The Cyprus Moment: Steal money from ex-KGB deposits? Hello, Crunch-time.

UPDATE: Cash is being flown to British Troops in Cyprus. The banks will stay shut til Thursday. The finance minister has resigned. [SkyNews]

Remember how the EU was supposed to promote stability?

Sooner or later a central fund managed by central bureaucrats is going to fail in a “central” way. This isn’t it, but we are getting closer to the center.

Without competition between states on currency, Europe left itself open to be a case study in centralized stupidity. The bureaucrats needed to stop the waste of public spending, they needed to halt the corruption, increase competition. And their answer? Steal 10% of depositor’s funds from everyone in Cyprus. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

We are now in new territory. In previous bank bailouts, if anyone took any losses it was the shareholders and the bond holders, and the depositors did not lose any money. In the Cyprus bail out, the bondholders and shareholders lose nothing but the depositors lose about 10%. (Any chance the bondholders of the Cyprus banks include the ECB or IMF?)

Where is the natural law that makes sense in this decision? Don’t punish the shareholders, or the bondholders, break the centuries long promise that is the entire reason for banking. If the government can steal your money in the bank, why keep it there? Hello Bank-run.

Wasn’t the point of banking to keep your money safe from burglars?

The Cyprus move is changing everything:

James Turk : “There are bank runs here in Europe again, Eric.  Today is a national holiday in Cyprus, so the banks are closed.  But people are lining up at ATMs to get their money out before the ATMs run dry.  And there is talk that a bank holiday will be declared, possibly keeping them closed for days.

Depositors in Cyprus are going to lose some of their money as part of a proposed EU bailout of that country announced over the weekend, which like a a number of other countries, along with its banks, are insolvent and teetering on the edge of bankruptcy….

“To help fund this bailout the government is taking 9.9% of all deposits over €100,000 and 6.7% under that amount, even though these small deposits are supposed to be insured, which is a key point.  Bank insurance means nothing these days when bureaucrats and politicians are looking for wealth to grab.

It is indeed mind-blowing, particularly when considering that the banking system in Cyprus is not that big.  The total amount taken from depositors is only €5.8 billion.  Given what the ECB and other central banks are printing these days, €5.8 billion is small change.

 James Turk  Founder & Chairman of GoldMoney

This is organized crime on a mass scale. The not-so-funny irony is that it’s organized crime against organized criminals!

The bureaucrats not only broke the rules, but look who they targeted. If you were hoping for easy money to patch up the budget, would you take it from the Russian mafia and ex-KGB officers?

Legendary trader Jim Sinclair:  “This has quickly turned into a PR nightmare because it is not a ‘tax,’ but instead a ‘confiscation.’  They have stolen KGB money in order to meet the liabilities of the banks.  Up to this point, bank depositors have been held whole in this most serious Western, and by consequence international financial meltdown.

Up to now the psychology has been that if you have money in the bank you really don’t have to worry too much. This represents a complete change in the strategy that has existed up to the present time, which has been crucial in holding together the financial world after the meltdown of the over-the-counter derivative has done so much damage.”

Eric King:  “The aftermath of this debacle and some of the chess moves that are going on here, your thoughts?”

Sinclair:  “Taking Russian money is very foolish.  You have to understand the culture of the people you are dealing with.  The government leaders in Cyprus have no ability to protect themselves from the retribution of the former Russian KGB agents, including Putin himself.

The government leaders in Cyprus are trying to back-pedal right now in order to save their lives.  Let me say it again, they are trying to save their own lives.  Remember, ‘revenge is best served cold.’

I would also add that this was the biggest mistake made by the IMF and the ECB in their history.  Every time you do business with a Russian company, you do business with a bank in Cyprus.  Money goes in, it goes out, but it all funnels through Cyprus.

Coming down on Cyprus as a test case for the new ‘Bail-In’ rather than ‘Bailout,’ the utilization of the depositors money to pay for the losses, could very well derail the entire efforts so far to maintain the appearance of solvency in the West.

Jim Sinclair known as Mr. Gold for his remarkably accurate timing regarding the gold bull market of the 70’s

 

(By the way, speaking of bank rescues, not many Australians are aware that the US Federal Reserve bailed out Westpac and NAB around 2008 – 2009. Rumors were strong that an Australian bank was a day or two from going under. The US Fed provided $1bn to one, $3bn to the other. Worldwide, at one stage, the US Fed. was providing over $3 trillion in emergency loans to non-US banks. Our government at the time was extolling the safety of the Aussie banks, boasting of how good our system was and basking in the reflected glow. The news of the US Fed rescue only came out a couple of years later in response to questions in the US Congress.)

—————

Why is this here? Jo Nova and David Evans have been following currency and gold markets since before gold was $250 an ounce. They founded GoldNerds in 2007 to help give them the information they needed as investors. David quit working for the Australian Government climate bureaucracy in 2005, and we have been living off savings and investments in the gold sector since. (Jo couldn’t blog if she had to rely on government grants :)) David occasionally speaks about currencies at international conferences. They are self-funded analysts following the data… not the dollar. But the stakes are high…

9.6 out of 10 based on 57 ratings

68 comments to The Cyprus Moment: Steal money from ex-KGB deposits? Hello, Crunch-time.

  • #
    Keith L

    Hi
    I have been racking my brains trying to think up a way of engineering a run on a bank but I just cannot come up with any ideas.
    What I want is some arbitrary and capricious act of government that totally undermines confidence and gives people a reason to panic. I have been racking my brains over this one but I just cannot come up with any viable scenario by which a bunch of useless bureaucrats could demonstrate both arrogance and cluelessness in one fell swoop.
    If anyone has any ideas please let me know because I really am stumped on this one…

    362

    • #
      Fred Furkenburger

      Well Kieth you could maybe, just as a suggestion mind, decide to save the countries banking system by snaffling up to 10 percent of the savings in that countries banks, Of course this couldn’t work unless you gave a few days notice! Aaah Naah that wouldn’t work would it! Of course this kind of action wouldn’t give anyone in any other broke country any negative, bad ideas about the safety of their bank deposits would it! Silly of me to think that.

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  • #
    Sceptical Sam

    Now, the question on every voter’s lips to their local MP and particularly to the Opposition (given that the LNP will form the next government of Australia) should be, will you reaffirm that no such action as that taken in Cyprus will be taken by an LNP government in relation to the Australian banking system. And, secondly, will you lift the Australian Government Deposit Guarantee back to $1.0 million, as an “in perpetuity” guarantee.

    This is especially important since the Labor Government announced the reduction in its guarantee on bank deposits to $250,000, effective from 1st February 2012. This permanent deposit guarantee scheme replaced the emergency scheme which covered deposits up to $1 million and was introduced in 2008 at the height of the global financial crisis.

    http://www.canstar.com.au/term-deposits/government-deposit-guarantee/

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    • #
      Fred Furkenburger

      Sorry Sam but personally I don’t think the government should get involved with anything to do with guaranteeing deposits. This is anathema in a free market type world. If governments did anything at all they should be putting in place things which ensure the banks don’t “over reach” such as asset backing ratios, etc. Particularly they should be making regulations to limit the banks use of derivative and other dodgy investment schemes to make money. Sadly I think our current government have set the banks up big time to create “carbon derivatives” with the carbon tax legislation from which to scam even more money from “the mug punters” (us). This will only end in tears.

      160

      • #
        Sceptical Sam

        I take your point Fred about government guarantees. What they are worth can only be judged at the time they are needed. A bit like a Carbon tax commitment I suppose – and we all know what that was worth.

        However, do I take it that you accept my first point? That is, to get a commitment that there’ll be no bank robbery of the Cyprus kind, of citizens’ savings in Australia.

        100

        • #
          ianl8888

          … citizens’ savings in Australia

          That includes superannuation savings

          Oh, our current ALP Govt is right now thrashing around inside people’s super savings. Just how much damage this will do won’t be known until the detail of the May budget is released. Small “inactive” savings and super accounts have already been expropriated (stolen)

          You will have seen many lefty comments to the effect that the “rich” will have to pay significantly more tax on their super savings. After all, they’re rich, aren’t they, so they have a moral obligation to cop retrospective double taxation on their savings

          Just another variation of armed robbery. Already happening here. So exactly why do you feel safe ?

          81

  • #
    Anton

    Yet nobody complains when governments print money, which devalues all other money of that currency. That’s just as much a rip-off and is taking place on a far larger scale.

    Cypriots are effectively being told: We want the iffy Russian money – fair enough – and a percentage of your savings is collateral damage. Wouldn’t it be great if Greek nationals (ie Cypriots) who get hit by this could be compensated? Then it would be mission accomplished.

    10

    • #
      Keith L

      I think the main problem is the arbitrariness of it. Imagine if you had planned to buy a house this week and had been liquidating and stockpiling all your assets in your account prior to purchase.
      If the Cypriots think that the Russians are all just there to be pillaged they might find that that particular income stream dries up soon.

      90

    • #
      Annie

      Hello Anton.

      Cypriots aren’t Greek nationals…they are Greek Cypriots (or Turkish Cypriots in the North of Cyprus).

      I feel very upset by this trouble in Cyprus. It is a place we love. I have been uneasy about the Russian ‘takeover ‘ there for years.

      Here in the UK we have been very badly affected by the ‘theft’ of our savings because of the incredibly low interest rates for savings, which do not by any means keep up with inflation; by QE (quantitative easing), by the drop in property values too. This has led to a very poor exchange rate against the Aussie dollar; not helpful to our plans to move back in the near future. The results for us and very many others is equivalent to the theft planned in poor old Cyprus.

      100

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Anton,
      the snatch has been designed to get around the EU Guarantee on a/c below 100,000 € and avoid any compensation.

      The depositors get shares in their bank in place of their money. The claim is that deposits are a debit to the banks, so a reduction in deposits makes the bank that much more valuable, so one asset has been replaced by another “asset”, so no compensation. Mind you, some people might think that going from a highly liquid deposit, which would rank first for payment if the bank went broke, to shares in a shaky bank which rate last for any payout might somehow be a little unfair.

      Especially as the shares won’t sell well at face value, and the price would be further depressed by everyone trying to get their money before the bank collapses. So the only other option is to hang on and hope that the bank doesn’t go broke, because then you lose all your money. After all, the reason the Cypriot Banks have to be bailed out is their (forced) holdings of (now close to worthless) Cypriot Bonds and the losses on their holdings of Greek Bonds which were supposedly safe until the EU devalued them by 70%.

      This was trialled in Spain, when the regional banks were bailed out. The depositors got shares, then the banks were amalgamated and then they went broke. Perhaps we should call it The Spanish Acquisition.

      The net result is what everybody assumed immediately, their money has been stolen by the very people who made a mess of things in the first place.

      41

  • #
    Christian Knauer

    For anyone who has ever set injustice without regard to existing rights, has the will to do it again.
    Anyone who steals 7, 10 or even < 0.0001 percent, will probably grab for more tomorrow, maybe 50 or 100+ percent of whatever they can dream of – not restricted to fiat money.

    What's even worse is that the ones who don't back off from grabbing someone's properties won't back off from laying hands on someone in the end. The tool for this scenario is already established and it is called the EUROGENDFOR, the task force of the EU.

    Yes, as anybody could see: the EURO is a project of peace – ast least it's this those political elite is telling as nuts…

    120

  • #
    janets

    This idiotic policy may well have something to do with wanting the KGB/Mafia money, but I can’t help feeling that it’s also the EU betraying its Marxist roots. All you have is the largesse of the state, you own nothing, and the state will take back what you think is yours whenever it feels like it. This may well open a few people’s eyes to the true nature of the EUSSR. As well as destroying all trust in the banking system, of course.

    If I was running the EU (on the assumption that I shared its goals), the next step would be to aim to close down private banking, since no-one trusts it any more and have only the ECB. This will pay no or perhaps minimal interest on savings, say 0.1%, but will guarantee your deposit, while all other banks will be subject to the levy. With inflation, QE, etc, this is still stealing the money, but with the appearance of the caring state making sure you don’t lose your money in the evil capitalist system. I imagine a lot of people would fall for that.

    120

    • #
      Bite Back

      I have thought the same for some time. Once government can believe your property is its property anything can be justified.

      BB

      70

  • #
    Rick Bradford

    Western politicians have completely lost touch with reality from inside their protected bubble and echo chamber.

    They embark on madcap schemes in the face of overwhelming reality and when those schemes inevitably begin to fail, decide to impose ‘austerity measures’ — not on themselves, of course, but on everybody else. They make the mistake; you pay.

    This is true for the EU as a whole, and European countries individually (it would be hard to imagine a more destructive policy in place than the UK’s energy policy).

    Of course, anyone who opposes their notions is heartily vilified and ignored; in the case of opposing the ever-closer integration of the EU, a cry of ‘racism’ can usually be heard.

    The politicians sail the ship of state into the biggest icebergs they can find, and many people wonder just how bad it is going to get before sanity is restored.

    120

    • #
      Mark D.

      Western politicians have completely lost touch with reality from inside their protected bubble and echo chamber.

      Good way of saying it Rick.

      This morning the MSM here (USA) did actually carry the real story AND showed the crowds in the streets of Cyprus. I’m afraid the story is already creating a potential run on banks not just in Cyprus but in any EU country. Even here in the US banks pay so little interest on savings keeping cash may be safer. Would anything start a worldwide collapse faster than a run on all banks?

      But what if they go after investments? Or Retirement accounts? What if they just put a charge on your Mister Card?

      Scary very very scary.

      100

      • #
        Bite Back

        But what if they go after investments? Or Retirement accounts?

        Such a bill was introduced in the US Senate. For now it won’t go anywhere but the future is completely uncertain.

        Their true intentions — and contempt — are no longer being hidden.

        BB

        50

      • #
        The Black Adder

        Scary very very scary.

        Yep, that`s it Mark D.

        And when you guys cop a Carbon Tax too, whose gonna pay it??

        We aint got no money left!!!

        00

  • #
    ExWarmist

    Best comment on the web wrt to this is here

    10

  • #
    PJB

    Let’s remember that these are fractional reserve banks. Notwithstanding their profligate gambling in speculative investments like derivatives etc., they get to loan out (at interest) 9 times what they have as assets. So, even creating money from nothing and charging interest on it, they cannot make enough to remain solvent?
    For every “loss”, someone, somewhere, made a corresponding profit. Stopping this insanity is the key. Loans made from deposits only. No borrowing to create sovereign debt. Let the government “create” the funds, interest-free, for the use of the tax-payers and not borrow it from the fictitious source of central banks.

    50

    • #
      Joe V.

      ,

      they get to loan out (at interest) 9 times what they hold in assets

      So in that case, when the banks reopen and everybody goes to with draw their investments, the banks collapse, 9 times over ?
      Make sure everybody you are in the first ninth !

      10

  • #
    DougS

    You really couldn’t make this stuff up!

    The EU is populated by a bunch of anti-democratic, greedy troughers (apart from UKIP), who would do anything to protect their pet project – and it’s seriously flawed cenrepiece, the Euro.

    They couldn’t care less about people who are suffering, only that they protect the Euro. And they’ll go to almost any lengths to do it, even if it brings riots and ruin to some countries.

    If I had money in Greek, Spanish or Portuguese banks I’d be shifting it tout suite!

    50

  • #
    Chris A

    On the other hand, suppose a Government decided to fund a payment to a favoured constituency by just printing the money – call it quantitative easing, whatever. The immediate result is a devaluation, maybe 10%. I experienced it personally in Zimbabwe, when the ZWD went south faster than they could change the prices in the grog shops, so I got a damn fine malt or two for next to nothing.

    Isn’t it the same is this – the Government steals the money from everyone holding that currency? However in the Eurozone the inflating option for stealing money from everyone is not available – so the deposit surcharge is an obvious alternative. How does it work for non-deposit assets though? Government securities, for instance?

    20

  • #
    Tim

    The Gillard Government already has their toe in the water with a cash grab – from May 31 they will be able to transfer all money from accounts that have not been used for three years into their own revenues.

    If I were into conspiracies, I could say that this is the beginning of confiscation of private property.

    But then, I’m just a nutter.

    60

    • #
      DavidH

      The concept isn’t new. They are just changing it from 7 years to 3. Another case of robbing from future funding to pay for the mistakes of today. The real solution … election now!

      10

  • #

    A comment from an Irish journo in the pergatory of Brussels:
    Bring on the firing squads: ‘No sign of intelligent life in Europe’

    It was pretty obvious that this would put a run on savings; not just in Cyprus, but the whole Eurozone. Especially the Germans. Cash machines are running hot. Flight to other currencies (including the Australia dollar), precious metals (why platinum and palladium are better than gold) and shares outside of Europe is substantial (Germany’s DAX was down in early trading.).

    Latest gabble is that Cyprus’ banks will remain closed until Thursday. But that is the least of the EUro’s problems. It’s not restricting the run on savings in other European countries that are candidtaes for European “rescue packages”.

    Germany’s Stern magazine writes:

    The dispossession of Cypriot savers is fatal

    Angela Merkel and the Euro rescuers celebrate their Cyprus package. Here [in Germany], the compulsory levy is not only a taboo but a joke. It has ruined the confidence of all bank customers.

    P.S. While I writing the above … a speaker for Cyprus’ government indicated that it won’t support the “rescue” … but there are still a couple of hours to tighten the screws. Confoundingly; commodity prices, including gold, have been slipping for a few hours.

    50

    • #
      ExWarmist

      I would recommend physical, allocated Gold & Silver outside the Bullion Banking system.

      You don’t want to be Corzined – MF Global anyone?

      00

  • #
    David

    This is a ‘one off’ tax…
    Yeah, right… We’ve got a (South American) student staying with us – he put it beautifully…
    ‘This is an experiment…’

    In other words, ‘If we (the EU) can get away with this in Cyprus, watch out Greece/Portugal/Ireland/Spain/Italy…’

    60

  • #
    pat

    whilst most of the world was kept in the dark by the MSM’s refusal to report (or downplaying of) the outrage felt in europe – not just in cyprus – it would appear the planned robbery is in some doubt now:

    19 March: Businessweek: Patrick Donahue/Mark Deen: Cyprus Bank Levy in Doubt as EU Shows Flexibility
    The “feeling I’m having is that the house is going to reject it because they feel and think it isn’t just and that it’s against the interest of Cyprus,” Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades told Sweden’s TV4 channel in an interview today…

    “I don’t think about plan Bs,” French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said in Paris today. “We’re in a plan A. Everyone has to assume his responsibilities.”
    Finance ministers backtracked on the levy’s structure, which initially called for a 6.75 percent tax on deposits under 100,000 euros and 9.9 percent over that amount. The levy should now be more progressive, though must yield the same amount.
    “Things were confused” after the measures were announced, Moscovici said. “The perception was confused. Once this confusion was born, we had to revisit the decision.”…

    European policy makers would consider ramping up pressure on Cyprus in the event of a breakdown over the deposit tax, which Moscovici called breaking a “taboo,” said a European official who asked not to be named…
    “There is no precedent for what would happen if Cyprus rejected the conditions,” Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank in London, wrote in a note. “Our best guess is that Europe would give Cyprus a brief and final chance to rethink and vote again.” …

    ‘Serious Blunder’
    “What we have seen in the last few days is a very serious blunder by European governments that essentially are blackmailing the government of Cyprus to confiscate the money that belongs rightfully to depositors,” former Cyprus central banker Athanasios Orphanides said today on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene…

    Anastasiades was rebuffed in a call to German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday. Merkel told him that he can only negotiate a rescue with the so-called troika, which comprises the European Commission, the ECB and the International Monetary Fund, according to a German government official…

    “Naturally, the Cypriot president tried to find a way around it, but there was none,” (German Finance Minister Wolfgang) Schaeuble said in an interview on Deutschlandfunk today. He added that the levy doesn’t violate deposit guarantees, because such protections are “only as good as a state’s solvency.” …
    http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-03-19/cyprus-bank-levy-passage-in-doubt-as-eu-shows-flexibility

    of course, the US Fed printing $85 billion per month to infinity is theft as well, but not as selective & arbitrary as this attempted assault on people’s bank a/cs.

    hope this mad scheme has been halted in its tracks.

    00

  • #
    diogenese2

    we now have a new anthem for europe. I feature as the one in the blue hat with glasses

    http://youtu.be/lv0jav4lNsk?t=1s

    10

  • #
    Michael

    Europeans would have to be dumb to keep any money in any bank in the EU- if EU bureaucrats can steal from Cyprus depositor then they can steal from anyone. I look forward to complete economic collapse.

    30

    • #

      Exactly, Michael. The damage was done by just trying to do it. Unless the Eurocrats can now find a way to guarantee the safety of deposits (not by asking the IMF obviously) the thought is in people’s minds that Christine Lagarde, as the last person in the world to find out that Greeks don’t like to pay tax, in her righteousness wanted to grab up to 40%. True or false, the thought is now in the minds of all Europeans…and maybe other savers.

      Incidentally, there is a prominent European who earns up to half a million bucks a year tax-free, with tax-free perks: director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde.

      30

  • #
    Andrew McRae

    Rumors were strong that an Australian bank was a day or two from going under.

    Perhaps more than one bank. The word on the street is… Suncorp Metway was one of them.
    Emphasis on “was“, past tense. Two tablespoons of Dr Morgan’s Fed Fiat Pills before breakfast had the Suncorpers high as a kite by tea time. (Long term side-effects may include dizziness and servitude.)

    But you never know if they really were insolvent or just really keen for some cheap money.

    Mind you, in a fractional reserve banking system that permits total loans of 10 times the assets the bank has on deposit, the notion of “solvent” is merely a gentlemen’s agreement.

    Moody’s dropped the Big Four’s credit ratings 2 years ago and according to one anonymous analyst put the Commonwealth on notice that the banks’ credit rating will drop again if the next federal budget is exceeded.
    If that’s the case, we’re screwed. There’s no way the White Swan and the Red Queen can stay in the black.

    30

  • #
    Roy Hogue

    I talk every now and then with my broker and his opinion today is that they won’t actually do this for fear of the repercussions — a good decision I would think.

    I see it noted above that the Senate here was considering a bill that would nationalize retirement accounts. So the future is far from assured. Hold on to your purse!

    20

    • #
      john robertson

      The government will steal.
      Thats what they do.
      Any theft they sell the public, expands forever, see temporary income tax.
      Course what can not go on, ends.
      Wealth is not the unit of exchange, as these thefts destroy any faith in the current units, trade will continue using tokens the traders trust.
      Trust being the operative word.
      This insane breach of trust in Cyprus, has provoked precious little protest from our elected “leadership’.
      They seem to be hoping it works, so they can copy.
      Governments worldwide are in breach of contract and broke, the political bureaucracy are stealing all they can, as civilization crumbles under their actions.
      Time to reinforce your family & social networks, stock dry goods and essential medicines, arrange suitable weaponry.
      We are going tribal, as greater civilization requires trust, a commodity our governments have destroyed.

      40

  • #
    Backslider

    Well, the news is that Cyprus lawmakers have unanimously rejected the plan, so sanity prevails.

    Nice try UN….

    30

  • #
    Bruce

    Hopefully, this will be bedtime for Barroso (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Manuel_Barroso)(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043325/) and his Eurocrat gang.

    10

  • #
    bob parker

    Comeing to a country near you.

    From DRUDGE REPORT. I’ve not seen this anywhere else so I can’t confirm it but it looks contagious to me – The stupidity that is

    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1303/S00306/national-planning-cyprus-style-solution-for-new-zealand.htm

    00

  • #
    johninoxley

    In complete agreement with Jim Sinclair. Standby for a reversal of this decision or a lot of deaths. I’m quite sure the ex-KGB will explain this in no uncertain terms.

    10

  • #
    Mike

    Very interesting article and hope to see more like this. Maybe a category separate from the climate change stuff.

    Does anyone know the Aussie banks had a liquidity problem and why it was the US that lent the money. Surely the Australian central bank could have intervened and pushed a button to produce electronic liquidity, much the same as the US did. The US was trillions in debt at the time.

    20

  • #
    mullumhillbilly

    So, savers are punished and borrowers rewarded.? If they actually go ahead (can they really be THAT stupid?), then every citizen Cypriot should go to the bank for a loan, withdraw the cash if/when it comes through, then make it disappear and default on repayment. “sorry Mr Banker,I made some bad bets on derivatives/property and now I’ m bankrupt”. What’s good for the goose…. speaking of which, maybe they got the idea from our own Goose, who is wanting to steal the contents of accounts inactive for 2 years, except in Cyprus the inactive period has been shortened to a millisecond.

    Also sounds like the Euro governments want to treat bank cash like Aust governments treat land ownership. Here,we put our hard-earned after-tax cash into “freehold” only to find that governments decide later that, we can’t clear any of the woody weeds, or that our lantana infested gully is a “corridor”, or that harvesting timber “destroys” the forest, and we still get to pay rates on that backyard National Park.

    60

  • #

    I don’t want to eliminate nation states. Just Belgium.

    20

  • #
    Thumbnail

    Thanks very much Jo for covering this important story. I spotted it late Sunday online, and was aghast. I have been folowing developments. I am pleased that the Cypriot Government voted in the interest of the people, rather than the interest of the global thugs. Even if they decouple from the Euro, it will be painful.

    30

    • #
      Mike

      Politicians and bankers would have been found lying on the streets of Cyprus if the bailout vote passed. The EU chose to mess with the Russians(biggest depositors) and the Russians won. Even if the vote had passed Putin would have had the last say, be it with restriction of gas pipelines or something else.

      The all voted to save their lives in the end.

      00

  • #
    Thumbnail

    Coverage on what the NO vote means. Not one Cypriot voted YES. They all either voted NO or ABSTAIN.

    See here.

    40

    • #

      This supports my theory that democracy can only work within physical reach of the people’s pitchforks.

      The debt problems haven’t been solved. Nor will they be under current “management” of the EU which has resulted in the plundering and burning of assets in order to save banks which had too many bad loans and “investments”. That’s the root of the problems.

      The EU’s “management” will not let the banks fail “naturally”. They appear instead, to continue to pour other people’s money into the pit.

      Such behaviour only encourages the perception that the only way to succeed in the EU is to fail; after “making the right noises”.

      10

      • #

        Yep. The US government is merely a criminal organisation run by grifters. The EU is just plain evil.

        00

        • #
          John Brookes

          Whoa! What does that make North Korea?

          01

        • #
          Roy Hogue

          Yep. The US government is merely a criminal organisation run by grifters. The EU is just plain evil.

          Whoa there, Mike. I’m not at all sure the U.S. government doesn’t aspire to be another North Korea. Grifters are in it for personal gain. The current administration is in it to fundamentally change the country. They are to be feared far more than the plain old criminal.

          00

  • #
    Joe V.

    And this is coming from the IMF, headed by abureaucrat that pays No Tax.
    Christine Lagarde as Head of the IMF is subject to No Tax on her 300,000 a year

    As an official of an international institution, her salary of $467,940 (£298,675) a year plus $83,760 additional allowance a year is not subject to any taxes.
     
    Lagarde, 56, receives a pay and benefits package worth more than American president Barack Obama earns from the United States government, and he pays taxes on it.
     

    And such it seems is a feature of many such bureaucrats

    The same applies to nearly all United Nations employees – article 34 of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations of 1961, which has been signed by 187 states, declares: “A diplomatic agent shall be exempt from all dues and taxes, personal or real, national, regional or municipal.”

    Everyone should pay their taxes, to fund the bureacrats
    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/lagarde-taxes-and-diplomacy-its-all-turbotax-me

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    • #
      Roy Hogue

      Joe, I didn’t know that. You’ve just given me another reason to regard the UN as a criminal enterprise.

      How in hell could anyone sign on to such a monstrosity?

      Don’t bother answering. I can figure it out myself. And it isn’t pretty.

      The smell of the UN gets worse by the day.

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    John Brookes

    They should, of course, do the honourable thing and let the banks fail in the normal way. That way rather than everyone losing 10%, some people lose nothing, while others lose 100%. Obviously this is better.

    01

    • #
      Mark D.

      Sure John, It must take a village to raise a nationalized bank right?

      But of course you don’t bother to ask how and why this Cypriot financial crisis happened at all? That it was Greece and their Leftist governments horrible deficit spending that rippled to Cyprus banks? Why? because they were forced (at gundollarpoint) to buy Greek bonds that were supposed to be insured? And now the Nationalized Cyprus banks (read: not private banks) In cahoots with the IMF and EU wish to pass the cost of their stupidity on to the average person (you know the little guy)? Balderdash!

      This is clear evidence of failed Keynesian economics as foist upon us by the Left and in my opinion, an example of why government must be kept small and their power limited.

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    • #
      Eddie Sharpe

      EU Banks are supposed to be backed by a Deposit Guarantee Scheme, for retail investors anyway, covering up to (is it) the first 100,000 Euros per investor.
      .
      This desperate ‘tax’ measure seems designed to circumvent that Guarantee, but ultimately will only undermine it.
      .
      The Cypriot banks will now remain closed for the entire week, and next Monday being a natural Bank Holiday anyway .
      .
      Some commentators are now saying Cypriot Banks ‘may never open again‘.
      .
      In such a case the small depositors should , in theory, already be protected. If such a test of the existing Deposit Protection Scheme fails, that will jeopardise another mainstay of the economic recovery platform.

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  • #
    Gary Mount

    I sold all my gold in 1980 near the price peak of $850. A couple of weeks after I sold, the price crashed. When everyone was talking about gold, I knew it was time to sell. Same thing happened for the Internet stock bubble, except I never owned any stocks. I got badly burned by my B.C.R.I.C / WestStar stock whereupon the multi-billionaire Jimmy Pattison forced me to sell all my stock at a greater than 90% loss, that I never bought stock in any company ever again since then.

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    PhilJourdan

    The Finance Minister sounds like “Wilbur Stokes” in Traffic Jam. His solution to remove a traffic jam in LA? Have all the cars go in reverse. That worked just as well as the Cyprus disaster.

    10

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    RoHa

    “Where is the natural law that makes sense in this decision?”

    A well known natural law: The rich get richer and the rest of get screwed.

    00

  • #
    Col

    European Parliament resistance movement
    Nigel does his bit to save Europe from the euro straitjacket.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdob6QRLRJU

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    pat

    this reuters’ article, according to search results, originally included “the other options, nationalizing pension funds of semi-public…”. u will see this was in the article if u read the comments, but now it has been removed:

    21 March: Reuters: Michele Kambas: Cyprus risks euro exit after EU bailout ultimatum
    http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/21/us-cyprus-parliament-idUSBRE92G03I20130321

    it’s still in the NYT piece:

    20 March: NYT: LIZ ALDERMAN/DAVID M. HERSZENHORN: As Bailout Deadline Approaches, Cyprus Scrambles to Find Funds
    The proposal that Mr. Anastasiades’s cabinet announced early Wednesday evening calls for coming up with a portion of the €5.8 billion in part by taking over the pension funds of state-run companies, while also issuing additional government bonds. It was unclear late Wednesday how politically viable the pension seizure might be, or how the idea of taking on more debt might fly with the troika representatives…
    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/business/global/after-deal-is-rejected-cyprus-scrambles-to-find-funds.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

    the business channels, including Sky, didn’t even try to hide their disappointment when the Parliament in Cyprus rejected the depositers’ “haircut”. to see the young, glam women on these channels cheering on the looting of public bank deposits, is terrifying.

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    pat

    meanwhile –

    21 March: Bloomberg: Silla Brush: Wall Street Wins Under Swap-Rule Changes Moving in House
    U.S. House lawmakers advanced legislation that would ease Dodd-Frank Act derivatives rules and give banks greater ability to trade swaps overseas.
    The House Agriculture Committee voted today to move seven measures, including one to allow trading of almost all types of derivatives by units of banks that hold government-insured deposits — such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. A separate bill would restrict U.S. regulators’ ability to apply rules to overseas transactions…
    “Last year, some members of Congress supported watering down Dodd-Frank derivative safeguards, but abandoned those efforts after the world learned that JPMorgan Chase had lost billions of dollars on derivative trades,” Levin (Senator Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat) said in a statement. “It is incredible that less than a week after new JPMorgan Whale hearings detailed how the bank’s London office piled up risk, hid losses, and dodged regulatory oversight, that some House members are again supporting the weakening of derivative safeguards.” …
    “You’re putting the taxpayers on the hook,” said Representative Collin Peterson of Minnesota, the panel’s top Democrat, at the hearing. “This could come back to haunt you.”…
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-19/wall-street-may-win-swap-rule-reprieve-in-u-s-house-legislation.html

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    Rasputin

    Kitchner started this by nationalizing all Argentine retirement accounts. Progressives have had wet dreams ever sense. This is the second stage of an epic wealth snatch. Good for the People of Cyprus. I hope some of their politicians survive the Russian Mafia’s feed back.

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    • #
      ExWarmist

      Rasputin says …

      I hope some of their politicians survive the Russian Mafia’s feed back.

      That’s very kind of you.

      However the Russian mafia is not as dangerous as the ExKGB Russian Oligarchs who may well serve some “cold revenge” on EU financial ministers, who are at the centre of things pulling the strings on this debacle.

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    ExWarmist

    The lastest capital controls in Cyprus from Zerohedge.

    00

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    mafia

    In soviet russia you don’t rob a bank, they rob you

    00

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    Bush bunny

    I lived in Cyprus back in the 60s, and now the island is separated between the Turks and Greek run governments. Certainly the Greek sector is far more wealthy than the Turkish quarters. Pretty island, shame about the religious and political unrest.

    00