when well-meaning. What happens when it’s not your friends in power?”

Morris agreed to cover the mural with canvas during the legal fight. Now that he’s won, Morris says he actually hasn’t decided whether he’ll take the cover down.

“I may just paint over it,” he says. “The artist got his message out and its purpose has been served.”

Read the judge’s ruling here: 2019.07.09 Feldman Order MSJ Morris v. New Orleans

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Wharton Grad Confuses Libor And Libra During Powell Hearing; Hilarity Ensues

Confusing money laundering and overnight funding rates when speaking to the Fed chairman is embarrassing. It is positively humiliating when the confused person is also a Wharton grad.

That’s what happened to Democratic Representative from Georgia’s 13th district, David Scott.

After a brief preamble, in which Scott urged Powell to “stay strong and courageous” – maybe even join the #resistance, why not – as it is important for the world that the “Fed remain strongly independent” and both “democrats and republicans got your back”, he got right to business declaring that “this Libra business is really disturbing and it’s a serious problem. Let me tell you why…first of all, I think we all know, Libra is the London Interbank Offered Rate, very critical. It has and is the standard for the base rate for hundreds of trillions of dollars, both overnight and term loans, debt, derivatives; and it is the standard that has been used internationally and extensively in the United States, affecting individuals, small businesses, large corporations. So we got a big issue here.”

“But because of pervasive manipulation, it is apparent that Libra is going to leave us, be removed within the next year or so” he droned on, clearly seeking to impress the world with his extensive Wikipedia-derived knowledge of a major transition in the overnight funding world, where SOFR is set to replace the current regime.

Of course, the Wharton grad was off from the beginning, and instead of discussing Facebook’s attempt to control every monetary transaction with its own “cryptocurrency” token, which incidentally is anything but a cryptocurrency, was discussing Libor.

Luckily for Scott, Powell was smart enough to grasp what was going on and promptly responded to the representative’s question, without missing a beat or even correcting him.

Twitter, however, was far less forgiving and during today’s House Panel hearing, which was less about monetary policy and more about a free ad for Facebook’s attempt to compete with Bitcoin, unleashed a wave of far more appropriate responses, to wit:

And so on.

Once again, this is a member of the House Financial Services Committee – one of the supposedly “smart” ones – and he is also a Wharton grad. And yes, these are the people crafting the financial legislation for over 300 million Americans.

Watch the full exchange 54 minutes into the hearing.

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FOMC Minutes Show “Many Fed Officials” See Rate-Cuts Warranted

Since the June FOMC meeting, Gold has dramatically outperformed. Stocks are higher but bonds and the dollar have roundtripped to unchanged (at least before Powell’s testimony sparked some comeback).

Better-than-expected macro data has been the theme in the short amount of time since the June FOMC meeting…

But Powell vehemently shrugged good news off today, happier instead to promote the more pessimistic side.

However, eyes remain on the FOMC Minutes for any more signs of dovishness spreading across the Fed members, though notably Powell’s testimony today – uber-dovish – outweighs one-month old meeting minutes.

In fact today alone, the odds of a 50bps rate cut in July has surged to 23% from 0% before Powell spoke…

But the Minutes still managed to be more dovish than expected…

*MANY FED OFFICIALS SAW STRONGER RATE-CUT CASE AMID RISING RISKS

However…

*FED: SEVERAL OFFICIALS DIDN’T YET SEE A STRONG RATE-CUT CASE

There was one sensible member…

*A FEW FED OFFICIALS SAW RATE CUT RISKING FINANCIAL IMBALANCES

But, downside is the worry now…

*MANY FED OFFICIALS IN JUNE SAW RISKS WEIGHTED TO THE DOWNSIDE

Key excerpts from the Minutes include (via Bloomberg)

“While overall financial conditions remained supportive of growth, those conditions appeared to be premised importantly on expectations that the Federal Reserve would ease policy in the near term to help offset the drag on economic growth stemming from uncertainties about the global outlook and other downside risks.”

“Several participants noted that a near-term cut in the target range for the federal funds rate could help cushion the effects of possible future adverse shocks to the economy and, hence, was appropriate policy from a risk-management perspective”

“Many participants noted that they viewed the risks to their growth and inflation projections, such as those emanating from greater uncertainty about trade, as shifting notably over recent weeks and that risks were now weighted to the downside“

“Many participants indicated that the case for somewhat more accommodative policy had strengthened“

“Many judged additional monetary policy accommodation would be warranted in the near term should these recent developments prove to be sustained and continue to weigh on the economic outlook.”

“Many participants noted that, since the Committee’s previous meeting, the economy appeared to have lost some momentum and pointed to a number of factors supporting that view including recent weak indicators for business confidence, business spending and manufacturing activity; trade developments; and signs of slowing global economic growth.”

For now, Fed Funds futures are steady after the Minutes, with 70bps of easing priced in for 2019.

*  *  * Full Minutes Below:

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Pre-Foreclosures Are Spiking Across New York City

Pre-foreclosures are spiking in New York City according to a new PropertyShark analysis. On a quarter over quarter basis, they are up an astounding 31%. Analysis for New York indicated that the city saw 3,070 properties entering pre-foreclosure for the first time in Q2. According to the report, foreclosures are likely to increase in coming quarters based on these numbers.

And it wasn’t just Manhattan: each borough saw a significant spike, with Brooklyn coming in at 43%, Staten Island coming in at 43% and the Bronx coming in at 41%. Manhattan and Queens were both at 17%.

At least for now, foreclosures seem to be holding steady in the city. But that likely won’t last. First time foreclosures were down 4% year-over-year in Q2 with a total of 847 properties foreclosed during the quarter. The city saw a drop of 3% in unique foreclosure cases. Cases in Queens dropped 9% but the borough saw the largest number of foreclosure cases with 324 in Q2.

At 13%, Brooklyn saw the largest quarter over quarter percentage increase in foreclosures as well as a 7% rise in foreclosures year-over-year. 242 properties were foreclosed on in Brooklyn and the borough saw 1,040 unique cases of pre-foreclosure filings in Q2, marking year-over-year growth of 21%.

Staten Island saw foreclosure activity of 9% with 159 homes being foreclosed. 

The steepest drop in foreclosure activity happened in the Bronx, where just 96 homes headed to the auction block in Q2. Foreclosure cases were down 24% year-over-year and 36% sequentially in the borough. Foreclosures in Manhattan remained largely unchanged on a year over year basis. 

But based on the pre-foreclosure numbers, we expect these foreclosure numbers will eventually tick much higher in coming quarters. 

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Predatory “Green Capitalism” Is Monetizing the Air, and It’s Going To Cost You

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

You want to reduce CO2? Then trigger a global depression that reduces global consumption of everything by 50% and destroys 95% of the phantom wealth owned by the global elites trying to monetize the air.

I recently asked What’s Left to Monetize?, and longtime correspondent Mark G. provided the answer: the air we breathe, via carbon taxes and markets for trading carbon credits, i.e. financializing / monetizing Nature to benefit the few at the expense pf the many.

Here’s Mark’s commentary:

You asked, “What’s left to monetize? It appears the answer is ‘very little.'”

I respectfully disagree. The Biggest Enchilada of all is left. Air. Specifically carbon dioxide, CO2. We just have to figure how to get the yokels to agree to pay for that which was formerly free. Got it! First we browbeat them into believing its evil and that we have to tax it to save all life on Earth. Then, following in the finest traditions of the degenerate late medieval Catholic Church, we’ll commission sellers of “Indulgences” to allow sinning at ever rising prices. a/k/a “Carbon Credit trading”. This doesn’t require any value added and the profits on “buy zero sell high” are limitless.

This is the specific outline and the very same agencies that so love financialization of all kinds, $2 trillion dollar student debt to sustain obscenely paid college administrators and academics, endless academic credentialism and huge Hipster Cities sitting on container ports and mediating the China Trade, are all promoting this financialization of CO2 as hard as possible.

This is why a nullity like the Paris Climate Accords continues to be pushed even after its proven every way possible that a) the biggest emitters like China and India won’t adhere to them and b) even if they did the prescribed regimes will do nothing anyway.

And its why I “don’t believe” in it. Or rather, its why I believe its just the next and biggest financial scam.

Thank you, Mark, for answering my naive question: of course Wall Street and the Davos Crowd are salivating over the hundreds of billions of profits to be skimmed from carbon taxes and trading. Not that corporations, financiers or billionaires will pay the carbon taxes; they will be passed on to consumers of everything that emits CO2, i.e. pretty much everything, including us of course.

Never mind that plant life needs CO2, and that planting trees could soak up the carbon at a fraction of the cost of neoliberal carbon taxes/credits; the goal of the “environmentalists” flying in on their private jets isn’t to actually reduce CO2–it’s to engineer a new source of rentier profits via monetizing / financializing CO2.

Planting a trillion trees could be the “most effective solution” to climate change, study says.

Here’s the neoliberal fantasy that’s being sold and sold hard: making a market for carbon credits etc. will magically cause those paying more for emitting carbon to emit less.

This is the Neoliberal Skim/Scam: privatizing what was once free and funneling the profits to the few at the expense of the many. Call it rentier, call it exploitation, call it predatory– all are accurate.

So streets that once offered free parking now have parking meters that have been privatized to benefit private-sector corporations.

The neoliberal predators have come up with a new sales pitch to cover their predation: “green capitalism,” the notion that sending all the Bad Things to the landfill and replacing them with very costly (and oh so profitable to global corporations and financiers) Good Things will magically save a status quo dependent on “Growth” while also magically reducing CO2.

Wrong on all counts.If we measure the full lifecycle costs and environmental burdens of the Good Things (all electric vehicles, etc.), we find that replacing all the existing stuff on the planet will actually increase CO2 immensely–the reduction is trivial while the CO2 emitted in the extraction, processing, manufacture, transport and maintenance of the replacement stuff (i.e. “Growth”) will vastly increase CO2, as will all the green capitalists’ private jets.

As Mark pointed out, the majority of CO2 is emitted by nations that have no interest in reducing CO2, nor will they pay carbon taxes or play Wall Street’s game of trading carbon credits.

So the net result of neoliberal “green capitalism” is higher CO2 and hundreds of billions of dollars of wealth skimmed from those who can least afford it while Al Gore and the rest of the Davos / NGO / philanthro-capitalist elites jet in for another “green” conference.

There is nothing remotely capitalist in the traditional sense in this Neoliberal Predation: no new products or services are created, no value is created, and CO2 isn’t reduced; it’s pure exploitation of the powerless who have been brow-beaten into believing the skim/scam is somehow “environmental.”

Longtime correspondent Simon H. submitted a series of links for those who wish to know more about the hijacking of the environmental movement by predatory “green capitalism”:

Climate Capitalists:

The global movement calling for action on climate change has captured the imagination and enthusiasm of thousands of people who care about the future of our world.

However, alarming evidence has emerged, suggesting that this movement is being manipulated by business interests who aim not to save the planet but to save capitalism, not to halt the environmental crisis but to profit from it, not to protect nature but to commodify it.

We don’t want the powerful positive energy of nature lovers and environmentalists to be shunted into the sterile dead end of ‘green capitalism’, used as a PR tool to make it easier for governments to raid our collective piggy banks and channel trillions of pounds and dollars into the pockets of venture capitalists who have leapt aboard the ‘climate justice’ bandwagon in the hope of getting very rich.

For this reason we have put together this page of useful links, so people can study the evidence and come to their own conclusions.

For those who prefer facts to hyperbole in service of predatory private wealth, here’s a chart of China’s energy production: dirty CO2-spewing coal is the primary source.

This mirrors the global reality: renewables are still signal noise, and carbon taxes and trading credits will do nothing to change this.

Plastic pollution tracks CO2 and a variety of related environmental burdens:The primary sources are in Asia and developing nations. So enforcing bogus carbon trading in North America and Europe will do essentially nothing to address the actual sources of CO2 and other industrial / consumer pollutants.

You want to reduce CO2? Then trigger a global depression that reduces global consumption of everything by 50% and destroys 95% of the phantom wealth owned by the global elites trying to monetize the air.

Of related interest:

Confessions Of A Climate Activist: Don’t Blame Yourself, Go After The Criminals Who Sold Out Humanity For Profit

*  *  *

If you found value in this content, please join me in seeking solutions by becoming a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com. New benefit for subscribers/patrons: a monthly Q&A where I respond to your questions/topics.

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Mediocre, Tailing 10Y Auction Prices At Lowest Yield Since Nov 2016

If yesterday’s 3Y auction was both good and bad, good as it stopped out and saw solid Indirect participation, bad as the bid to cover plunged to a 10+ year low, then today’s 10Y reopening of the 9 year 10 month CUSIP 6T2 was both bad and good, and in many ways was a mirror image of yesterday’s 3 Year.

First of all, while on Tuesday the bond auction stopped through, today’s sale of benchmark paper which stopped at 2.064% tailed the When Issued 2.057% by 0.7bps. Even so, the high yield dropped by 7.2bps from 1.129% in June, and was the lowest yield going back to November 2016.

Meanwhile, the internals were somewhat better, with the bid to cover dropping modestly, but nothing compared to yesterday’s plunge: at 2.41, the BTC dipped from 2.49 and just below the 6 auction average of 2.44; still there have been numerous auctions in the past three years whose BTC was even lower.

As for the bid breakdown, 60.8% went to Indirects, a decline from last month’s impressive 65.6%, if above the 62.2 recent average, and with Directs taking down 12.9%, precisely on top of the six month average, this left 26.4% for Dealers, which also was just above the average.

Overall, a mediocre auction, with the bond market paring some gains after the size of the tail was announced, even if the remainder of the auction was generally solid.

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State Regulators Punish Doctor for Cutting a Pain Patient’s Opioid Dose and Dropping Him After He Became Suicidal

A New Hampshire doctor recently got into trouble with state regulators because of the way he treated a pain patient. But in a refreshing twist that suggests state officials are beginning to recognize the harm caused by restricting access to pain medication, the New Hampshire Board of Medicine reprimanded and fined the doctor not for prescribing opioids but for refusing to do so.

In May, the New Hampshire Union Leader reports, Joshua Greenspan, a Portsmouth physician certified in pain management and anesthesiology, signed a settlement agreement with the state medical board that included a reprimand, a $1,000 fine, and “at least 12 hours of education in prescribing opioids for pain management and in pain management record-keeping.” The settlement stems from a June 2018 complaint in which a patient reported that Greenspan, “after treating him for years and prescribing the same dosages of pain medication, suddenly reduced his medications, which led to increased pain and anxiety, and suicidal ideations.”

A previous doctor had prescribed the patient two 80-milligram tablets of OxyContin, an extended-release formulation of oxycodone, plus four 30-milligram tablets of immediate-release oxycodone, per day. Greenspan initially continued those prescriptions, but in April 2018 he informed the patient that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) had imposed a cap on opioid prescriptions of 90 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) per day. Based on the conversion factor used by CMS, the patient was receiving more than four times that amount: 420 MME per day.

But as the medical board noted, that 90-MME rule, which did not actually take effect until the beginning of this year, is not a hard ceiling. Instead the CME requires pharmacists to consult with prescribing doctors before filling prescriptions that total 90 MME or more per day. Greenspan’s confusion is understandable, however, since CME initially proposed a stricter limit, from which it retreated in response to strong objections from doctors and patients.

The 90-MME threshold is based on 2016 prescribing guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that have been widely misinterpreted as requiring dose reductions for patients who already exceed that arbitrary cutoff, even if they have been functioning well on those doses for years. That perception has led to involuntary dose reductions and patient abandonment across the country. The CDC belatedly repudiated that misunderstanding of its advice in a statement and a journal article last April, three years after issuing the guidelines and one year after Greenspan erroneously told his patient that the federal government was demanding dose reductions.

After Greenspan cut the patient’s daily dose by 40 milligrams (60 MME), the patient found that his pain was no longer well-controlled. The Union Leader describes what happened next:

Later that year, the patient failed a pill count and was admitted to a hospital for threatening suicide.

That’s when the doctor told the patient he was no longer comfortable prescribing opioids for him and would no longer treat him. He also “reported his concerns about (the patient’s) well-being” to the local police department and the man’s primary care doctor, according to the settlement. He also sent a prescription for an opioid withdrawal drug to the patient’s pharmacy.

The board found that Greenspan’s handling of the case violated ethical standards of professional conduct.

That conclusion highlights how concerns about the “opioid crisis,” reinforced by real or perceived demands from the government, have perverted the doctor-patient relationship, making physicians agents of the war on drugs, which is inconsistent with their professional duties. The medical board’s decision suggests that New Hampshire regulators understand the dangers of those conflicting priorities. Perhaps not coincidentally, New Hampshire is also fighting the Drug Enforcement Administration’s demands for warrantless access to prescription records.

Bill Murphy, a local pain treatment activist, told the Union Leader the resolution of the complaint against Greenspan “sends the right message to physicians in New Hampshire,” who need to understand that “the guidelines are just that—guidelines—and not hard-and-fast rules.” At the same time, Murphy expressed sympathy for doctors who feel pressured to reduce opioid prescriptions and worry that they could lose their licenses, livelihoods, and even their liberty if they are identified as outliers. “I think in the end they do want to help people,” he said. “They feel like they’re caught between a rock and a hard place.”

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Redefining “High” Yield: There Are Now 14 Junk Bonds With Negative Yields

Just yesterday, we reported that in a world drowning with liquidity and where over $13 trillion in sovereign debt is now trading with a negative yield, Italy scrambled – as it should – to sell €3 billion in 50 year bonds, at a time when both Spain and France also auctioned debt at record-low rates. This is the same world where investors in 100 year bonds from Mexico Argentina, and Brazil, which were crushed last year, are now holding on to one of the best performing asset classes: to wit, Mexico’s 100 year bonds have outpaced returns on virtually all other soveriegn notes, and have made over 20% returns YTD as the scramble for duration hit record proportions.

Incidentally, none of this is because the underlying credit are financially stable or even, in some cases, viable and solvent. The only reason investors are rushing for this ultra-long maturity debt is in hopes that some other greater fool will buy it at a higher price, until eventually a price-indiscriminate central bank buys it at literally any price (after all, an entity that prints money is not that concerned about its cost basis).

But even more insane than what is going on in the sovereign bond world, are the latest developments in the “high”-yield bond market, where once upon a time yields were 7%, 8%, or even in the double digit area.

No more – as Bloomberg notes, the number of euro-denominated junk bonds trading with a negative yield, a status until recently associated with ultra-safe sovereign borrowers, is now a mindblowing 14; just 6 months ago, at the start of the year there were none.

The list of subzero high negative yielding bonds is below, courtesy of Bloomberg:

  • Ardagh Packaging Finance plc /Ardagh Holdings USA Inc.
  • Altice Luxembourg SA
  • Altice France SA
  • Axalta Coating Systems LLC
  • Constellium NV
  • Arena Luxembourg Finance Sarl
  • EC Finance Plc
  • Nexi Capital SpA
  • Nokia Corp.
  • LSF10 Wolverine Investments SCA
  • Smurfit Kappa Acquisitions ULC
  • OI European Group BV
  • Becton Dickinson Euro Finance Sarl
  • WMG Acquisition Corp.

Once again we urge readers to consider the absurdity of the situation created by the ECB – a “high” yield bond on which an investor is guaranteed to lose money due to its yield below zero!

What’s certain is that the number of “negative” junk bonds issuers will only increase: On Monday, the ECB said it’s ready to add more stimulus to the euro zone, indicating that an end to Albert Edwards’ ‘ice age’ of ultra-low borrowing costs is far from over, in fact it’s only just starting, and by the time it’s over, central banks will own, well, everything… paid for with money created out of thin air.

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