In a surprise deal made recently the government of Cyprus decided to simply steal people’s money to prop up their bad financial management

The eurozone has struck a deal to hand Cyprus a bailout worth 10 billion euros ($12.5 billion), but demanded bank depositors help foot the bill.

The eastern Mediterranean island has become the fifth country after Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain to turn to the eurozone for financial help during the region’s debt crisis.

In a radical departure from previous aid packages – and one that gave rise to incredulity and anger across the country – eurozone finance ministers are forcing Cyprus’ savers to hand over up to 10 per cent of their deposits to raise almost 6 billion euros ($7.5 billion).

Almost half of its depositors are believed to be non-resident Russians, but most of those queuing at ATMs on Saturday to take out their cash appeared to be Cypriots.

“I wish I was not the minister to do this,” Cypriot finance minister Michael Sarris said after 10 hours of late-night talks in Brussels, where the package was hammered out.

Mr Sarris added the levy was the “least-worst option”, while the president, Nicos Anastasiades, defended it as a “painful” step taken to avoid bankruptcy.

Without a rescue, Cyprus would default and undermine investor confidence in the eurozone that has been built up by the European Central Bank’s promise last year to do whatever it takes to shore up the currency bloc.

The bailout was smaller than initially expected and is mainly needed to recapitalise Cypriot banks that were hit by a sovereign debt restructuring in Greece.

They call Sicily the island of the mafia. It’s not Sicily, it’s Cyprus. This is theft, pure and simple.
Cypriot pensioner
The deposit levy – set at 9.9 per cent on bank deposits exceeding 100,000 euros and at 6.7 per cent on anything below that – will take place after a bank holiday on Monday.

To guard against capital flight, Cyprus has taken steps to prevent electronic money transfers over the weekend.

“I’m extremely angry. I worked years and years to get it together and now I am losing it on the say-so of the Dutch and the Germans,” said British-Cypriot Andy Georgiou, 54, who returned to Cyprus in mid-2012 with his savings.

The levy breaks a eurozone taboo by hitting bank depositors with losses.

“They call Sicily the island of the mafia. It’s not Sicily, it’s Cyprus. This is theft, pure and simple,” said a pensioner.

The island’s bailout had repeatedly been delayed amid concerns from other EU states that its close business relations with Russia, and a banking system flush with Russian cash, made it a conduit for money-laundering.

In return for emergency loans, Cyprus agreed to increase its corporate tax rate by 2.5 percentage points to 12.5 per cent.

This should boost revenues, limiting the size of the loan needed from the eurozone and keep down public debt.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-17/cyprus27-savers-bear-brunt-of-unprecedented-eurozone-bailout/4577844?section=business

Smart move, getting the Russian mafia to pay off your bailout.

Sounds crazy to me. It’s going to encourage people in countries with dodgy economies to start withdrawing their money and starting a run on banks worldwide.

I wish I could withdraw my super before the professional crooks get it.

i guess that if you owed lots of money the government wouldn’t take anything, it would only affect those with lots of money in the bank.

if you had a mortgage for example the amout taken could be very low – unless the gov calculates its cut from your bank account that includes your debt or if you had thrown extra money at your debt

my take on it is that the bank of cyprus has just signed its own death warrant by doing this – how much money would you keep in the bank of cyprus knowing that it could be simply stolen by the government?

Kingy said:

Sounds crazy to me. It’s going to encourage people in countries with dodgy economies to start withdrawing their money and starting a run on banks worldwide.

I wish I could withdraw my super before the professional crooks get it.

You haven’t got your super in the bank though, have you?

Kingy said:

Sounds crazy to me. It’s going to encourage people in countries with dodgy economies to start withdrawing their money and starting a run on banks worldwide.

I wish I could withdraw my super before the professional crooks get it.

superannuation is a scam because you can’t control your own money without paying lots of money to someone

the government is putting up superannuation as a tax increase by stealth. think of it this way, you remove money from people’s pockets and you can tax the superannuation companies in the present – the more money they handle the more money they can take

Kingy said:

Sounds crazy to me. It’s going to encourage people in countries with dodgy economies to start withdrawing their money and starting a run on banks worldwide.

I wish I could withdraw my super before the professional crooks get it.

.

Yes. A run on cash from banks etc is NOT something the world needs to encourage.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-14/bankers-winning-the-battle-losing-the-war/4573260?section=business

Leading economist and financial analyst Gerard Minack, one of the few who largely foresaw the global financial crisis, is warning that another and potentially worse economic storm is brewing.

In his latest Downunder Daily note, Mr Minack warns that the very actions central bankers are taking now, that have done so much to inflate share markets and restore economic confidence, are sowing the seeds of the next crisis.

In response to a financial crisis which the Morgan Stanley global strategist argues was caused by loose monetary policy, mispricing of risk and a resultant sharp rise in debt, central banks around the world have saved the day by loosening monetary policy even further and ratcheting up debt even more.

Mr Minack says these loose central bank policies go hand-in-hand with rising share prices for a while, as low interest rates persuade investors to park freshly minted money from the US Fed or Bank of Japan into equities because the return on cash is so low.

However, he warns that in trying so hard to win the battle against an economic downturn at the moment, central banks could be consigning themselves to defeat in the war against another global financial and economic meltdown.

“Winning the battle isn’t winning the war. If central bankers do win this round, the next downturn could be, in my view, an omnishambles,” he wrote in the note.

Audio: Lessons not learned and Depression could be in the offing: economist (AM)
Gerard Minack says the current appearance of economic health is reliant on borrowing rates that are at record lows in the US and many other developed nations.

Those cheap lending rates have lured investors, weary of below par or even sub-inflation returns on many safe investments, back into financial markets, where the risk premiums charged on loans and demanded in equity investments have fallen, as they did in the run-up to the GFC.

The low rates and lowering of risk premium means investors and institutions are, on aggregate, putting more money into riskier investments for lower returns – just as they did pre-GFC.

“In short, it seems more likely that central bankers may add another leg to the credit super-cycle,” warned Mr Minack.

“The super-cycle was 30 years where total leverage ratcheted higher and interest rates ratcheted lower.”

The end is nigh
Gerard Minack says the super-cycle, and economic growth that goes with it, will come to end when policymakers (governments and central banks) exhaust their ability to provide any more relief to struggling borrowers.

That would first of all mean some massive defaults, corporate and household, as seen in many developed economies during GFC mark one.

It would also mean borrowing would stop growing and likely head into reverse, causing the rate of economic growth to drop because the amount households and businesses have available to spend and invest is determined by their income plus the change in their debt levels.

“The key question for investors in this scenario is when (and how) this cycle may end,” Mr Minack concluded.

“The question would be whether we are now 2003, with 3-4 good years to go, or 2006, with the cycle end not imminent but not that far over the horizon.

“I’m not sure: history tends to rhyme, not repeat. My hunch, however, is that this cycle is already closer to 2006 than 2003.”

Unlike 2008, almost all governments, and now most central banks as well, have little ammunition left in the cupboard to boost their economies.

So, if Gerard Minack is right, it might be worth enjoying 2013’s stellar share market gains while they last.

An interview with Gerard Minack by the ABC’s business editor Peter Ryan will run on ABC Radio’s AM program tomorrow (Friday) morning.

morrie said:

Kingy said:

Sounds crazy to me. It’s going to encourage people in countries with dodgy economies to start withdrawing their money and starting a run on banks worldwide.

I wish I could withdraw my super before the professional crooks get it.

You haven’t got your super in the bank though, have you?

No, that does not mean that it is not just as vulnerable though. If I had control of my Super, I would be buying land. It’s one of the only things that there won’t be any more of.

its why i’ve been telling people here to pay down any debt they might have

my own hopeful feelings are that we will have more than a few years before the crash comes again

the crash that came in 2008 was when i bought my first house, i’m fairly sure that when the next crash comes i’ll have have paid that off and might buy another house when the property prices have collpased again.

its all so tricky though

australia is opening up new mines and shipping out gas, coal, iron, oil and gold, this means that regardless of a downturn there will always be a need for this stuff so its hard to say what is really going to happen.

Kingy said:

morrie said:

Kingy said:

Sounds crazy to me. It’s going to encourage people in countries with dodgy economies to start withdrawing their money and starting a run on banks worldwide.

I wish I could withdraw my super before the professional crooks get it.

You haven’t got your super in the bank though, have you?

No, that does not mean that it is not just as vulnerable though. If I had control of my Super, I would be buying land. It’s one of the only things that there won’t be any more of.

in australia theres heaps of land

i feel sorry for all these suckers buying apartments and getting into the ratbox in the sky situation. i laughed when i saw the towerblocks with all the washing hanging off the faux balconies. when they put up power prices you can’t do anything, when they put up the body corporate fees – you can’t do anything, when they put up the insurance you can’t do anything.

the nsw gov is no proposing creating another ten thousand of these things.

it would be better off cutting off the gangrenous limb of sydney and declare a new country and a new financial entity than get involved in all that sillyness with something that has no real value.

Comes as something of a shock.

Thank goodness I didn’t invest my money in the Bank of Cyprus. For a while there it was offering the highest interest rates on deposits of any bank easily accessible from Australia.

mollwollfumble said:

Comes as something of a shock.

Thank goodness I didn’t invest my money in the Bank of Cyprus. For a while there it was offering the highest interest rates on deposits of any bank easily accessible from Australia.

I can remember a farmer I was once working for.. He said one morning that he’d borrowed money from Germany at 4% and that overnight he’d gone from a few hundred thousand in debt to over two million in debt overnight. Due to the hike in interest to 20% overnight.

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

Comes as something of a shock.

Thank goodness I didn’t invest my money in the Bank of Cyprus. For a while there it was offering the highest interest rates on deposits of any bank easily accessible from Australia.

I can remember a farmer I was once working for.. He said one morning that he’d borrowed money from Germany at 4% and that overnight he’d gone from a few hundred thousand in debt to over two million in debt overnight. Due to the hike in interest to 20% overnight.

That is the same reason that I am no longer a farmer.

Kingy said:

roughbarked said:

mollwollfumble said:

Comes as something of a shock.

Thank goodness I didn’t invest my money in the Bank of Cyprus. For a while there it was offering the highest interest rates on deposits of any bank easily accessible from Australia.

I can remember a farmer I was once working for.. He said one morning that he’d borrowed money from Germany at 4% and that overnight he’d gone from a few hundred thousand in debt to over two million in debt overnight. Due to the hike in interest to 20% overnight.

That is the same reason that I am no longer a farmer.

Yeah, You’d have to get a job to pay it back.

mollwollfumble said:

Comes as something of a shock.

Thank goodness I didn’t invest my money in the Bank of Cyprus. For a while there it was offering the highest interest rates on deposits of any bank easily accessible from Australia.

i’ve seen this kind of thing before

it is a harbinger of things to come

if you see a financial entity offering high interest its about to collapse, what they are trying to do is suck as money down the hole before it goes under

i don’t see how the bank of cyprus is going to survive as a bank now its destroyed any credibility it might have had.

looks as if the government has backed away from taxing peoples savings

very stupid indeed

wookiemeister said:

looks as if the government has backed away from taxing peoples savings

very stupid indeed

savings should be encouraged. according to both Keating and Costello.

wookiemeister said:

looks as if the government has backed away from taxing peoples savings

very stupid indeed

Damn straight. It was a stupid thing to even contemplate. You can bet a lot of people who have EU in a union country are checking out other places to bank.

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

looks as if the government has backed away from taxing peoples savings

very stupid indeed

savings should be encouraged. according to both Keating and Costello.

i think it depends what form the savings take

keating and costello would like people to save by buying shares

Skunkworks said:

wookiemeister said:

looks as if the government has backed away from taxing peoples savings

very stupid indeed

Damn straight. It was a stupid thing to even contemplate. You can bet a lot of people who have EU in a union country are checking out other places to bank.

the best thing they should do now is make a declaration that it will never in cyprus and then make it LAW

wookiemeister said:

looks as if the government has backed away from taxing peoples savings

very stupid indeed

Nes and yo.

The banking sector is one of the mainstays of their economy, mostly based on taking overseas deposits. The bailout is needed to sure up the banking sector, but taxing bank deposits would ruin the attractiveness for foreign investors, which would ruin one of their best industries.

Bit of a rock and hard place between situation.

wookiemeister said:

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

looks as if the government has backed away from taxing peoples savings

very stupid indeed

savings should be encouraged. according to both Keating and Costello.

i think it depends what form the savings take

keating and costello would like people to save by buying shares

or invest in brokers .. blindly.. given that we had four pillars/

party_pants said:

wookiemeister said:

looks as if the government has backed away from taxing peoples savings

very stupid indeed

Nes and yo.

The banking sector is one of the mainstays of their economy, mostly based on taking overseas deposits. The bailout is needed to sure up the banking sector, but taxing bank deposits would ruin the attractiveness for foreign investors, which would ruin one of their best industries.

Bit of a rock and hard place between situation.

the only way out of recession is tax less on ordinary income and purchases

the middle class should be persuaded to not save their money by making saving unattractive eg low interest rates. the higher wages shouldn’t attract tax breaks. you can half GST in places like spain and england. the wealthy are then persuaded to spend because stuff is cheaper.

make education free and get the army off the unemployed off the streets where they are causing havoc

small local manufacturing should be created so goods can be created at home, this will create employment and stop money leaking from the country

wookiemeister said:

party_pants said:

wookiemeister said:

looks as if the government has backed away from taxing peoples savings

very stupid indeed

Nes and yo.

The banking sector is one of the mainstays of their economy, mostly based on taking overseas deposits. The bailout is needed to sure up the banking sector, but taxing bank deposits would ruin the attractiveness for foreign investors, which would ruin one of their best industries.

Bit of a rock and hard place between situation.

the only way out of recession is tax less on ordinary income and purchases

the middle class should be persuaded to not save their money by making saving unattractive eg low interest rates. the higher wages shouldn’t attract tax breaks. you can half GST in places like spain and england. the wealthy are then persuaded to spend because stuff is cheaper.

make education free and get the army off the unemployed off the streets where they are causing havoc

I do often wish you wouldn’t just wander about like a chook scratching.

wookiemeister said:

the only way out of recession is …..

Yeah sure.

wookiemeister said:

small local manufacturing should be created so goods can be created at home, this will create employment and stop money leaking from the country

small local manufacturing has no need of creation.. it exists.

party_pants said:

wookiemeister said:

the only way out of recession is …..

Yeah sure.

they all seem to put the taxes up

look where that gets them

taxes destroy confidence in the population. get rid of the taxes on normal purchases and people will return to buying, selling and getting the economy back to work

roughbarked said:

wookiemeister said:

small local manufacturing should be created so goods can be created at home, this will create employment and stop money leaking from the country

small local manufacturing has no need of creation.. it exists.

yeah

and it often goes out of business as well

mossad is behind this

wookiemeister said:

party_pants said:

wookiemeister said:

the only way out of recession is …..

Yeah sure.

they all seem to put the taxes up

look where that gets them

taxes destroy confidence in the population. get rid of the taxes on normal purchases and people will return to buying, selling and getting the economy back to work

But the citizens still demand the same services, which the government will have less revenue to provide. So they live with low taxes and just borrow money to supply the rest. Sowing the seeds for the next debt crisis.

neomyrtus_ said:

mossad is behind this

google “mossad drugs”

wookiemeister said:

small local manufacturing should be created…

I’d give it a go. I suppose i’d need a small factory, if i’m going to go into the business of making smalls. What sells better, anyway: jockeys or briefs?

captain_spalding said:

wookiemeister said:

small local manufacturing should be created…

I’d give it a go. I suppose i’d need a small factory, if i’m going to go into the business of making smalls. What sells better, anyway: jockeys or briefs?

some sock manufacturer went of business a few years ago

the union made a few noises about it but they have to worry about feasting on the carcass of whats left to worry about what they could have done to stop it going out of business

neomyrtus_ said:

mossad is behind this

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Conspiracy thread section—-></marquee>

roughbarked said:

neomyrtus_ said:

mossad is behind this

<marquee behavior="slide" direction="right">
Conspiracy thread section—-></marquee>

neo is the only one that brings up mossad in most cases. she has her own addiction to jehovah to worry about

wookiemeister said:

… what they could have done to stop it going out of business.

Persuaded the workforce to take a substantial pay cut in return for longer hours and shorter breaks, perhaps?

captain_spalding said:

wookiemeister said:

… what they could have done to stop it going out of business.

Persuaded the workforce to take a substantial pay cut in return for longer hours and shorter breaks, perhaps?

yes one way

if i know the unions they would have been instrumental in making the place virtually unworkable

the unions are really just a criminal organisation in most cases, every now and then one of their higher members gets caught with the pants down.

wookiemeister said:

A phrase with potentially universal applications. Simply insert the name of the group of your choice (e.g. the police, the local council, the Church, the Liberal Party, the Country Womens’ Association). One size seems to fit all.

wookiemeister said:

captain_spalding said:

wookiemeister said:

small local manufacturing should be created…

I’d give it a go. I suppose i’d need a small factory, if i’m going to go into the business of making smalls. What sells better, anyway: jockeys or briefs?

some sock manufacturer went of business a few years ago

the union made a few noises about it but they have to worry about feasting on the carcass of whats left to worry about what they could have done to stop it going out of business

Catching up on Grand Designs on the ABC website. Seems the biggest cause of delay is glass.

Cyprus should invest in glass manufacture.

Gosh, you leave one little bracket in, and…

It should have read thus:

wookiemeister said:

… are really just a criminal organisation in most cases, every now and then one of their higher members gets caught with the pants down.

A phrase with potentially universal applications. Simply insert the name of the group of your choice (e.g. the police, the local council, the Church, the Liberal Party, the Country Womens’ Association). One size seems to fit all.

captain_spalding said:

Gosh, you leave one little bracket in, and…

It should have read thus:

wookiemeister said:

… are really just a criminal organisation in most cases, every now and then one of their higher members gets caught with the pants down.

A phrase with potentially universal applications. Simply insert the name of the group of your choice (e.g. the police, the local council, the Church, the Liberal Party, the Country Womens’ Association). One size seems to fit all.

Perhaps it doesn’t, hence all the pants falling down?

party_pants said:

Catching up on Grand Designs on the ABC website. Seems the biggest cause of delay is glass.

Cyprus should invest in glass manufacture.

I saw that GD tonight. My guess is that there’d been one of those triangular arguments between architect, builder, and owner, and the architect was stonewalling on his sign-offs, so as to assert his authority.

captain_spalding said:

party_pants said:

Catching up on Grand Designs on the ABC website. Seems the biggest cause of delay is glass.

Cyprus should invest in glass manufacture.

I saw that GD tonight. My guess is that there’d been one of those triangular arguments between architect, builder, and owner, and the architect was stonewalling on his sign-offs, so as to assert his authority.

If only the EU monetary system functioned so practically.

Ha ha.

Germany never conquered Europe by military force.

Now they have conquered by economic force.

All the bases belong to them.

Cypriot president ‘warned his friends to move money abroad’ before financial crisis hit: Leader under fire as he faces just FOUR DAYS to save country from collapse

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2297383/Cyprus-bailout-President-Nikos-Anastasiades-warned-friends-money-abroad.html#ixzz2OKO3K82P Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Rumour has it that New Zealand is the next country due to steal bank depositors money to pay for the banks debts.

Kingy said:

Rumour has it that New Zealand is the next country due to steal bank depositors money to pay for the banks debts.

It a kind of ‘follow the leader’ strategy?

Why would NZ need to do that? They are in reasonable shape.