Dolce And Gabbana Sentenced To 20 Months In Jail For Hundreds Of Millions In Tax Evasion

The latest casualty of Europe's berserk pursuit of tax evaders everywhere: not some Russian oligarch with a $1 billion Cypriot bank account but famous Italian designers, Dolce and Gabbana. WSJ reports that a Milan court has convicted the designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana of tax evasion. The pair were found guilty Wednesday of failing to declare €1 billion ($1.3 billion) in income tax to authorities. The court sentenced them both to one year and eight months in jail.

500 Years Of (Mostly Rising) Energy Prices

Starting with Wood from 1500 to present day Coal and Oil prices; here is 513 years of Energy source prices...

Guest Post: The Bloom Has Fallen Off The Brazilian Rose

With better access to credit, housing, jobs and overall standard of living than probably anyone in their family has ever experienced, you would think that the average Brazilian would have little reason to hit the streets. And yet, they are. While the credit-fueled boom has been great and looks likely to continue for at least a little while longer, the reality of a government that has made little real progress improving the overall standard of living is becoming all too obvious. The protestors are frustrated.  Frustrated with persistent inflation – that hits them much harder than the upper classes who in many ways benefit from it.  Frustrated with corruption – while the Brazilian congress tries to pass a law that would limit the number of corruption cases that can be brought.  Frustrated with inefficient government – the infrastructure development for the World Cup and Olympics is already running up against cost overruns with projects of questionable long-term value.  But mostly frustrated that due to all of this incompetence, they could lose all of the gains they made since 2002. Changing Brazil’s well-established rich/poor, connected/unconnected, boom/bust political and financial system will be difficult in the extreme.

Obama Addresses Germany: Ich Bin Ein Berlistener - Live Webcast

Almost 50 years ago, JFK immortalized the donut with his comment "Ich bin ein Berliner," with pressure from Merkel to come clean on the NSA's efforts, we wonder if the current US President will admit, "Ich bin ein Berlistener," as he delivers a speech from The Brandenburg Gate.

"It's A Massacre" - Each Day 134 Retail Outlets Close In Italy

If anyone is still not convinced that surging stock bourses in Europe are indicative of anything more than central bank liquidity, carry trade allocation and localized asset bubbles, we present a snapshot of what is actually happening on the ground via Italy's Ansa: "It's a massacre," said Confesercenti President Marco Venturi. "Each day 134 shops, restaurants and bars close in recession-hit Italy, retail association Confesercenti said on Wednesday. Confesercenti, which represents small and medium-sized businesses in the retail and tourism sectors, said 224,000 enterprises had closed their shutters since the start of the global economic crisis in 2008.

Frontrunning: June 19

• China cash crunch deepens as PBOC withholds funding (FT), just a week behind ZH
• Platts in hot manipulated crude again: Traders Try to Game Platts Oil-Price Benchmarks (WSJ)
• Kabul Suspends Security Talks With U.S., jeopardizing plans to maintain a U.S. military presence (WSJ)
• Afghan government irked over U.S. talks with Taliban (Reuters)
• BOJ Kuroda: BOJ to Adjust Policy If Japan Econ Changes (MNI)
• Google Considering Private-Equity Alliances (BBG)
• Korean Air Buying 747-8s to End Boeing’s Sales Drought (BBG)
• Syria's Islamists seize control as moderates dither (Reuters)
• SEC considers policy shift on admissions of wrongdoing (FT)
• U.K. Banker Bonuses Face Decade Delays in Industry Overhaul (BBG)

Follow The Bouncing Fed

While all eyes and ears will conveniently and expectedly be on the Fed announcement and press conference in a few hours, the real action continues to take place in China, where the liquidity crunch is becoming unbearable for the local banks (and will only get worse the longer Bernanke and Kuroda keep their hot money policies). The CNY benchmark money-market one-week repo rate was 138bp higher overnight to a 2 year high of 8.15%. The 7 day Interest-Rate swap rose for a record 13th day in a row jumping +10 bps to 4.08%, the highest since September 2011. China sold 10 Year bonds at a 3.50% yield, above the 3.47% expected, and at a bid to cover of 1.43 which was the lowest since August 2012. Moody’s commented that local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) pose significant risks to Chinese banks. LGFVs accounted for 14% of loan portfolios at end-2012 according to Moody’s.