More Rot from the EU, Cyprus Edition
Asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton is said to have replied, “because that’s where the money is.”
Obviously, Willie Sutton did not live in contemporary Cyprus, whose banking system, as Walter Russell Mead observes, is “easily the shadiest” in the eurozone. “Russian oligarchs use the island’s banks as a combination piggy bank and money laundry,” he notes — it’s a good rule of thumb that Russians + money = corruption — and then there is the problem of stupendous mismanagement: “Largely because the Cypriot bankers invested lots of their clients’ cash in Greek bonds, the financial system is underwater.” (Memo to self: why are Russian gangsters always called “oligarchs”?)
Now what? Well, in exchange for a €10 billion bailout, the International Monetary Fund and European lenders (Deutschland, Deutschland über, etc.) are exacting a one-off (or so they say) 10 percent “levy” on all bank deposits over €100,000, payable Monday. Goat herders, taxi drivers, et al. (what the New York Times calls “pensioners, workers and regulator depositors”) with less than €100,000 get whacked 6.75 percent.
As Business Insider reports, this so-called “stability levy” is expected to raise €5.8 billion. It is also expected to raise a “flood of concerns” — that’s bureaucratese for “panic” — about a run on banks elsewhere in the eurozone, where (as the report delicately puts it) “fragile public finances are also under scrutiny.”
Right. So that €100,000 it took you years to save is, come Monday, worth €90,000. And how about the following Tuesday, when it will turn out Cypriot banks need more dough? What then? Jörg Asmussen, a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, explained it thus: “In order to have burden-sharing, you extend the tax base. To residents and also to non-residents.” Spoken like a true socialist (or Social Democrat, which is the same thing). Politicians and bankers mess up, you pay. Private property? Ha, ha, ha. [Update: my friend Janet Daley writes: "It's worth noting that this EU confiscation of private savings is using the same excuse (catching money-launderers and foreign currency smugglers) that the US uses to justify FATCA [Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act]. The civil liberties and property rights of law-abiding people can be trampled over in the name of pursuing ‘criminals.’”]
So what do you suppose happened in Cyprus? Yes, Virginia, people rushed to the closest ATM and tried to get their money out. Alas, many machines are already refusing to honor withdrawal requests. (Deposits, though, are happily accepted.)
I think that the target here will not be deposits but retirement accounts. The government will snap them up to "guarantee their safety" offer "rock solid" SS benefits in their place. Later the benefits will be means tested to ensure a "fair and equitable" retirement for all at low rates not protected from the coming inflation.
Elections have consequences. Vote accordingly.
I think that the target here will not be deposits but retirement accounts. The government will snap them up to "guarantee their safety" offer "rock solid" SS benefits in their place. Later the benefits will be means tested to ensure a "fair and equitable" retirement for all at low rates not protected from the coming inflation.
Elections have consequences. Vote accordingly.
I tell my friend as he learns a new skill,be it mudding a wall or souldering together copper pipes that you get the TOUCH for it soon <a href="http://enough.Like/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">enough.Like</a> a shoplifter in a hurry our government has been telegraphing their punches for years!
I tell my friend as he learns a new skill,be it mudding a wall or souldering together copper pipes that you get the TOUCH for it soon <a href="http://enough.Like/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">enough.Like</a> a shoplifter in a hurry our government has been telegraphing their punches for years!
True story: years ago I worked in a place where we had dealings in Ukraine which required occasional transfers of small amounts of $ (by international standards) to a bank in Kiev. We'd send say 100k from our bank to the transfer bank in NYC which would send it to the bank in Kiev. The money would hit the bank in Kiev and then go on vacation for a week or two to Cyprus before making back into Kiev account.
I don't understand what could possibly go wrong with a system like that.
True story: years ago I worked in a place where we had dealings in Ukraine which required occasional transfers of small amounts of $ (by international standards) to a bank in Kiev. We'd send say 100k from our bank to the transfer bank in NYC which would send it to the bank in Kiev. The money would hit the bank in Kiev and then go on vacation for a week or two to Cyprus before making back into Kiev account.
I don't understand what could possibly go wrong with a system like that.
The consequences are dire. Money will flow out of Cyprus, and probably the PIIGS since they're next. And soon money begins to flee all of Europe.
Cyprus moves to a cash and underground economy, trust in banks is dead. The banks fail anyway. Russia is pissed and move their money outside Europe, probably Dubai or something. Anger in the streets.
Even if they change their mind at the last moment, the damage is done. Everyone knows their money isn't theirs any more.
The Left's true colors are coming out of the closet. It isn't your money. "You didn't build that" means you didn't earn that and you don't own that.
The consequences are dire. Money will flow out of Cyprus, and probably the PIIGS since they're next. And soon money begins to flee all of Europe.
Cyprus moves to a cash and underground economy, trust in banks is dead. The banks fail anyway. Russia is pissed and move their money outside Europe, probably Dubai or something. Anger in the streets.
Even if they change their mind at the last moment, the damage is done. Everyone knows their money isn't theirs any more.
The Left's true colors are coming out of the closet. It isn't your money. "You didn't build that" means you didn't earn that and you don't own that.
The IMF is being used as a figleaf, not for the first time, with Christine Lagarde talking out of both sides of her mouth, also not for the first time. The real culprits: the shadowy and always lower-case 'euro zone group' -- an ad hoc claque of finance ministers and ministry officials from within the e-zone, not known for record keeping, who actually coughed up this crap in the wee hours of Sat. morning in Europe (the Friday-night news release game in spades). You can be sure that very, very few Brussels bureaucrats will appear on camera; for sport, you might want to track the movements and antics of Barroso. Sadly, the MSM is unlikely to go near, so far is it from the approved Narrative.
Janet Daley nearly gets it but not quite: "... (show more)
The IMF is being used as a figleaf, not for the first time, with Christine Lagarde talking out of both sides of her mouth, also not for the first time. The real culprits: the shadowy and always lower-case 'euro zone group' -- an ad hoc claque of finance ministers and ministry officials from within the e-zone, not known for record keeping, who actually coughed up this crap in the wee hours of Sat. morning in Europe (the Friday-night news release game in spades). You can be sure that very, very few Brussels bureaucrats will appear on camera; for sport, you might want to track the movements and antics of Barroso. Sadly, the MSM is unlikely to go near, so far is it from the approved Narrative.
Janet Daley nearly gets it but not quite: " 'The civil liberties and property rights of law-abiding people can be trampled over in the name of pursuing ‘criminals.’'' But it's worse than that: law abiding and thrifty savers are themselves converted into criminals at the stroke of the pen of an unelected bureaucrat. So it is in Spain: a new law, effective at the end of next month, purports to 'extend the tax base' to the worldwide assets of non-resident individuals -- any assets in Spain itself are liable to forfeiture. International corps. are next. These guys are desperate.
The next two days in Cyprus will be very instructive; I do not know but it's a reasonable guess that Greek and Turkish Cypriots alike still have access to many weapons from the civil war. Next up: Italy and Spain. Meanwhile, drinks with umbrellas for Wall Street and MSM -- until the penny drops, that is, then chaos.
Put another way, the Jörg Asmussen's of the developed world belong at the end of a rope tied to a lamp post. The French are experts; this time, they'll have plenty of help. (show less)