Paying off Cyprus Debt

Gotta hope this isn't a sign of things to come in the US. Looks like Cyprus will force those with savings accounts to cough up monies to avert a bankruptcy. Those with over 100k euros in savings will be taxed 9.9% and 6.7% for those with less. Those that are fiscally responsible will pay for those that aren't.


http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/17/17345457-cypriots-asked-to-surrender-up-to-10-percent-of-bank-balances-in-return-for-eu-bailout?lite

Diseasel wrote:

Those that are fiscally responsible will pay for those that aren't.

Pretty much how it works out anyway.
We took a bath in the housing market, didn't declare BK, paid our bills and received no mortgage help.
Lived in a 700 sq ft house for a couple years because we didn't want to over extend our selves.

No doubt about that. It's just another way to rob you. It was pretty underhanded. Done over the holiday weekend. Citizens could only grab a small part of their savings via the ATM. Unfortunately it might be the only solution for heavily indebted governments.

I'm gonna have to keep an ear open for a countermeasure. I'm thinking savings need to be converted to non-liquid assets like property or over-funded life insurance plans. I hate the idea of investing in property other than my own home.

Property is not a way out either.
They can decide to highly tax all parcels other than a primary resisdence. Many states already have lower tax rates for "homesteads" and full rate for other parcels.

No, property taxes are too slow. The money is still in the consumer's pocket and there's no quick access. They're desperate and they need money now. On the other hand, banks savings accounts are there for the taking much like an old bank robbery. Today it's a split second electronic transfer.

It's the old policy of it being easier to apologize than to ask for permission. And that's the way it's going. Countries aren't honest with their citizens. They deny issues until the bubble bursts into a crisis and then desperate measures are needed.

The citizens aren't honest with themselves either, they demand and expect cradle to the grave entitlements for free. More every day. And they damn well expect for someone else to pay for it. And they vote accordingly.

That is the definition of dishonesty.

Sooner or later, you run out of other people's money. And now days, money doesn't even exist to begin with, it's just an electronic ghost. Our money was pissed away generations ago and we are just now figuring that out.

pup wrote:

The citizens aren't honest with themselves either, they demand and expect cradle to the grave entitlements for free. More every day. And they damn well expect for someone else to pay for it. And they vote accordingly.

That is the definition of dishonesty.

Sooner or later, you run out of other people's money. And now days, money doesn't even exist to begin with, it's just an electronic ghost. Our money was pissed away generations ago and we are just now figuring that out.

Yep, almost everyone votes from their pocketbook and few think they should pay more taxes or pay off the current debt. It's the old saying, you can't fix stupid. And that's where Darwin comes in. It happened to the USSR and almost certainly will happen to the USA.

Current retirees had it good. They paid less into social security and will get the most out of it. The rest of us will get a fraction if we're lucky and then pay for it all for decades to come.

What lesson this tells us is that we cannot trust the government, nor keep money in a place where they can take it at will.

Cyprus bank deposits are insured with an equivalent FDIC insurance which doesn't apply in this case for some reason.

It the EU pressing them to do this for a bail out. Now they're backing off.

The way i see it the EU has to bail them out because rich russians use those banks like the rich here use the carribian ones.

The bank needed to invest the money they had thrown at them, so they went stupid and invested in Greece. (At the EU's suggestion? Hmmm.) Finding themselves $17,000,000,000.00 in the hole to the Russians.

Never a good thing.

TheQuig wrote:

What lesson this tells us is that we cannot trust the government, nor keep money in a place where they can take it at will.

Absolutely. The dust hasn't settled yet and the other struggling Euro zone players (Greece, Portugal, Spain,..) still have a chance to make a run on the bank. The next few weeks will be interesting.

Diseasel wrote:

Cyprus bank deposits are insured with an equivalent FDIC insurance which doesn't apply in this case for some reason.

Would it be shocking to anyone to find out the scheme for this reverse bank heist was crafted partly by the G20 and partly be the FDIC? They've done it in New Zealand and now Cyprus.

The term is called Open Resolution Banking or ORB. This is a formalized process for the people trusting the institution with their monetary assets to lose in some cases 20 to 40% in actual value. Now mind you their turning some portion of the money taken into bank shares. Though the shares are next to worthless. It's a big money grab and we the middle class you guessed it are on the contribution side.

It might be worth while to understand a little about ORB, because its the template that's to be used in more than New Zealand and Cyprus.

http://www.finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/international-bank-heists-begun-230958517.html

According to the Cypriot financial minister, in fact, the bank is likely to return just 20% of its deposits to large account holders, and the process may take as long as six or seven years. Meanwhile, authorities will move Popular’s healthy assets to the Bank of Cyprus, which will undergo a separate restructuring.

Under those terms, 37.5% of deposits over €100,000 will be swapped for bank equity, which is now next to worthless. This levy will affect more than 19,000 depositors holding a combined €8 billion in assets. “In effect, that cash will immediately disappear from depositors’ accounts,” explains the Wall Street Journal.

Yet, the immediate loss to uninsured Bank of Cyprus customers will be far higher than 40%. Bloomberg, in fact, reports that the bank levy will reach at least 60% when factoring in a temporary 22.5% “deposit withholding,” which will receive no interest and could undergo further write-offs.

Cypriot banks closed for nearly two weeks last month. When they reopened on March 28.

http://www.nzba.org.nz/assets/Uploads/111004-OBR-Submission-NZBA.pdf

They even use the word hair cut many times throughout, how British of them. Review the participating bank list. 8^0


Conspiracy theory right, no just a flat conspiracy brazlenly in the open with no media investigation or attention.

http://www.fdic.gov/about/srac/2012/gsifi.pdf

Here's a good summary

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1306931-it-can-happen-here-the-confiscation-scheme-planned-for-u-s-and-u-k-depositors

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1294151-a-safe-and-a-shotgun-or-public-sector-banks-the-battle-of-cyprus