Bailout tax shock for Cyprus savers

Bailout tax shock for Cyprus savers

People with Cyprus bank accounts will lose up to 10% of their savings as the price of a 10 billion euro (£8.6 billion) rescue package for the cash-strapped country from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund.

The bailout was agreed early on Saturday in a bid to keep the island nation from a bankruptcy that could rekindle the region's debt crisis.

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk...


WOW, the outright theft of peoples hard earned money by their government to save the troubled banks. I wonder when other countries will start doing this? The thing about these bailouts is they never work, is the situation in Europe getting any better, is Greece / Spain / Ireland any better off? It is my opinion that the bailouts and the International Monetary Fund are being used to impoverish nations and make them become beholden to the IMF and their globalist masters.

But at least in Cyprus they made a mistake, they left the ATMs open - people are flocking to remove their money from the bank. You can be sure when they try this in other European nations and across the ocean in the US and Canada they will have a bank holiday. I wonder if this event will reverberate throughout Europe when it becomes more widespread, will this start bank runs in financial troubled countries like Italy, Spain and Greece?

Some people aren't too happy about this:



Bulldozer blocks bank entrance. Will will be shocked, and dismayed if this doesn't result in a bank run in Europe.

I think this is a very big deal. What a precedent to set, taking a percentage of people's savings overnight!

I can not see this being good for banks. People in many hurting countries will start pulling their money and then the dominoes will be in full tilt!

For some reason i can almost feel my gf's grandfather reaching for his shotgun already so i think theres going to be some heated exchanges on monday and the gf's got some money in cyprus so she's not gonna be impressed when i tell her

This is pretty disturbing to hear about. Let's hope that this doesn't become the norm and start spreading as an easy solution to help stall economic collapse. Will be interesting to see what happens on Monday when the banks open up to a very angry crowd of people demanding their money.

To put this into perspective, however, you have to realise that without these bailouts the Cypriot banks would have folded as they are over-exposed to Greece, taking all of the savers money with it, instead of just 10%.

At the end of the day, you decide where to put your savings and along with that comes a risk. If you put your money in a Bank that makes unwise or even unsafe investments, you will likely get a kick in the googlies at some point....

No swings and roundabouts, this is theft.

I'd say they're best running to the bank and getting the cash out, but that paper wouldn't have any worth if everybody did that. Blackmailed into allowing theft, #s crazy

reply to post by n00bUK


I will also point out that over 50% of the money held in savings accounts in Cyprus is from Russians, who the EU suspects are actually laundering money for criminal activities, so in order to get the bailout approved and this save everyone in Cyprus from going broke was to tax these "savers" and make them pay.

EDIT: How is it theft, exactly?

2 options on the table:

1. Bailiut the banks, save them from collapsing and let everyone keep 90% of their money
   
2. Let the banks fold and everyone loses 100% of their money
   

Originally posted by stumason
reply to post by n00bUK

 

I will also point out that over 50% of the money held in savings accounts in Cyprus is from Russians, who the EU suspects are actually laundering money for criminal activities, so in order to get the bailout approved and this save everyone in Cyprus from going broke was to tax these "savers" and make them pay.

EDIT: How is it theft, exactly?

2 options on the table:

1. Bailiut the banks, save them from collapsing and let everyone keep 90% of their money
   
2. Let the banks fold and everyone loses 100% of their money
   

edit on 16/3/13 by stumason because: (no reason given)

Yea I don't get it. The authorities are justifying the actions because they say there is proceeds of crime money in the bank. So why don't they just confiscate the illegal money and leave the ordinary savers alone. And should it not be a crime for the banks to be processing/laundering known criminal money. I thought HSBC just got slammed for doing that. All very confusing.

reply to post by bigyin


They only "suspect", although I imagine they have some proof that some are dodgy accounts.

Either way, the rest of the EU didn't have to give Cyprus anything, they made mistakes with their investments.

The fact they are only losing 10% and not 100% of their savings is solely down to this bailout, so they Cypriots should count themselves lucky. Had the EU decided not to approve the loan, then the whole Cypriot economy would have folded without much drama in the rest of the EU given it's tiny size, it's not like this was critical in the same way Spain and Greece were.

reply to post by stumason


implying the bailouts are going to work....they haven't worked so far in Greece and other nations, they are just delaying the eventual collapse, they should allow the banks to fail and not sell themselves to the IMF.

you also assume that the "people" made the mistakes, the banks are getting bailed out - socialize the losses and privatize the gains...

NO THANKS!

---------------------

How can anyone justify this outright theft makes me want to puke, I can only hope one day your country decides to steal 10% of what you own. Lucky it was only 10%....WOW

This is huge news and of course it's theft. They have ridden roughshod over a savings deposit insurance. Most other countries have the same and now people are going to be asking if it could happen to them.
www.forbes.com...
Expect weasel words of reassurance from our governments - it was a one off, it couldn't happen here etc etc. Yeah right. The reason we have these deposit guarantees is to promote confidence in the banks. H E L L O...
The ramifications of this heist could be huge.

so this is a Tax on money?
I bet the rich dont get it.

and one for a big Riot.

Originally posted by stumason
reply to post by bigyin

 

They only "suspect", although I imagine they have some proof that some are dodgy accounts.

Either way, the rest of the EU didn't have to give Cyprus anything, they made mistakes with their investments.

The fact they are only losing 10% and not 100% of their savings is solely down to this bailout, so they Cypriots should count themselves lucky. Had the EU decided not to approve the loan, then the whole Cypriot economy would have folded without much drama in the rest of the EU given it's tiny size, it's not like this was critical in the same way Spain and Greece were.

Well don't blame savers for withdrawing all their funds from the banks. The banks themselves screwed up, not savers.

Employees can simply be paid in cash and hide their money under their bed, oh but that's right, employees are tied to the banks because everyone is paid via electronic funds transfers now.

Stumason:

Had the EU decided not to approve the loan, then the whole Cypriot economy would have folded without much drama in the rest of the EU given it's tiny size, it's not like this was critical in the same way Spain and Greece were.

Some beg to differ on your nonchalance...

Cyprus may be one of the eurozone's tiniest economies - its third smallest - but for the next 48 hours or so, it may be the single currency area's most important.

The point is that there could be serious repercussions for other financially over-stretched economies, such as Spain's and Italy's, from the nature of Cyprus's 10bn-euro (£8.7bn) bailout - which includes, for the first time in any eurozone rescue, losses imposed directly on depositors in banks.

Robert Peston. Business Editor

www.bbc.co.uk...

Ordinary people are 'savers', not investors, unless they actually place money in banking investment accounts like ISAs. This 'theft' is taking from ordinary savers placing money in ordinary deposit accounts. Your rationale that it is simply a Cypriot issue and not a Euro-wide one is quite disingenuous. That it is better to lose an arm rather than a leg carries no comfort whatsoever. That Cypriots should count their blessings for the theft is downright obnoxious!

The ordinary people of Cyprus are not the ones allegedly laundering money, they just want to go about their ordinary lives, like the rest of us, but nobody can because of state interference. These bailouts and austerity measures are not cures, but merely aid the cancer that is endemic right through the finacial world. We shouldn't be aiding it, but changing it to a better system. We are rewarding those that caused the mess in the first place. The financial elite are the ones that created and ran the system, and governments colluded with it through deregulation. They should be in prison, with banks temporarily nationalised. Failures should have been allowed to happen, and the top people facing prosecution for their business greed and incompetence.

Why should ordinary people pay a single penny to these bastards? A fear that society will breakdown, or perhaps it is more to do with nefarious machinations with ultimate agenda goals? World economies are not natural processes, but man-made systems, created and run by man, and if they fail, they do not do so accidently, recessions are built into the system and act like pressure release valves, but it also allows for the hiding away of indiscretions and frauds through write-offs.

The Cypriot people can't do anything about this theft because it has been timed to coincide with the bank holiday weekend. People are going to be fretting for the next couple of days, unable to get into the bank to try and safeguard their money. Come Tuesday morning the Cypriot people will be going to their banks, and will want to withdraw their money, they will be refused, and then the anger will be expressed. meanwhile this theft in a small country sets a precedent for future thefts elsewhere. With the right spin and rationale, you can legitimise the most unpalatable acts!

Will have to see how widespread this information gets, perhaps Monday will be start of a bank run in many troubled countries in the EU.

Sinclair - One Of The Most Important Events In History & Gold

My Dear Extended Family,

Courtesy of KingWorldNews.com

Today legendary trader Jim Sinclair told King World News we have just witnessed one of the most important events in history and it will have a major impact on the gold market. Below Sinclair, who's father was business partners with legendary trader Jesse Livermore, had to say in this extraordinary and exclusive KWN interview:

"The wire reports on the Cyprus situation are working overtime to try to make the case that 80% of the deposits belong to the people of Cyprus, and only 20% of the deposits belong to the Russians. That's absolutely false. After 1985, when the 'Robber Barrons' of Russia took over the general economics of Russia, that was the transformation from the KGB to private business. The primary place for exported Russian funds was Cyprus.

Now, there is one leader in the world that would be very dangerous to challenge, and that is Putin of Russia....

"What's just happened is the IMF has backed up, lauded, supported, and publicized, as if it were a victory, the taking of 10% of what really turns out to be 80% of Russian 'black money.' Russian 'black money' is KGB money, now in business. The leader of Russia (Putin) was a former KGB official. Who's money do you think they have taken? This is the biggest mistake the IMF could possibly have ever made."

Eric King: "Jim, it's unimaginable to me, but, incredibly, just ten days ago you warned that you don't want to anger Russian leader Putin because he and Russia will punish the West in the gold market. Can you talk about how this is going to impact the gold market beginning on Monday?"

kingworldnews.com...

If there is a true bank run in other countries such as Spain or Italy over this, it really could be the spark that brings down the whole world economy.

If you think I am joking you don't understand how fragile the banking system is, because of the incredible levels of leverage and insane derivative bombs. Really all major banks are insolvent, without government coverups and handouts they would all be shut down.

This is just an incredibly stupid and arrogant thing to have done. This is so blatant even the dumb masses may be spurred to actual action. Probably not, seems 9 out of 10 will just lie down and take anything, but there has to be a breaking point somewhere.

Originally posted by proximo
If there is a true bank run in other countries such as Spain or Italy over this, it really could be the spark that brings down the whole world economy.

If you think I am joking you don't understand how fragile the banking system is, because of the incredible levels of leverage and insane derivative bombs. Really all major banks are insolvent, without government coverups and handouts they would all be shut down.

This is just an incredibly stupid and arrogant thing to have done. This is so blatant even the dumb masses may be spurred to actual action. Probably not, seems 9 out of 10 will just lie down and take anything, but there has to be a breaking point somewhere.

Great post man,, tell us some more.. think they will have a Bank run a Tuesday