Diplodicus Rex

Submitted by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com, A new EU Privacy Ruling proposal would effectively kill all forms of spam unless people opt in. The privacy ruling would also allow consumers to use ad-blockers, but publishers will be allowed to withhold content from consumers who do. Please consider EU Proposal on Ad Blockers Welcomed by Publishers. Media companies will be allowed to ban customers who use ad blockers under new online privacy rules proposed by the European Commission.

When we first heard this past Thursday that private blogger and Citadel employee Ben Bernanke was going to "secretly" meet with both the BOJ's Haruhiko Kuroda and Japan PM Abe, we warned readers that "something big was coming." As noted late last week, "Bernanke will be in Japan next week. It has been arranged for him to meet officials including Abe and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, according to a government official speaking on condition of anonymity.

Italy's ongoing attempts to bend Europe's bail-in rules and revert to the "older" bailout protocol continue to run into problems. The latest confirmation came from Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem who earlier today said he was not "particularly" worried about Italian banks. More interesting was his insistence that “there have always been and will always be bankers that say ’we need more public money to recapitalize our banks....