Rickards: “central bankers are impotent” and Yanis Varoufakis on Europe’s stress tests

Under civil forfeiture laws, law enforcement agents are allowed to take property they suspect of being tied to crime – even if no criminal charges are filed. This law was designed to catch drug traffickers, racketeers , and terrorists by tracking their cash, but the government has started going after run-of-the-mill business owners without so much as an allegation that they’ve committed a crime. Erin weighs in.

Erin is joined by Jim Rickards – author of “The Death of Money” and chief global strategist at West Shore Funds. Data coming out of the US demonstrates lower mortgage yields and a surge in refis are adding to 4-year lows in gas prices to give consumers more disposable income. Jim says what he thinks of the new data and also gives us his thoughts on divisions at the ECB.

After the break, in The Big Deal, Erin and Edward Harrison talk about Europe. Edward says that the stress tests were not so stressful and they be enough to get investors onside. But Europe still remains fragile and is not insulated from problems elsewhere.

Erin sits down with Yanis Varoufakis – author and professor of economics at the University of Texas, Austin. Yanis gives us his take on the European bank asset quality review. Like Edward, he thinks the stress tests were not exactly credible. But more than that, the ECB is completely circumscribed in its ability to act and cannot aid European recovery.

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