Negative Interest Sweeps Europe

     No, this does not mean tourists are going to Tahiti or Bora Bora; it doesn't mean Japan is outscoring Paris on the guest-o-meter.  It means something far worse:  the ECB, or European Central Bank will charge depositors a fee(interest) on their deposits.   Sounds crazy to us laymen who always thought if one put money in the bank, it gained interest.  Not anymore.
     Here in the US and Tahoma, savers are waiting for FED chief, Janet Yellen, to raise interest rates, maybe to 0.25%.  Shocking, but welcomed by the poor, abused, account holders who have been stiffed on interest paid by all banks for almost 7 years.   We, obviously, are not worried about inflation.  The new ogre is deflation, and the European Central Bank wants deflation or possibilities of deflation to go away.  Hence, negative interest rates.
      Pity the poor dictator, or his Russyan counterpart, the oligarch, who can't get a return on the money they stole from their citizens.  What about Switzerland, you say?  Well, horror of horrors, the Swiss bankers are leading the way.  In the bastion of hidden foreign accounts, the Swiss have raised negative rates to minus (-) 0.75%.  I can't believe it,, but it's true: -0.75% an account holder must pay to park his money in a Swiss bank.  Others include Denmark-- -0.75%; Sweden-- -1.10%; Eurozone- -0.20%.
     Now officials at the ECB fully expect the US FED to raise rates to 2.75% by 2018.  Of course, foreign deposits will flood the US banking system, further straining the ECB and its anti-deflation policy moves.
    Oh, the poor Russyan oligarch.   He may have to return some roubles to the Kremlin, just for the exercise.  Now, Russyans are focused on those dastardly Turks, who shot down one of their old jet fighters as it was on its way to help Al Assad in Syria.  No more Turkish vacations; no more Turkish towels; no more Turkish fruits and vegetables.  Tsk, tsk.   Poor Vladimir Vladimirovich.