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Title: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 20, 2013, 11:52:41 PM
In other Global Currency Trends....  :D

Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus

by Graham Summers - Gains, Pains and Capital
Published : March 21st, 2013
513 words - Reading time : 1 - 2 minutes

The markets are staging a bounce today based on:



This is once again the markets praying and hoping for divine guidance from the Central Bankers. However, the fact remains that every sensible investor in the world should be absolutely horrified by what was proposed in Cyprus.

Forget Bernanke forget Mario Draghi forget all of that. None of it matters as much as what was proposed in Cyprus.

The simple fact remains that politicians proposed stealing savings deposits from the people in order to fund a bank bailout. You can dress this idea up however you like, calling it a “levy” or “tax” but taking someone’s personal property without their permission is theft plain and simple.

 
The idea was amended to focus on punishing the wealthy (those with over €100,000 in deposits) leaving those with less than €20,000 in deposits unscathed. The Cyprus parliament voted against this proposal, but the mere fact it was EVEN suggested (and that Germany and the IMF wanted to take 40% of deposits) should leave everyone terrified.

 
Again, political leaders proposed simply TAKING money from the people to fund a bank bailout… not the people as in the public’s balance sheet for a sovereign nation, but actual savings deposits sitting in banks.
 

This idea should never have been even brought to the table. Savings are personal property. Declaring a bank holiday so people cannot get their money out and then trying to simply TAKE their money is STEALING. This violates the very basis of personal property at its core.

 
The fact this idea was even brought up indicates that the political and financial elite are growing truly desperate.

 
Cyprus will not be the end of this… NO, this idea will be likely spreading in the future. Both New Zealand and Spain have already hinted at adopting similar policies. These ideas will be sold to the public as “well, we can take 7% and the bank remains afloat OR you can lose everything.” And during an extreme enough crisis, people will go along with it.

 
But get ready because this will be coming to a country near you. Are YOUR savings safe?


If you are not prepared for this… prepared for potential systemic collapse brought about by Europe…YOU NEED TO ACT NOW.


Some of you may consider this fear mongering, ...but I consider this being just plain realistic.
How much more proof do you people need? How many times do I have to be proven right?
...and with vindication usually taking a few years... can you really afford to wait years for me to be proven correct ...AGAIN?
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 21, 2013, 12:59:54 AM
In other Global Currency Trends ...  :D

The End Of Systemic Trust: The Canary Just Died
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/18/2013 11:32 -0400

(http://www.negotiationlawblog.com/uploads/image/Kid_sketch_canary_small.jpg)

“When it becomes serious, you have to lie."
~Jean Claude Juncker, PM of Luxembourg, head of the Eurogroup council of eurozone finance ministers - May, 2011



Prior to yesterday, if you were trying to handicap how the unelected leaders of the Eurozone were going to react to a tough situation, you only had to refer to the quote above from Mr. Junker to understand their mindset.

But so long as someone at the ECB was willing to flood the world with free EURs (with significant backup provided the US Federal Reserve) the market closed its eyes, held its breath and took the leap of faith that all was well.

However, post the Cyprus decision, the curtain has been pulled back and wizard revealed with all his faults and warts.  The age of innocence is dead and with it died institutional and retail trust, confidence in the system writ large and the rule of law.

It would be hard to over-emphasize how significant the Cyprus situation is.  The EU demonstrated under no uncertain circumstances that they will destroy the rule of law to maintain their own power.  It was a recognition of tyranny that many of us have always assumed was the case but yesterday became reality.

The damage done here is not related to the size of the haircut - currently discussed between 3 and 13% - but rather that the legal language which each and every investor on the planet must rely on in order to maintain confidence in the system has been subordinated to the needs of the powerful elite.  To the power elite making the major decisions in DC, London, Berlin, France, Brussels, et. al., laws are like ice cream, easily melted.

Which begs the question, who is next?  Will it be Portugal?  Greece? Spain?  Italy?  France???

Will they impose a “one-time” tax on your bank account?  Your house?  Your stocks and bonds?  Retirement accounts?

The major banks of Europe are levered beyond anyone’s wild guess.  They cannot afford a hit to their capital base lest they be exposed for the over-levered giants they are.  This, of course, opens up the exposure all of these banks have to the greater than $1tr derivatives market where the failure of any one of these derivative banks could lead to the collapse of them all.

So, of course, the powers that be in Europe must do everything in their power to prevent the world from noticing that their banks are broke.  This means they will lie and take anything they deem necessary.  Including the forceful seizure of savings accounts of innocent people.

The Government Is Your Friend?

Markets have been rallying for years on the back of the idea that government’s are going “all-in” to save the current economic system.  To many of the talking heads on the business channels, we are supposed to view this as a good thing.

This has produced all kinds of non-market based solutions such as the bailout of the major US banks and their subsequent TBTF moniker, the “bailout” (I use the term loosely because this was really a political stunt) of GM and a never-ending stream of free money being handed out by the major central banks.

The markets have seemed to like this ham-handed involvement and have rallied to all-time highs.

But all along the way there have been those of us who have said that there will eventually be a price pay.  With the Cyprus decision, investors now know what the price is: your money is not really your money.  Your bank account is not really your bank account.  Your bonds, stocks, home and anything else you think you own isn’t really yours.  The governments of the world will take it from you whenever things get bad enough.

Look at China.  Do you think if the global economy ever shrinks far enough that the Chinese will allow all those American companies to keep their assets on Chinese soil?  How likely is it that the Chinese will suffer through their own problems of inflation and social instability and yet allow Apple, GE, GM and the rest to keep benefiting?

Think about global mining and oil stocks?  Most own assets in countries other than the home domicile of the company.  If the prices of precious metals and/or oil ever meaningfully breaks out, do you think the poor governments that originally granted the mining/drilling concessions will simply respect the rule of law and allow these multi-national corporations to keep sending their country’s wealth abroad?  Not likely.

How about in the US?  Could the US declare a bank holiday and unilaterally devalue the currency in one swift move?  I will get over 9,000 responses saying this could never happen in the good ol’ US of A but of course it could.  In fact it has already been done before during FDR’s first 100 days in office.  The template already exists.  Electronic banking only makes the process that much easier.

Technically, since the Fed has been running a policy of monetary inflation since about 1920, the government here already has been quietly taxing the savings accounts of its citizens without their permission for decades.  The subtle difference between what Europe is doing in Cyprus and what the Fed does every day to American citizens is that the Cyprus theft is happening in one discrete event while the Fed’s theft drips in slowly over years.

But no matter which way you look at the situation, expect things to deteriorate from here.

 

Lehman Part Deux

What could be next?

Bank runs will continue apace where they are already going and will begin in countries previously seen as impervious to such events such as France, Germany and even Switzerland.

The difference in pricing between the paper and physical precious metals markets will rise.  Good luck to those of you owning paper gold and thinking this will help you when things get bad.  The legal language on your piece of paper is worthless.  If savings accounts aren’t sacrosanct, then neither is that ETF.

Did you or your firm stash a bunch of money off-shore in some tax-friendly haven that probably has a favorable relationship to the British Crown?  Best of luck with that.  Tax havens are nothing more than legal arbitrages.  With the value of law moving to zero, the value of your account approaches the same.

Trade wars will begin to rear their ugly heads as the losers in the currency wars retreat to their last line of defense.  Once you tear up the rule of law, trade agreements quickly get thrown by the wayside once your domestic situation deteriorates enough.

Moar and moar government micro-management of individual economies, markets, sectors and companies.  The Amateur Barack Obama and his minions will continue the tradition started by George II of abandoning free market principals to ostensibly save the free market.  Once they are done there will be little left of the market and none of us will be free.


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-18/end-systemic-trust-canary-just-died


(http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01377/g20-canary_1377287i.jpg)
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: loco on March 21, 2013, 01:20:19 AM
(http://images.elephantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/ashleymbhs6.edublogs.org-Disney-Chicken-Little-Sky-Falling1.jpg)
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: Purge_WTF on March 21, 2013, 06:37:10 AM
Still think our government is buying up ammo just for the hell of it?
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 21, 2013, 07:24:27 PM
When a safe haven banking capital takes steps to steal money from it's depositors, tearing up legal agreements stipulating the safety of deposits, at the demand of a superceding non-elected body, all bets are off, and all confidence is lost. That's why people put money in the banks to begin with... for safe keeping. I hardly consider my abhorence of the situation as "Chicken Little thinking the sky is falling." It's not the sky that's crashing down, ...it's the entire fiat paper currency derivatives system that is. They have stalled, and delayed, and kicked the can down the road, ...the problem is we don't know how much more road is left. Better to be 1 year early, than a day late.

Chicken Little just saw his cousin TweetyBird's dead corpse from all the methane in the banker owned gov't mines
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 21, 2013, 08:52:37 PM
In other Global Currency Trends ... :D


Financial Fascism as Bankers projectile vomit on the people

Published on Mar 21, 2013
In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss the big picture of bank holidays and wealth confiscation in order to pay off the $100 trillion error account banksters basically admitted to having at Davos in 2011. In the second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to Reggie Middleton of BoomBustBlog.com about Cyprus, the rules that have been revealed and his upcoming special investigation on certain European banks he's discovered have been committing fraud.

Keiser Report: Financial Fascism (E421)

Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 21, 2013, 10:20:37 PM
In other Global Currency Trends ... :D

Chief Actuary for SS - Raid the Retirement Fund!

Submitted by Bruce Krasting on 03/20/2013 12:52 -0400

Stephan Goss, the chief actuary for Social Security (SS) provided a detailed report on the status of the SS Disability Fund (DI) to the House of Representitives. The short story is that DI is going bust in a few years. The options to fix this problem were spelled out in the report. The extremes of the required "fix" range from an immediate cut in DI benefits of 16%, or an increase in DI payroll taxes of 20%.

Nothing new there. But, there is a "Plan B" for the DI Fund.

The solution is to raid the SS Retirement Fund for the deficits at DI:

 
A simple tax-rate reallocation between OASI and DI, as was done in 1994, could equalize the financial prospects of the trust funds avoiding reserve depletion until 2033.
 
Note: "Simple tax-rate reallocation" means $40+b a year....

Bingo! The raid on the retirement fund results in no cuts in benefits, and no new taxes. What's not to like about that result? The gutless wimps in D.C. would love to kick the can down the road a decade, therefore the Raid solution is an obvious choice. (The consequence of the Raid would be to reduce the expected life of the Retirement Trust Fund by as much as five years,.)

 

This is not the first time this has come up. The Congressional Budget Office, in its 2/5/13 report on the SS Trust Funds had these words in a footnote:

Quote
CBO’s baseline assumes that the Commissioner will pay DI benefits in full even after the trust fund is exhausted.

Note: For a discussion of the CBO report, see my article from 2/10/13 (Link).


Okay, we now have two legs of the government who have (functionally) suggested that a raid on the OASI fund is a possible fix for DI. Lightening does not strike twice in the same place very often, especially in Washington. The idea of raiding one fund to preserve another, has just gotten another big supporter. If the folks at AARP understood what was being proposed - they would flip their wigs!

++


The True Cost of the Disability Program

I have a list, (it's pretty short) of the folks who I think are "doing the right thing" in Washington. Stephen Goss was on that list. I'm disappointed with him and his presentation of the "Facts" about the DI program.

Mr. Goss's report to the House ran nineteen pages; there are 14 charts. (Link) (http://www.ssa.gov/legislation/testimony_031413a.html) Everything a Congressman (or the public) could ever want to know about the DI program is spelled out in detail.

But, Goss completely left out the most critical cost of DI. The Chief Actuary failed to identify a cost directly related to DI. The numbers are big - $80b in 2012. The estimate is for more than a trillion of over the coming decade. If you look beyond that time horizon, the costs that Goss failed to identify are in the mega-trillions.

 

Goss failed to provide the full picture when he did not disclose the DI costs to Medicare. Every individual who gets DI benefits ALSO gets Medicare.

 
In a report dated 3/14/2013 (Link), (http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/43995_DI-Testimony.pdf) the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) accurately described the real costs of DI:

 

Quote
Total government spending on DI beneficiaries is substantially higher than DI expenditures alone.
 
Disabled beneficiaries receive coverage under Medicare, regardless of their age.

The cost of Medicare benefits received by DI beneficiaries was about $80 billion in 2012; CBO expects that it will be $130 billion in 2023.



I give Stephen Goss an "F" for failing to provide all of the information needed to evaluate the DI program. How do you sweep a trillion dollars under the carpet?


(http://brucekrasting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/sweep_under_carpet.jpg)
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 21, 2013, 10:33:23 PM
In other Global Currency Trends ...  :D

CBO – The Coming Raid on Social Security


Every politician in America knows that Social Security (SS) is a third rail. Any Pol who tries to mess with the country’s largest and most popular entitlement program is going to have the likes of the AARP coming after them. It’s not possible to win an election on a platform that advocates cutting back SS.

With that in mind, I find it interesting to report that a very credible source is now predicting that Obama AND Congress will take action over the next 24 months that will substantially undermine both the long and short-term health of SS. The legislative raid on SS will certainly total in the hundreds of billions, it could top $1T over the next fifteen years.

So who is this “credible source”? And just how is this raid going to happen? The source of this information is the Congressional Budget Office (CBO); the following is how it will play out:

 

SS consists of two different pieces. The Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI). Both entities have their own Trust Funds (TF). OASI has a big TF that will, in theory, allow for SS retirement benefits to be paid for another 15+ years. On the other hand, the DI fund will run completely dry during the 1stQ of 2016. By current law, the DI benefits must be cut across-the-board by 30% on the day that the DI TF is exhausted.

This would mean that 11 million people (most of whom are very sick) would get slammed from one day to the next. There is no one in D.C. who wants this to happen. I don’t think the American public wants this outcome either. So what are the fixes?

 

1) Increase income taxes on +$250k of income to pay for the DI shortfall. Maybe, but this will not happen with the current Republican controlled House.

2) Increase Payroll taxes to cover the DI shortfall. I see zero political support for a permanent Payroll tax increase.

3) Cut benefits by 30%. This would be insane – it will not happen with Obama running the show.

4) Kick the can down the road and raid the OASI TF for the annual shortfalls at DI.

 

Of course #4 is the path that will be taken. #s 1, 2 and 3 are not politically feasible.  I have been wondering what will happen with the DI conundrum. I was surprised to see that the CBO spelled out what will happen in its report on the Budget and Economy – SS Trust Funds. (http://www.cbo.gov/publication/43890)  The report has this footnote:


Quote
CBO projects that the DI trust fund will be exhausted during fiscal year 2016. Under current law, the Commissioner of Social Security may not pay benefits in excess of the available balances in a trust fund, borrow money for a trust fund, or transfer money from one trust fund to another. However, following rules in the Deficit Control Act of 1985 (section 257(b)), CBO’s baseline assumes that the Commissioner will pay DI benefits in full even after the trust fund is exhausted.

The “loophole” to drain the OASI insurance is already law – so Congress doesn’t have to do anything to raid the retirement fund. The “do nothing” plan is always the best option in D.C.

The footnote goes on to provide an estimate for the size of the raid:

Quote
For illustrative purposes, below are the cumulative shortfalls in the DI trust fund beginning in 2016. Those shortfalls do not include interest expenses.

DI Trust Fund Cumulative Shortfall

($s in Billions)

2016 -15

2017 -55

2018 -94

2019 -133

2020 -173

2021 -215

2022 -260

2023 -307

Wow! At this rate the raid tops $1T in 2029. This is is a big dent in a Trust Fund of $2.8T.

 

There is an import “tell” from the CBO. In the footnotes it highlights the fact that there is a discrepancy, and uses this an excuse to avoid establishing an adjusted end date for the OASI Trust Fund. (It’s not a complicated calculation)

What the CBO fails to state is that the raid on OASI will result in a significant reduction in the End Date for the retirement Fund. In its report to Congress last year SS forecast that the Retirement fund would be exhausted in 2033.  The DI drain (and other negative revisions by CBO) will bring the End Date to below 2030 in the upcoming SS report to Congress. That would be a very significant development. The CBO does not want to be the one who puts a new SS end date “out there”. To me, this was a cop-out by the CBO.

Quote
Given that discrepancy between the trust funds’ operation and the baseline’s assumption, CBO is not providing DI or combined trust fund totals for the year of exhaustion and thereafter.

The timing of this story is interesting. The question in my mind is will the “fix” come before or after the bi-election. If Obama was a gambler, and he believed the Democrats could re-take the House in 2014, then he might defer action on DI until 2015. This scenario creates the opportunity for option #1, a tax on the rich to supplement DI. Of course that is gambling, and there would be a small window of time to push through a new income tax to save DI.

Then there is the Republicans. Do they want to push this before, or after 11/2014? I could argue both ways, but in the end, it gets back to the fact that no one wants to “do” anything with SS. It’s better to do “nothing”; that makes #4 the most likely outcome.

 

I hope that some of the big Defenders of SS pick up on the information from the CBO regarding the coming raid on the retirement fund. This is a huge constituency (60m beneficiaries – 150m contributors – every politician in the country – all of the Press). If that group catches on to what is about to happen to the retirement fund, there will be a great chorus of, “Don’t you dare touch my money!”

 

I’m trying to stir the pot on this one. I want DI’s terminal condition to come onto the table sooner versus later. I’m hoping that if and when it does come up for discussion, it opens the door on the broader issue of what the hell America is doing with entitlements. Basically, I’m trying to pick a big fight. For the good of the country, wish me luck.

(http://brucekrasting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/animals-fighting-4-300x259.jpg)


http://brucekrasting.com/cbo-the-coming-raid-on-social-security/
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 23, 2013, 12:48:07 AM
In other Global Currency Trends ...  :D

Forget Cyprus, Nobody Is Stealing from Depositors More than Bernanke

After the Federal Reserve reaffirmed its easy money policy Wednesday, Chairman Ben Bernanke was asked whether the U.S. would ever think of taxing bank depositors as Cyprus has done. He said that was very unlikely but Jim Rickards, senior managing director of Tangent Capital Partners, says the Fed already has its hands in depositors’ pockets.

“Nobody is stealing more money from bank depositors than Ben Bernanke,” Rickards tells The Daily Ticker. Bernanke's doing that, Rickards says, by maintaining interest rates near zero.


“At this stage of a recovery normalized interest rates should be around 2-3%,” says Rickards. “Apply that 2-3%…to the entire multi-trillion-dollar deposit base of the United States of America and that’s a $400-billion per year wealth transfer from savers to bankers so they can pay themselves bigger bonuses or make crazy bets.” Over time, Rickards says, that wealth transfer could reach $1 trillion.

Rickards says zero interest rates are just one way the Fed is fleecing depositors. Others include increasing inflation, which Bernanke is trying to do, and taxing deposits like Cyprus is pushing for. “Bernanke is stealing more money from depositors than Cyprus is... looting everyday Americans—teachers, firemen and retirees,” says Rickards.

There’s another way, of course, to view Fed policy: that near-zero interest rates and $85 billion worth of asset purchases every month are helping to boost economic growth and employment and maintain low interest rates for both short-term and long-term debt. Bernanke himself, testifying before the Senate Banking Committee late last month, said, “The benefits of asset purchases, and of policy accommodation more generally, are clear…monetary policy is providing important support to the recovery.”

But Rickards says the easy money policy is creating asset bubbles that may feel good for now but will eventually crash. Cyprus could crash much sooner than that.

The ECB today set a Monday deadline for the island nation to finalize an agreement with the bank, the European Union and IMF in order to qualify for emergency funding. If no deal is reached by the Monday deadline Cyprus will lose access to emergency funds and its banking system could collapse. That’s especially bad news for the Cypriot economy because not only does it depend on its banks, as most economies do, but its banking system is 7 to 8 times the size of its 70-billion-euro GDP.

About 30% of those deposits are reportedly from Russia.Talks are expected to continue throughout the weekend and now reportedly include Russia.

"‘At least now the Russians and the Europeans are talking…so there’ll be some kind of resolution,” Rickards says.

There's even speculation that Russia’s gas producer Gazprom (OGZPY),which has its own bank, could lend Cyprus some money.

View the video interview here: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/forget-cyprus-noboby-stealing-depositors-more-bernanke-170851783.html
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 23, 2013, 01:36:59 AM
In other Global Currency Trends ...  :D

IMF & EU Conspired with insider to loot Cyprus Banks

Alex Jones also talks with New York Times-bestselling author and investigative journalist Greg Palast about the banker heist. Palast is the author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Billionaires and Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps. http://www.gregpalast.com


Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: OzmO on March 23, 2013, 04:32:47 PM
fear propaganda.   ::)
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 24, 2013, 03:14:00 AM
Quote from: OzmO on March 23, 2013, 04:32:47 PM
fear propaganda.   ::)

How so?

Fear Propaganda is one thing. Alarming Facts are a complete other thing.
You are living proof that "De Nile ain't just a river in Egypt"  ::)  ::)

You're reminding me of the time 6 yrs ago when I told Beach Bum the USA was on the Road to Fascism, and all he would do was laugh and roll his eyes. I wonder if he has since re-thought that position?

Fear Propaganda is Condoleeza Rice saying "We don't want the first warning to be in the form of a mushroom cloud".

Fear Propaganda is stating Saddam bought yellow cake from the country of Ni ger

An Alarming Fact is the fact that FDIC Insurance states that bank deposits are backed by "the full faith & credit of the USA". No one has faith in the USA anymore, ...not even her own citizens, ...and your credit rating is dropping like a stone. the only reason it hasn't sunk any further is because the USA starts all sorts of intimidation tactics against bond rating agencies if they so much as hint of an unfavourable rating.

An Alarming Fact is the fact that bank deposits are no longer 100% fully insured by the FDIC. it used to be that each account was insured, ...now, the insurance has been quietly switched over to each legal tax ID#.

While you guys were playing your usual Left vs. Right BS fiscal cliff approaching whose gonna get the blame game, they quietly ushered in legislation removed the FDIC insurance on your bank deposits effective Jan 1, 2013

Another Alarming fact is they are seeking to codify the definition of a bank deposit as a loan to the bank.

In essence, all bank deposits were always a loan to the bank, ...however, that was not what they led you to believe was it? The system brainwashes people to think their bank accounts are just repositories for safe-keeping, ...and that's why most people put their money in banks to begin with. Truth is... it has always been a loan to the bank so they could create 10x's as much money out of thin air, through fractional reserves and lend that fictitious counterfeit out at interest.

Well now, they are contemplating dropping the guise, codifying it into print, and classifying depositors as bank creditors who made loans to the banks, and as such bear full risk of the loss of their money, or non-re-payment of the loans that were extended to the bank.

These are facts, ...and if you are not alarmed by them, ...you deserve to keep your money in the bank, and have it stolen right out from under you.

The only good news in all of this is that the USA probably will win the currency wars, but with a helluva lot of casualties & collateral damage.

Japan is printing twice as fast as Bernanke, but their economy is only half of the USA's, and while the ECB can print Euro's, Mario Draghi, & Angela Merkel have an aversion to printing, so they instead expose their countries to worthless bond issues that in the end will come crashing down when the first country decides to say to the troika "Screw you, ...we're following Iceland's example".

You watch and see what happens next.  Fear Propaganda my tush!  >:(
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 24, 2013, 03:19:51 AM
In other Global Currency Trends ...  :D

The Battle of Cyprus
By Ellen Brown

"If these worries become really serious, … small savers will take their money out of banks and resort to household safes and a shotgun.'' Martin Hutchinson on the attempted European Union raid on private deposits in Cyprus banks. [1] The deposit confiscation scheme has long been in the making. Depositors in the United States could be next.

On Tuesday, March 19, the national legislature of Cyprus overwhelmingly rejected a proposed levy on bank deposits as a condition for a European bailout. Reuters called it "a stunning setback for the 17-nation currency bloc'', but it was a stunning victory for democracy. As Reuters quoted one 65-year-old pensioner, ''The voice of the people was heard.''

The European Union had warned that it would withhold 10 billion euros (US$13 billion) in bailout loans, and the European Central Bank (ECB) had threatened to end emergency lending assistance for distressed Cypriot banks, unless depositors - including small savers - shared the cost of the rescue. In the deal rejected by the legislature, a one-time levy on depositors would be required in return for a bailout of the banking system. Deposits below 100,000 euros would be subject to a 6.75% levy or ''haircut'', while those over 100,000 euros would have been subject to a 9.99% ''fine.'' [2]

The move was bold, but the battle isn't over yet. The EU has now given Cyprus until Monday to raise the billions of euros it needs to clinch an international bailout or face the threatened collapse of its financial system and likely exit from the euro currency zone.

The deal pushed by the ''troika'' - the EU, ECB and International Monetary Fund - has been characterized as a one-off event devised as an emergency measure in this one extreme case. But the confiscation plan has long been in the making, and it isn't limited to Cyprus.

In a September 2011 article in the Bulletin of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand titled ''A Primer on Open Bank Resolution'', Kevin Hoskin and Ian Woolford discussed a very similar haircut plan that had been in the works, they said, since the 1997 Asian financial crisis. [3] The article referenced recommendations made in 2010 and 2011 by the Basel Committee of the Bank for International Settlements, the ''central bankers' central bank'' in Switzerland.

The purpose of the plan, called the Open Bank Resolution (OBR), is to deal with bank failures when they have become so expensive that governments are no longer willing to bail out the lenders. [4] The authors wrote that the primary objectives of OBR are to:

Quote

ensure that, as far as possible, any losses are ultimately borne by the bank's shareholders and creditors …


The spectrum of ''creditors'' is defined to include depositors:

Quote

At one end of the spectrum, there are large international financial institutions that invest in debt issued by the bank (commonly referred to as wholesale funding). At the other end of the spectrum, are customers with cheque and savings accounts and term deposits..


 Most people would be surprised to learn that they are legally considered ''creditors'' of their banks rather than customers who have trusted the bank with their money for safekeeping, but that seems to be the case. According to Wikipedia,

Quote

In most legal systems, … the funds deposited are no longer the property of the customer. The funds become the property of the bank, and the customer in turn receives an asset called a deposit account (a checking or savings account). That deposit account is a liability of the bank on the bank's books and on its balance sheet. Because the bank is authorized by law to make loans up to a multiple of its reserves, the bank's reserves on hand to satisfy payment of deposit liabilities amounts to only a fraction of the total which the bank is obligated to pay in satisfaction of its demand deposits. [5]


The bank gets the money. The depositor becomes only a creditor with an IOU. The bank is not required to keep the deposits available for withdrawal but can lend them out, keeping only a ''fraction'' on reserve, following accepted fractional reserve banking principles. When too many creditors come for their money at once, the result can be a run on the banks and bank failure.

The New Zealand OBR said the creditors had all enjoyed a return on their investments and had freely accepted the risk, but most people would be surprised to learn that too. What return do you get from a bank on a deposit account these days? And isn't your deposit protected, in the United States, against risk by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation deposit insurance? Not anymore, apparently. As Martin Hutchinson observed in Money Morning, ''if governments can just seize deposits by means of a 'tax' then deposit insurance is worth absolutely zippo''. [6]  

The real profiteers get off
Felix Salmon wrote in Reuters of the Cyprus confiscation:

Quote

Meanwhile, people who deserve to lose money here, won't. If you lent money to Cyprus's banks by buying their debt rather than by depositing money, you will suffer no losses at all. And if you lent money to the insolvent Cypriot government, then you too will be paid off at 100 cents on the euro. ...

The big winner here is the ECB, which has extended a lot of credit to dubiously-solvent Cypriot banks and which is taking no losses at all.



  It is the ECB that can most afford to take the hit because it has the power to print euros. It could simply create the money to bail out the Cyprus banks and take no loss at all. But imposing austerity on the people is apparently part of the plan. Salmon writes:

Quote

From a drily technocratic perspective, this move can be seen as simply being part of a standard Euro-austerity program: the EU wants tax hikes and spending cuts, and this is a kind of tax. …

The big losers are working-class Cypriots, whose elected government has proved powerless. … The Eurozone has always had a democratic deficit: monetary union was imposed by the elite on unthankful and unwilling citizens. Now the citizens are revolting: just look at Beppe Grillo. [7]


  But that was before the Cyprus government stood up for the depositors and refused to go along with the plan, in what will be a stunning victory for democracy if they can hold their ground.

It can happen here
Cyprus is a small island, of little apparent significance. But one day, the bold move of its legislators may be compared to the Battle of Marathon, the pivotal moment in European history when their Greek forebears fended off the Persians, allowing classical Greek civilization to flourish. The current battle on this tiny island has taken on global significance. If the technocrat bankers can push through their confiscation scheme there, precedent will be established for doing it elsewhere when bank bailouts become prohibitive for governments.

That situation could be looming even now in the United States. As Gretchen Morgenson warned in a recent article on the 307-page Senate report detailing last year's US$6.2 billion trading fiasco at JPMorganChase: ''Be afraid.'' The report resoundingly disproves the premise that the Dodd-Frank legislation has made the US system safe from the reckless banking activities that brought the economy to its knees in 2008. Morgenson writes:

Quote
JPMorgan … Is the largest derivatives dealer in the world. Trillions of dollars in such instruments sit on its and other big banks' balance sheets. The ease with which the bank hid losses and fiddled with valuations should be a major concern to investors. [8]

Pam Martens observed in a March 18 article that JPMorgan was gambling in the stock market with depositor funds. She writes, ''trading stocks with customers' savings deposits - that truly has the ring of the excesses of 1929.'' [9]

The large institutional banks not only could fail; they are likely to fail. When the derivative scheme collapses and the US government refuses a bailout, JPMorgan could be giving its depositors' accounts sizable ''haircuts'' along guidelines established by the BIS and Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

The bold moves of the Cypriots and such firebrand political activists as Italy's Grillo are not the only bulwarks against bankster confiscation. While the credit crisis is strangling the Western banking system, the BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - have sailed through largely unscathed. According to a May 2010 article in The Economist, what has allowed them to escape are their strong and stable publicly-owned banks. [10]

Professor Kurt von Mettenheim of the Sao Paulo Business School of Brazil writes, ''The credit policies of BRIC government banks help explain why these countries experienced shorter and milder economic downturns during 2007-2008.'' [11] Government banks countered the effects of the financial crisis by providing counter-cyclical credit and greater client confidence.

Russia is an Eastern European country that weathered the credit crisis although being very close to the eurozone. According to a March 2010 article in Forbes:

Quote

As in other countries, the [2008] crisis prompted the state to take on a greater role in the banking system. State-owned systemic banks … have been used to carry out anti-crisis measures, such as driving growth in lending (however limited) and supporting private institutions. [12]

In the 1998 Asian crisis, many Russians who had put all their savings in private banks lost everything; and the credit crisis of 2008 has reinforced their distrust of private banks. Russian businesses as well as individuals have turned to their government-owned banks as the more trustworthy alternative. [13] As a result, state-owned banks are expected to continue dominating the Russian banking industry for the foreseeable future. [14]

The entire eurozone conundrum is unnecessary. It is the result of too little money in a system in which the money supply is fixed, and the eurozone governments and their central banks cannot issue their own currencies. There are insufficient euros to pay principal plus interest in a pyramid scheme in which only the principal is injected by the banks that create money as ''bank credit'' on their books.

A central bank with the power to issue money could remedy that systemic flaw, by injecting the liquidity needed to jumpstart the economy and turn back the tide of austerity choking the people.

The push to confiscate the savings of hard-working Cypriot citizens is a shot across the bow for every working person in the world, a wake-up call to the perils of a system in which tiny cadres of elites call the shots and the rest of us pay the price. When we finally pull back the veils of power to expose the men pulling the levers in an age-old game they devised, we will see that prosperity is indeed possible for all.


Notes:

[1.]  See  http://moneymorning.com/2013/03/19/why-the-cyprus-bailout-could-set-banking-back-300-years/

[2.]  See  http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article39507.html

[3.]  See A Primer on Open Bank Resolution (http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/research/bulletin/2007_2011/2011sep74_3HoskinWoolford.pdf) <-- pdf file

[4.]  See  Open Bank Resolution (http://www.nzba.org.nz/assets/Uploads/111004-OBR-Submission-NZBA.pdf) <-- pdf file

[5.]  See  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_reserve_banking

[6.]  See  http://moneymorning.com/2013/03/19/why-the-cyprus-bailout-could-set-banking-back-300-years/

[7.]  See  http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2013/03/16/the-cyprus-precedent/

[8.]  See  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/business/jpmorgans-follies-for-all-to-see-in-a-senate-report.html?_r=0

[9.]  See  http://wallstreetonparade.com/2013/03/senate-censors-part-of-report-on-jpmorgan-about-its-stock-trading/

[10.] See  http://www.economist.com/node/16078466

[11.] See  http://www.academia.edu/1679005/Observations_on_Banking_in_BRIC_Countries

[12.] See  http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/15/russia-banks-crisis-business-oxford-analytica.html

[13.] See  http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/19/russia-banks-outlook-idUSL6E7NF4NN20111219

[14.] See http://www.economist.com/node/18182262

Ellen Brown is an attorney and president of the Public Banking Institute, http://www.PublicBankingInstitute.org. In Web of Debt, her latest of 11 books, she shows how a private cartel has usurped the power to create money from the people themselves, and how we the people can get it back. Her websites are http://www.WebofDebt.com and http://www.EllenBrown.com. For more on the public bank solution and for details of the June 2013 Public Banking Institute conference in San Rafael, California, see: http://www.PublicBankingInstitute.org.
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 24, 2013, 05:21:15 PM
 In other Global Currency Trends ...  :D

RUSSIAN WARNING
22 March 2013  11:27

(http://www.incyprus.com.cy/data/2013/03/22/2013_03_22_11_22_40__5049b6fe686443bd88a53c2f4a40391f.jpg)

NICOSIA – A web site on Friday claims to have seen an urgent bulletin from the Russian Foreign Ministry sent to its embassies all over the world advising both Russian citizens and companies to begin divesting their assets from Western banking and financial institutions “immediately”.

The site said the Kremlin feared grow that both the European Union and United States were preparing for the largest theft of private wealth in modern history.

According to this “urgent bulletin,” this warning is being made at the behest of Prime Minister Medvedev who earlier today warned against the Western banking systems actions against EU Member Cyprus.

“All possible mistakes that could be made have been made by them, the measure that was proposed is of a confiscation nature, and unprecedented in its character. I can’t compare it with anything but ... decisions made by Soviet authorities ... when they didn’t think much about the savings of their population. But we are living in the 21st century, under market economic conditions. Everybody has been insisting that ownership rights should be respected.,” he said on Thursday.

The story on the site “What does it mean. com” was written by Sorcha Faal without further elaboration.

http://www.incyprus.com.cy/en-gb/Showbiz/4118/33749/russian-warning
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 24, 2013, 05:50:15 PM
In other Global Currency Trends ... :D

Argentina Makes Grab for Pensions Amid Crisis
By MATT MOFFETT

(http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-CN836_argent_G_20081022100058.jpg)
Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner speaks next to Economy
Minister Carlos Fernandez (right) at the National Social Security Administration
in Buenos Aires on Monday

BUENOS AIRES -- Hemmed in by the global financial squeeze and commodities slump, Argentina's leftist government has seemingly found a novel way to find the money to stay afloat: cracking open the piggybank of the nation's private pension system.

The government proposed to nationalize the private pensions, which would provide it with much of the cash it needs to meet debt payments and avoid a second default this decade.

The move came as wealthy nations unveiled fresh steps to fight the credit crunch. The U.S. Federal Reserve said it would bolster money-market funds, which have faced withdrawals, by lending as much as $540 billion to the industry. France said it would inject $14 billion into six banks on condition they agree to increase their lending. In a sign banks were a little more willing to lend to each other, the London interbank offered rate, a benchmark for many business and consumer loans, again declined.

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said the move to take over the private pension system was aimed at protecting investors from losses resulting from global market turmoil. Funds in the system, which is parallel to a government pension system, are administered by financial firms. The private system has about $30 billion in assets and generates about $5 billion in new contributions each year.

While no one knows for sure what the government would do with the private system, economists said nationalization would let the government raid new pension contributions to cover short-term debts due in coming years.

Argentina's financing needs are growing quickly as the global financial squeeze pushes down prices of its commodity exports, such as soybeans. Coupled with unchecked government spending, the commodity downturn has carved a gap of around $10 billion to $11 billion in what Argentina must pay on its debt between now and the end of 2009, according to economists. The payments are from debt restructured after a 2001 default and new debt issued locally.

Budget Gaps
The economic turmoil of recent months has exposed budget gaps in many emerging nations. They've run smaller budget deficits, but thanks less to spending restraint than to the income bonanza. Now they're being forced to make tough choices: Mexico this week said it will run a budget deficit next year of 1.8% of annual output rather than a balanced budget as planned.


Argentina is doubly hurt. Having stiffed creditors as recently as 2001, it has few prospects of returning to international lending markets soon. Economists who were critical of the nationalization proposal said it reinforced Argentina's image as a renegade in financial circles.

The private pension system was created as an alternative to state pension funds in 1994, when conservative President Carlos Saúl Menem ran Argentina and free-market policies were in vogue in Latin America. Countries in the region followed the example of Chile, which had privatized pensions in 1981. In Argentina, workers have the option of paying into individual retirement accounts run by pension funds rather than the government.

Three million Argentines do so. They can track their accounts and have some say over how the pension funds invest the money, making the system somewhat like U.S. 401(k) accounts. After a nationalization, it's presumed the government-run system would absorb the private funds.

The Latin American system has helped create a large pool of domestic savings that can fund local capital markets and lend money for projects like toll roads. In Argentina, Mexico and Chile, pension funds are among the biggest players in local stock markets, helping young companies get access to capital.

The main Merval Argentine stock index tumbled 12% on Tuesday, largely on fears that the market would atrophy if the government used new pension contributions to pay debt rather than let it go into the capital markets.

The head of the Argentine association of private pension funds, Sebastian Palla, blasted the government step. He said that since their 1994 inception, the funds have had a 13.9% average annual return.

'Accessible Source'
President Kirchner painted the move as an attempt to help workers weather the financial crisis. The value of private retirement accounts in Argentina has probably fallen in recent months due to a declining stock market, economists say. President Kirchner said in a speech: "The main member countries of the [Group of Eight] are adopting a policy of protection of the banks and, in our case, we are protecting the workers and retirees."

Buenos Aires economist Aldo Abram, among many other economists, wasn't buying that argument. "They were in a tight situation and this was an accessible source of funds," he said

The step requires approval of Congress, where the governing Peronist party has a majority. Opposition leader Elisa Carrió vowed to contest it, saying, "The government measures aren't designed to better the retirement system but rather to plunder the funds of the retirees."

Still, the proposal is likely to pass, said Alberto Bernal-Leon, head of macroeconomic strategy at Bulltick Capital Markets in Miami. He noted that Argentina will have elections next year, and said access to pension funds would make it easier for the government to muster support through patronage.

One pension-fund head who is opposed to a takeover suggested that contributors inundate the government with lawsuits. Even if they don't heed that call, the move is expected to face legal challenges.

In a history replete with financial crises, Argentines have had lots of experience with the government meddling with their money. Prior to the 2001 economic collapse, when the government was trying to maintain the peso at parity to the dollar, the government placed limits on bank withdrawals. Later, it issued a decree converting dollar-denominated deposits to pesos.

Argentina has been largely shut out of international capital markets since 2001, when it declared the largest sovereign-debt default ever.

"With the [latest] announcement, the custom of violating the rules of the game has been repeated, which deepens the lack of confidence," political analyst Rosendo Fraga wrote in the Buenos Aires daily La Nacion.

The Argentine economy has been buoyed the past five years by rising prices for the agricultural commodities. It also got a hand from Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, whose government bought billions of dollars of Argentine debt in recent years. But prices of commodities such as soybeans have plunged in recent months, and Mr. Chávez is facing his own problems with the sharply lower price of oil.

Mr. Abram, the economist, said a pension takeover would help the government close about half the gap in funds needed for its debt service, as pension contributions go into public coffers rather than private ones. He said the rest of the funding needs could be obtained from a state-run bank or by dipping into currency reserves.

José Piñera, a former Chilean cabinet minister who pioneered the privatized pension system and has served as a consultant to many other countries that have implemented it, called the nationalization proposal "just another step in Argentina's 100-year 'road to underdevelopment.'"

—David Luhnow contributed to this article.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122460155879054331.html
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 24, 2013, 06:13:46 PM
In other Global Currency Trends ...  :D

Cypriot savers to lose 20% of their money

Cyprus and international lenders have managed to strike a long-awaited agreement on taxing bank deposits of over 100-thousand euros held with the country's biggest bank. Customers who keep large sums of money in other banks will also be forced to sacrifice part of their savings to the country's ailing economy.

Wow, if the holders of sizeable account valued at over 100,000 euro are indeed Russian mobsters, oligarchs, and former KGB... there is gonna be some serious hell to pay. Steal from people, and they scream & cry, then roll over and passively accept it, ...but you steal from mobsters... you might as well off yourself yourself, ...it would be a kinder & gentler, and far more compassionate end.

Bailout Closing: Cyprus & lenders agree on taxing deposits

Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 24, 2013, 09:36:53 PM
Quote from: 24KT on March 24, 2013, 03:19:51 AM

In other Global Currency Trends ...  :D

The entire eurozone conundrum is unnecessary. It is the result of too little money in a system in which the money supply is fixed, and the eurozone governments and their central banks cannot issue their own currencies. There are insufficient euros to pay principal plus interest in a pyramid scheme in which only the principal is injected by the banks that create money as ''bank credit'' on their books.

A central bank with the power to issue money could remedy that systemic flaw, by injecting the liquidity needed to jumpstart the economy and turn back the tide of austerity choking the people.

Can you now see what Meyer Amschel Rothschild was refering to when he said "Give me control over a nation's money supply, and I care not who makes it's laws" Cyprus has no control over it's own money supply, ...and neither does the USA.

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JBPXMsaGXso/TemV2yrphxI/AAAAAAAAIh4/5_5dBirIWtM/s1600/Mayer+A+Rothschild+Give+me+control+of+money.jpg)

How To be A Crook

Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: loco on March 25, 2013, 05:54:43 AM
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Spam_with_cans.jpeg/800px-Spam_with_cans.jpeg)
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 25, 2013, 07:36:17 AM
In other Global Currency Trends ...  :D

Get all your money out of Europe now
By: Marco Giannangeli and Tracey Boles
Published: Sun March 24, 2013

(http://images.dailyexpress.co.uk/img/dynamic/1/590x/386559_1.jpg)

BRITISH expats living across Europe were warned last night to take their money out of foreign banks in the wake of the Cyprus financial crisis.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage told the party’s spring conference that savings held in countries where the euro is the currency are no longer safe.

His warning came as Cyprus last night gave in to EU and International Monetary Fund demands for a 20 per cent levy on deposits over 100,000 euros at the Bank of Cyprus and a four per cent levy on deposits of the same amount at other banks.

Yesterday Mr Farage said: “The appalling events in Cyprus over the course of the past week have surpassed even my direst of predictions.

“Even I didn’t think that they would stoop to stealing money from people’s bank accounts. I find that astonishing.

“There are 750,000 British people who own properties, or who live, many of them in retirement down in Spain.

“Our message to expats now that the EU has crossed this line, must be: Get your money out of there while you’ve still got a chance.”

He also urged Chancellor George Osborne to make it clear that Britain would never seize money in this way in the hope it can benefit from a huge flight of money out of the eurozone.

His stark “get your money out” warning came as Cyprus raced to qualify for a vital international bailout to avoid a potential bankruptcy that would engulf 12,000 British expat pensioners from midnight tomorrow. The tiny island nation needs to raise 5.8billion euro (£4.95billion) to secure a 10billion euro European rescue that would help it to stay in the currency.

The tax would apply to any Briton with a Cypriot bank account including the 3,000 British servicemen and women. An estimated 25,000 Britons live on Cyprus.

The European Central Bank had said that, after tomorrow, it would pull the plug on further financial assistance for Cyprus’s troubled banks unless a deal was in place. This left the island’s 56 MPs with an unenviable choice, to impose strict curbs on the movement of money and to put the country’s largest banks into receivership or face exit from the euro and a dramatic economic crash.

Earlier yesterday it looked as if Cyprus may have to impose a larger levy on deposits, up to 25 per cent.

The tax has fuelled fears of a run on Cypriot banks if they reopen on Tuesday.

Its banks have been closed for more than a week since the levy was proposed, triggering widespread outrage in Cyprus.

The British Government has frozen £1.2million in state pension payments due to 12,000 Britons living in Cyprus to prevent it being grabbed in a bailout deal.

However, British banks face a £1.3billion exposure to a wholesale collapse of the banking system in Cyprus.

The country is still a major trading partner for the UK.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/386559/Get-all-your-money-out-of-Europe-now
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: loco on March 25, 2013, 07:39:27 AM
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Spam_with_cans.jpeg/800px-Spam_with_cans.jpeg)
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: OzmO on March 25, 2013, 08:35:04 AM
Quote from: 24KT on March 24, 2013, 03:14:00 AM
How so?

Fear Propaganda is one thing. Alarming Facts are a complete other thing.
You are living proof that "De Nile ain't just a river in Egypt"  ::)  ::)

You're reminding me of the time 6 yrs ago when I told Beach Bum the USA was on the Road to Fascism, and all he would do was laugh and roll his eyes. I wonder if he has since re-thought that position?

Fear Propaganda is Condoleeza Rice saying "We don't want the first warning to be in the form of a mushroom cloud".

Fear Propaganda is stating Saddam bought yellow cake from the country of Ni ger

An Alarming Fact is the fact that FDIC Insurance states that bank deposits are backed by "the full faith & credit of the USA". No one has faith in the USA anymore, ...not even her own citizens, ...and your credit rating is dropping like a stone. the only reason it hasn't sunk any further is because the USA starts all sorts of intimidation tactics against bond rating agencies if they so much as hint of an unfavourable rating.

An Alarming Fact is the fact that bank deposits are no longer 100% fully insured by the FDIC. it used to be that each account was insured, ...now, the insurance has been quietly switched over to each legal tax ID#.

While you guys were playing your usual Left vs. Right BS fiscal cliff approaching whose gonna get the blame game, they quietly ushered in legislation removed the FDIC insurance on your bank deposits effective Jan 1, 2013

Another Alarming fact is they are seeking to codify the definition of a bank deposit as a loan to the bank.

In essence, all bank deposits were always a loan to the bank, ...however, that was not what they led you to believe was it? The system brainwashes people to think their bank accounts are just repositories for safe-keeping, ...and that's why most people put their money in banks to begin with. Truth is... it has always been a loan to the bank so they could create 10x's as much money out of thin air, through fractional reserves and lend that fictitious counterfeit out at interest.

Well now, they are contemplating dropping the guise, codifying it into print, and classifying depositors as bank creditors who made loans to the banks, and as such bear full risk of the loss of their money, or non-re-payment of the loans that were extended to the bank.

These are facts, ...and if you are not alarmed by them, ...you deserve to keep your money in the bank, and have it stolen right out from under you.

The only good news in all of this is that the USA probably will win the currency wars, but with a helluva lot of casualties & collateral damage.

Japan is printing twice as fast as Bernanke, but their economy is only half of the USA's, and while the ECB can print Euro's, Mario Draghi, & Angela Merkel have an aversion to printing, so they instead expose their countries to worthless bond issues that in the end will come crashing down when the first country decides to say to the troika "Screw you, ...we're following Iceland's example".

You watch and see what happens next.  Fear Propaganda my tush!  >:(
Quote from: loco on March 25, 2013, 07:39:27 AM
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Spam_with_cans.jpeg/800px-Spam_with_cans.jpeg)

Oh please oh please dear god in heaven, please ruin America so i can sell more of my gold network!
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: Fury on March 25, 2013, 09:04:21 AM
Quote from: OzmO on March 25, 2013, 08:35:04 AM
Oh please oh please dear god in heaven, please ruin America so i can sell more of my gold network!

Why isn't she banned?
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: syntaxmachine on March 25, 2013, 09:12:30 AM
RUH ROH!

PRECIOUS-Gold slips to ten-day low on Cyprus deal
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/25/markets-precious-idUSL3N0CH1GP20130325

* SPDR holdings fall to lowest since July 2011

"LONDON, March 25 (Reuters) - Gold extended initial losses on Monday, hitting its lowest in ten days as investors unloaded safe-haven assets and sought equities after Cyprus struck a last-minute bailout deal with lenders.

After breaking strong technical support at $1,600, the metal is now vulnerable to further losses. The next downside targets now stand between $1,550 and $1,560, traders said."

Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: loco on March 25, 2013, 09:33:52 AM
Quote from: Fury on March 25, 2013, 09:04:21 AM
Why isn't she banned?

Yeah, why isn't she banned for spamming the board with her fear propaganda to promote her scams?
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 25, 2013, 09:40:28 AM
Speaking of current events unfolding as I type = fear propaganda? ... or spam? Oh Puleaze!!!  ::) ::)

I'm not the one running around screaming "Oh look, my dog got fleas, it's Obama's fault". Then 50 gadzillion different threads all trying to make a connection between Obama and fleas.

I'm talking about one very charged, political issue and limiting my comments on it to one thread.

if you don't like the subject, don't click on it or read, but to troll behind me is both pretty lame & transparent.
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: OzmO on March 25, 2013, 09:57:05 AM
Quote from: 24KT on March 25, 2013, 09:40:28 AM
Speaking of current events unfolding as I type = fear propaganda? ... or spam? Oh Puleaze!!!  ::) ::)

I'm not the one running around screaming "Oh look, my dog got fleas, it's Obama's fault". Then 50 gadzillion different threads all trying to make a connection between Obama and fleas.

I'm talking about one very charged, political issue and limiting my comments on it to one thread.

if you don't like the subject, don't click on it or read, but to troll behind me is both pretty lame & transparent.

No you are not.  You are as usual, spewing fear propaganda blabber. 

You are right about one thing though, you are not the only chicken little with a lifetime supply of spam on the board.
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: The Enigma on March 25, 2013, 10:45:56 AM
Quote from: OzmO on March 23, 2013, 04:32:47 PM
fear propaganda.   ::)

^^^   Please remove head from fecal impacted anus.
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: syntaxmachine on March 25, 2013, 02:35:31 PM
RUH ROH X2

Gold: Golden for the Wrong Reason
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/03/18/gold-golden-for-the-wrong-reason.aspx

"One of gold's most prominent bulls, John Paulson, the asset manager who made more than $1 billion betting on the housing downturn, is tarnished.

Bloomberg reported that Paulson's $900 million gold fund is down 26% through the beginning of March, after falling 25% last year. The fund has been hurt by the price of gold falling to around $1,600 off its all-time high of more than $1,900, which it hit in Sept. 2011."
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 25, 2013, 09:50:47 PM
Quote from: syntaxmachine on March 25, 2013, 02:35:31 PM
RUH ROH X2

Gold: Golden for the Wrong Reason
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/03/18/gold-golden-for-the-wrong-reason.aspx

"One of gold's most prominent bulls, John Paulson, the asset manager who made more than $1 billion betting on the housing downturn, is tarnished.

Bloomberg reported that Paulson's $900 million gold fund is down 26% through the beginning of March, after falling 25% last year. The fund has been hurt by the price of gold falling to around $1,600 off its all-time high of more than $1,900, which it hit in Sept. 2011."

That's twice now that YOU have injected GOLD into this thread, so I'm assuming you want me to address it.
Nice Scooby Doo impression btw  ;)

This is of no concern to me at all and is to be expected, ...especially in light of a bailout, those looking to make a quick buck will rush back into equities & other paper derivatives. I am not looking to capitalize on market volatility, but rather save my money in a form that is indeed safe, ...because as we've clearly seen this past week, saving in bank issued paper derivatives have tremendous counter-party risks associated with them.

The decline in Paulson's hedgefund doesn't faze me in the least. There are two gold markets. The paper gold market, and the physical gold market. The price for both is dominated and controlled by the paper market of which Paulson's and various other ETF's are a part. The big challenge comes in when those holding paper decide to take physical delivery, and are not able to get it. Then, we will see the paper markets which so dominates the price of the physical market give way and allow for true price discovery. Because I save in gold, I'm not requiring quick liquidity, ...my strategy is one for the long haul. I don't care how many times it bounces up & down, because I use a dollar cost averaging approach, ...and over the long haul, it's overall direction will be up. By the time I'll be ready to cash in my gold, it will be way up. If I decide not to cash it in, but to instead spend it directly, I can trade fractions of a gram if need be. I'm not worried.

Interestingly however, a new development in the physical gold market indicates to me that perhaps the long anticipated de-coupling of paper from physical could be at hand. Recently out of the netherlands, one large company has announced to it's physical buyers that they will no longer be able to supply them with the actual physical bullion as of April 1st.

Based on a letter to clients over the weekend, it appears Dutch megabank ABN Amro is changing its precious metals custodian rules and "will no longer allow physical delivery." Have no fear, they reassuringly add, your account will be settled at the bid or offer price in the 'market' and "you need to do nothing" as "we have your investments in precious metals."

Supposedly their new custodian will no longer allow them to extradite gold shipments ::)

To me, that's double-speak for we want to take your money, charge you for non-existent storage, and keep our fractional reserve scheme going longer before your realize we've essentially defaulted on our obligations.  At least that's how it reads to me.

With the Swiss now voting on a referendum to re-patriate their gold, it's looking like the de-coupling is around the corner.

But who knows, the gold cartel may be able to keep the prices suppressed for quite some time to come. I'm happy if they're able to accomplish this... it simply means the longer they're able to do this... the longer my gold will be available at sale prices...  If not we will soon see real price discovery in physical bullion which we know is essentially between (spot price X 45) to (spot price X 100+) Who knows how far the thievery goes.
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 25, 2013, 09:51:43 PM
In other Global Currency Trends ...   :D

Farage: EU wants to steal money from Cyprus bank accounts

Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 25, 2013, 09:52:54 PM
In other Global Currency Trends ...  :D


Cyprus Levy Tipping point for Eurozone between safety & panic



Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 25, 2013, 09:54:35 PM
In other Global Currency Trends ... :D

US Bank Depositors Set Up For The Slaughter
24 March 2013

(http://lucas2012infos.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/burningdollars.jpeg?w=500)

Apparently now, according to this court ruling [below], money you deposit in a bank no longer belongs to you any more – not really…. So this is all being set up for the “anti-christ” who is going to “save us”?

US bank depositors set up for the slaughter

They have already set legal precedence here in the U.S. with the Sentinel case, haven’t they??

Effectively turning all depositors into shareholders in the institutions where they deposit their money.

According to a federal appeals court ruling, Thursday, Bank of New York Mellon’s secured loan will be put ahead of customer segregated accounts held by Sentinel—a landmark ruling that turns individual segregated accounts into the property of a third party under circumstances of duress. In other words, if a financial institution fails, clients, depositors and pension funds may not get some or all of their money back in a bankruptcy.

In essence, under the ruling, Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SPIC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and other insurance programs no longer will/can protect customer funds, leaving millions of investors, depositors and retirees unaware that they are no longer account holders of their own funds, per se, but, instead, have suddenly become stockholders of the institution with which they have deposited their money.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/32961642/SentinelRuling.pdf  <-- pdf file
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 25, 2013, 10:03:44 PM

Former US Treasury Official – Banks Move To Enslave Humanity
24 March 2013

(http://humboldtsentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Dr.-Paul-Craig-Roberts.jpg)

Today a former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury spoke with King World News about the crisis in Cyprus and warned that banks are now moving to enslave humanity. Former Assistant of the US Treasury, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, also told KWN the people of Cyprus need to take to the streets and fight against this oppression. Below is what Dr. Roberts had to say in the second part of two extraordinary interviews which have been released today.

Eric King: “You talked about the Cypriot government standing up against the arm-twisting from the IMF and the ECB, if they stand strong and this starts to spread to other countries, what does that mean for the European Union?”

Dr. Roberts:  “It saves it from being privatized by a handful of banks.  So it would be a good thing.  If the banks have to write down the loans, that’s what they are supposed to do.  They are already damaged from buying all of the toxic Wall Street waste, all of the junk that we marketed to them.

So if they have to write down European sovereign debt on top of that, they may be damaged.  But in that case the European Central Bank should focus directly on saving the banks, and not on destroying democracy in order to have power concentrated in the EU.

You see this crisis is being used by the EU bureaucracy in Brussels to destroy the financial sovereignty of the individual countries….

“That’s what this is all about.  They are saying, ‘We can’t trust you with the euro because you create too much debt.  So we’re going to decide your budget, your tax policies, and your spending policies.’

Trichet, the (former) head of the European Central Bank, he made this clear in all of his public speeches that this is where it was going.  So what you see is the whole bailout, at the expense of the public, the purpose is to destroy the sovereignty of the individual members, and to concentrate the power in Brussels and in the private banks.

It’s the same here (in the US).  Who runs the Treasury?  Who runs the financial regulatory agencies?  Who runs the Fed?  It’s all of the executives of the banks that are ‘too big to fail.’  That’s exactly who they are.  So the various CEO’s who got the banks in trouble are now running economic policy in the United States.  That’s essentially where it is headed in Europe.”

Eric King: “What are your thoughts when you see this kind of government theft?”

Dr. Roberts:  “Well, if they get away with it, if the people accept it, they are being reenserfed (or enslaved).  People are becoming serfs again.  They exist for the purposes of that state.

So I’m all in favor of the Cypriots to take to the streets, and to whatever level of violence they need take it to.  Democracy is a human achievement.  It took centuries.  So why should we just let it go away because there is a banking crisis?”

Dr. Roberts also added:  “The Russians may simply say, ‘It’s our money that they are after.  Back off.’  You can’t predict how the Russians may respond.”

Here is the link to Part I (http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2013/3/22_Former_US_Treasury_Official_-_Threats%2C_Cyprus_%26_Massive_Crisis.html) of the extraordinary Dr. Paul Craig Roberts written interview.  The written portion above is just a small part of this tremendous interview with Dr. Roberts where he discusses the Cyprus crisis, the increasingly desperate situation the West faces going forward, and much more. 

Here is the link to Part II (http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2013/3/23_Former_US_Treasury_Official_-_Banks_Move_To_Enslave_Humanity.html) of the written interview

In addition to the two written interviews which have been released today, the KWN audio interview with Dr. Roberts will also be available later today and you can listen to it by CLICKING HERE (http://www.kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Entries/2013/3/24_Dr._Paul_Craig_Roberts.html)


Bio of Dr. Paul Craig Roberts - Economist, Co-Founder of Reaganomics & Acclaimed Author

 Dr. Roberts (born April 3, 1939) is an American economist, a columnist for Creators Syndicate and recent author of “The Failure Of Laissaz Faire Capitalism”. He served as an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan Administration earning fame as a co-founder of Reaganomics. He is a former editor and columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and Scripps Howard News Service who has testified before congressional committees on 30 occasions on issues of economic policy. Roberts has written extensively that during the 21st century the Bush and Obama administrations have destroyed the US Constitution's protections of Americans' civil liberties, such as habeas corpus and due process in the name of "the war on terror." Roberts has been a critic of both Democratic and Republican administrations

Roberts is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. He was a post-graduate at the University of California, Berkeley and at Merton College, Oxford University. His first scholarly article (Classica et Mediaevalia) was a reformulation of "The Pirenne Thesis."
In Alienation and the Soviet Economy (1971), Roberts explained the Soviet economy as the outcome of a struggle between inordinate aspirations and a refractory reality. He argued that the Soviet economy was not centrally planned, but that its institutions, such as material supply, reflected the original Marxist aspirations to establish a non-market mode of production. In Marx's Theory of Exchange (1973), Roberts argued that Marx was an organizational theorist whose materialist conception of history ruled out good will as an effective force for change.

From 1975 to 1978, Roberts served on the congressional staff. As economic counsel to Congressman Jack Kemp he drafted the Kemp-Roth bill (which became the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981) and played a leading role in developing bipartisan support for a supply-side economic policy. His influential 1978 article for Harper's, while economic counsel to Senator Orrin Hatch, had Wall Street Journal editor Robert L. Bartley give him an editorial slot, which he had until 1980. He was a senior fellow in political economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, then part of Georgetown University.

From early 1981 to January 1982 he served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy. President Ronald Reagan and Treasury Secretary Donald Regan credited him with a major role in the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, and he was awarded the Treasury Department's Meritorious Service Award for "outstanding contributions to the formulation of United States economic policy." Roberts resigned in January 1982 to become the first occupant of the William E. Simon Chair for Economic Policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, then part of Georgetown University. He held this position until 1993. He went on to write The Supply-Side Revolution (1984), in which he explained the reformulation of macroeconomic theory and policy that he had helped to create.

He was a Distinguished Fellow at the Cato Institute from 1993 to 1996. He was a Senior Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution.

In The New Color Line (1995), Roberts argued that the Civil Rights Act was subverted by the bureaucrats who applied it and, by being used to create status-based privileges, became a threat to the Fourteenth Amendment in whose name it was passed. In The Tyranny of Good Intentions (2000), Roberts documented what he saw as the erosion of the Blackstonian legal principles that ensure that law is a shield of the innocent and not a weapon in the hands of government.
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: a_ahmed on March 25, 2013, 11:11:52 PM
why are the mods continuing to personally attacking OP? This should be addressed to Ron. Mods who supposedly close threads when someone supposedly personally attacks someone, but mods ruin whole threads and personally attack poster of thread.
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 12:43:29 AM
In other Global Currency Trends ...  :D

$900 Million Says Euro Crashes In 2 Weeks:
PUT Trade Rocks London Options Market

(http://www.secretsofthefed.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/900-mil-euro-collapse.jpg)

Someone has placed a GIGANTIC $900 million EURO PUT trade on the Euro to crash vs. the dollar within 2 weeks.  Is this a ‘smart bet’ by someone who has seen the writing on the wall with the situation in Cyprus or does someone have inside knowledge that something big is about to happen? Beware! We have seen this before as shared in the videos below; in fact, it happened prior to September 11th, 2001, and we ALL saw what happened thereafter.



http://www.derivativesintelligence.com/Article/3176278/News/Big-Put-Trade-Rocks-Fx-Mart.html

THIS IS SERIOUSLY MESSED UP!!!!
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 12:45:58 AM
In other Global Currency Trends ...  :D

Banks warn Government set to take inactive accounts
By finance reporter Elysse Morgan
Updated Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:15pm AEDT

(http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/4044572-16x9-340x191.jpg)

Hundreds of millions of dollars in inactive bank deposits are likely to flow to the Federal Government from May.

Legislation amended late last year means any account that has not seen activity within three years can be transferred into the Commonwealth's hands - previously the rule was seven years.

The money will be able to be reclaimed from the Government through the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).

The new law comes into effect at the end of May and banks are advising customers to make transactions as small as a dollar to ensure they are not transferred to ASIC.

Australian Bankers Association chief executive Steven Munchenburg says many accounts will be affected.

"If you've put some money away to save for the future and you're not adding any more deposits to that, and if you've got trust accounts where money is being held for some reason in the future, if you've got bond money for example where you're a landlord and the tenant's bond money is sitting in an account for more than three years, any of those sorts of those accounts, and the banks are obliged to move the money to the Government," he said.

The banking industry believes the Government's changes to inactive bank accounts legislation is just revenue raising.

Mr Munchenburg says the legislation was rushed through at the end of last year.

"A lot of suspicion at the time that the Government is rushing this through because they were more concerned about their own financial bottom line than they were about reuniting consumers with their accounts," he said.

"It was never clear to us why it had to be rushed through if it was only focused on reuniting consumers with accounts."

Mr Munchenburg says three years seems an arbitrary time limit as the Government failed to consult the industry on the change.

"I don't know why three years has been chosen over seven," he said.

"Certainly, if the Government believed that seven years was too long, we would have expected them to talk to us about what is an appropriate timeline or how to deal with accounts where people have deliberately left them alone, and then we'd avoid some of the problems that we are concerned will affect customers."

Topics: business-economics-and-finance, banking, consumer-finance, australia

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-26/banks-warn-customers-government-set-to-take-their-money/4541116
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 12:50:50 AM

In other Global Currency Trends ... :D

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

By ALLAN HALL, JAMES CHAPMAN and JILL REILLY
PUBLISHED: 08:33 GMT, 22 March 2013 | UPDATED: 00:07 GMT, 23 March 2013


(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/03/22/article-2297383-18D3A8D3000005DC-617_306x423.jpg)

Cypriot president Nikos Anastasiades 'warned' close friends of the financial crisis about to engulf his country so they could move their money abroad, it was claimed on Friday.

The respected Cypriot newspaper Filelftheros made the allegation which was picked up eagerly by German media.

Germans are angry at the way their country has been linked to the Nazis and Hitler by Cypriots angry at the defunct rescue deal which called for a levy on all savings.

The Cyprus newspaper did not say how much money was moved abroad but quoted sources saying the president 'knew about the possible closure of the banks' and tipped off close friends who were able to move vast sums abroad.

Italian media said the 4.5 billion euros left the island in the week before the crisis.


(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/03/22/article-2297383-18DA96E7000005DC-886_634x521.jpg)

Anger: Banking sector workers protest outside of the Cyprus' parliament in Nicosia
as lawmakers debate emergency legislation

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2297383/Cyprus-bailout-President-Nikos-Anastasiades-warned-friends-money-abroad.html

This is the MF Global crap all over again where Corzine warned off the billionaire Koch brothers to get their money out before they pulled the plug and froze those accounts.  >:(

Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 01:02:33 AM

In other Global Currency Trends ... :D

If this doesn't boil your blood, ...you have ice-water in your veins >:(


Bank Forecloses on elderly 75 yr. old Granny for $49 in unpaid taxes,
...but the taxes were actually paid


(http://www.davidicke.com/images/stories/March201395/payattention.jpg)

There are some stories that are so over the top as an example of the brazen disregard for human dignity that they defy imagination. But, we know that truth is stranger than fiction . . . and this latest event is certainly proof of that.

Foreclosure fraud has become institutionalized within a corrupt banking structure; it began at the top with banks such as BoA (http://www.activistpost.com/2012/01/homeowner-takes-on-boa-for-foreclosure.html) and has trickled down into nearly every community. For example, one couple had their home in Tampa foreclosed on even after they had paid off the full amount in cash. (http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/realestate/bank-of-america-forecloses-on-house-that-couple-had-paid-cash-for/1072632) Countless others have been victims of mortgage payment modification schemes.

However, the predatory nature of what is happening to 75-year-old Aron Ezilla Ridge in Travis County, Texas might in fact be what one news outlet is calling "The Saddest Story You Have Ever Heard." This story involves a mortgage company, but it also has a scary link to property taxes that should raise questions about the very nature of home ownership.


Back in 2010, at the peak of "Foreclosure-Gate," a few members of the banking consortium went on record to deny their responsibility for creating a system that might have given mortgage holders a raw deal:

Quote
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, whose bank is implicated in the scandal, said this week in a conference call that there have been no accidental evictions. “We’re not evicting people who deserve to stay in their house,” the multimillionaire banker declared.

“If you didn’t pay your mortgage, you shouldn’t be in your house. Period,” Walter Todd of the investment advisory firm Greenwood Capital Associates, told Reuters.

“Everyone’s responsible for following the law. If we all don’t have to pay our mortgage, should we just stop paying taxes, too?” said Anton Schutz, president of Mendon Capital Advisers. (Source) (http://www.globalresearch.ca/wall-street-white-house-blame-homeowners-in-foreclosure-crisis/21493)



Interestingly enough, even if you follow the law (and pay your taxes) as the above paragons of ethics assert, apparently your home can still be taken by sleight of hand and/or bureaucratic ineptitude. Such is the case with elderly and infirm Aron Ezilla Ridge, who is debilitated in a variety of ways as Courthouse News reports:


Quote
Ridge is partly blind, has diabetes, congestive heart failure and had surgery for colon cancer several years ago.

"She needs a wheelchair to leave her home and is largely housebound at this point in her life," the complaint states. "She can read but her reading level is approximately at the 6th grade level and her ability to read is, of course, further limited by her failing eyesight."


She is being thrown out the home she's lived in for 47 years because of $49 in property taxes -- which she paid early. Regardless, she had paid off her mortgage 20 years ago, but needed repairs for which she did not have the immediate cash. She entered into an agreement for a "reverse mortgage" of $39,000 with a nationwide mortgage lender called James B. Nutter & Co.

A reverse mortgage is geared toward those who are 62 years and older, and essentially serves as a revolving credit line with title still held by the homeowner rather than with the lender as it would for a typical mortgage. Instead of the borrower making payments, the lender pays the borrower with the promise that the loan is to be paid at the time of death or sale.



It hasn't been so cut-and-dried for Ms. Ridge who is now the plaintiff in a case against James B. Nutter & Co. after payment of her property taxes came into question.

Quote

Ridge says she was told by the Travis County Tax Assessor's office in 2000 that she did not need to pay property taxes because the value of her home was below homestead and senior exemption caps.
 
But she received a property tax bill in 2011 for $20.31. She says she was able to drive to the assessor's office and pay the taxes in full and on time.

In April 2012, the assessor's office informed her that her home was valued at $60,743 and that her taxes were estimated at $46.87, according to the complaint.

Ridge says she did not receive a tax bill, but later received a receipt stating that $49 in taxes were paid in late 2012.

"She assumed that the receipt meant she was again exempt from property taxes," the complaint states. "She did not call the tax office to see why she had received a receipt without having received a bill."

This confusion, which has every indication that it was created by an outside party, gave an opening for Nutter & Co. to pounce via the "acceleration clause."


Quote
In January this year, Nutter's attorneys told Ridge her reverse mortgage had been accelerated, and that she had to pay off the entire loan "or the lender would exercise its right to enforce the lien on her home."

Ms. Ridge's home officially went into foreclosure Jan. 30th, 2013.

Unbeknownst to many older homeowners who take out reverse mortgages (especially those who have a 6th-grade reading level), an acceleration clause is there to ensure immediate payment. However, it is supposed to only be triggered upon the sale of the home, or death. Nutter & Co. are invoking this due to supposedly unpaid taxes. Ironically, Financial Web defines this clause in the following way:

At that point, the proceeds from the sale of the house, or the life insurance policy will have to pay for the remaining balance on the reverse mortgage. Many lenders also have an acceleration that is tied to fraud as well. (emphasis added) [Source] (http://www.finweb.com/mortgage/reverse-mortgages-understanding-the-acceleration-clause.html#axzz2ONRLBiBW)

The wording of Ms. Ridge's exact contract would have to be examined, but it seems way outside the normal, ethical boundaries to invoke an accelerated payment due to unpaid property taxes . . . and even that fact is in question. This certainly appears to be one of those contracts "tied to fraud" that is mentioned above.


Quote
"The only property to which the application could possibly refer were the taxes for 2012 - which were not due until January 31, 2013. Yet defendant intended to enforce its right to foreclose on Ms. Ridge's home because she had not paid $49.00, which at the time the application was filed, was not due yet."

It's hard to imagine this situation getting any more convoluted . . . but it does. Not only is the lender looking for immediate payment of the original loan of $39,000, the company seeks that amount, plus interest, fees, and subsequent attorney's fees that total more than the actual appraised value of her home. In essence, she couldn't even sell the home (or die) to pay off what is being demanded.

Ms. Ridge has signed on with an attorney who appears to be taking this very seriously and is going on the offensive in just about every way possible. Courthouse News lists the following that is being sought on her behalf:

. . . actual and punitive damages, an injunction and declaratory relief for wrongful foreclosure, breach of contract, negligence, real estate fraud, unjust enrichment, attempted conversion and violations of the Unfair Debt Collection Act and Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

Let's hope this sad story has a happier ending.

Main source for this article, with additional must-read information:
http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/03/22/55963.htm
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 03:54:00 AM
In other Global Currency Trends ...  :D

EU banker inadvertently spills the beans

Cyprus banks which were supposed to re-open today, ...are still closed. Why?

Well, it seems that when EU bankers were gushing to the media over the new deal struck by Cyprus, one Dutch banker Jerome Dijsselbloem said he not only thought it was a great deal, ...but "could serve as a template for other countries" hinting at what was in store for others

WHAT?!  This was only supposed to be a one-off event!!!

Needless to say, Dijsselbloem has had to do some quick back tracking, and Cyprus' finance minster has decided to keep the banks closed for another few days in order to prevent a run on the banks. The irony is that is, the longer they keep the banks closed, ...the more likely they are to see runs on the banks with people rushing to get their money out.

The more these guys tip their hands, the more likely they are to create bank runs in other parts of the Eurozone. 

I've always felt the "powers that be" were planning to implode the system and hoping to trigger a crash before it collapsed under it's own weight, ...but the ridiculous and inept way in which they handled this, coupled with the $900 million euro put options on the London exchange on euro crashing in 2 weeks vs the dollar leads me to believe they're trying to accomplish that at this very moment.  So who is trying to crash the euro. Which desperate banker trying to hide losses is making a hail mary play? Is it the Fed?

Unbelievable... two weeks without access to cash. People's rents are coming up, businesses are going broke unable to pay suppliers or employees. Stores have stopped accepting bank debit cards & credit cards.  >:(
Sadly, I fear bank holidays will be far more frequent in the future, just like Gerald Celente predicted would happen  :'(
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 04:13:31 AM
In other Global Currency Trends ...  :D

Bank Manager Verifies Cash Withdrawal Limits & Reduced Hours
Coming To US Banks Within 60 Days

Wednesday, March 20, 2013 22:19

(http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQcV2JBPZ0p_veEzKKrFUno0UMy_EIBJyvEravKYzwj89ktoeUvrg)

Gentlemen:

Just received a call from a highly agitated bank manager who stated that within 60 days, banks will be greatly reducing their hours, days of operation, amount of withdrawals and a requirement to fill out "paperwork" if the amount is questioned by bank officials. Unless the form is completed, money will not be disbursed.

What really irritated this manager is that after hearing our statements on the air, and receiving years of assurance that our positions and contacts were so much bravo sierra, now he hears from corporate people that it is apparently true after all. He said, "screw them, grab the money while you can."

The parameters given were banks open two days a week for four to five hours with below minimum staffs, increased security and greatly reduced amounts of actual cash in the vault.

Amount of withdrawal will be held to $500-2000 per day per customer account--not customer. So my account could only have either my wife or I withdraw, not both.

That level could change at ANY time.

There is no plan (at least known) for automatic confiscation from accounts--yet, and he said that the banks hold the "ownership" authority and final disposition of any items found in safety deposit boxes. (surprise, surprise!)

Withholding mortgage payments could result in expedited (30) day foreclosures and 15 day Sheriff's locks on your front door.
 
The Federal Reserve could and will initiate other more draconian restrictions on all aspects of "private" banking and access to any property held by banks. It could include forfeiture of your primary (paid for) residence if your summer cottage has a mortgage and you fail to pony up to keeping it current or any forthcoming restrictions on your accounts.

Clearly, the only option is to close accounts or only keep funds that can be paid instantly to keep electric, water, or other critical accounts paid. Cash will be drying up---so, unless people hold precious metals, bullets (the new currency) or medicines, etc., you are screwed. Barter will be king. As the Colonel said yesterday, "the universe is contracting into the black hole. There is no way to escape its pull."

(Political/economic/social order black hole) Received at 1545 hours
20 March 2013
The Lawman

http://www.stevequayle.com/index.php?s=33&d=325

http://beforeitsnews.com/economy/2013/03/bank-manager-verifies-cash-withdrawal-limits-reduced-hours-coming-to-us-banks-within-60-days-2502422.html
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: Soul Crusher on March 26, 2013, 05:32:10 AM
Cyprus bail-out: savers will be raided to save euro in future crises, says eurozone chief
 The Telegraph - UK ^ | 26 March 2013 | Bruno Waterfield

Posted on Tuesday, March 26, 2013 8:09:41 AM by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

Savings accounts in Spain, Italy and other European countries will be raided if needed to preserve Europe's single currency by propping up failing banks, a senior eurozone official has announced. The new policy will alarm hundreds of thousands of British expatriates who live and have transferred their savings, proceeds from house sales and other assets to eurozone bank accounts in countries such as France, Spain and Italy. The euro fell on global markets after Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch chairman of the eurozone, announced that the heavy losses inflicted on depositors in Cyprus would be the template for future banking crises across Europe.

"If there is a risk in a bank, our first question should be 'Okay, what are you in the bank going to do about that? What can you do to recapitalise yourself?'," he said. "If the bank can't do it, then we'll talk to the shareholders and the bondholders, we'll ask them to contribute in recapitalising the bank, and if necessary the uninsured deposit holders."

Ditching a three-year-old policy of protecting senior bondholders and large depositors, over €100,000, in banks, Mr Dijsselbloem argued that the lack of market contagion surrounding Cyprus showed that private investors could now be hit to pay for bad banking debts.


(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 06:24:07 AM
Ah... so it's Jeroen. When I was being given the news, it sounded like Jerome to me.  :-[

I find it quite interesting that it is a Dutch banker that has so publicly tipped their hand. I mean, their intentions to roll it out all over was obvious for anyone paying attention, and connecting the dots, ...especially considering the relatively small size of the Cypriot bailout, relative to the bailouts for other eurozone countries. Clearly Cyprus was a trial balloon, and they caved to the troika pressures, ...but what i find so curious is that it was a Dutch banker who revealed their nefarious plans to the press.  It's almost as if they wanted to paint a picture of what was coming, and connected the dots for everyone, (just in case they happen to not be paying attention)

Why I find the Dutch connection so fascinating is because the Dutch appear to want as much gold in their country as possible, but refuse to let it leave. With my supplier, The Netherlands is the one country where gold buyers cannot receive storage of their gold abroad. They HAVE TO take immediate delivery of anything they order, ...and just recently Dutch bankers ABN-AMRO have just announced a change in policy whereby they will no longer provide physical delivery of a customer's bullion...  They'll gladly accept gold INTO their country, ...but are putting restrictions on it's ability to flow OUT of the country.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but it seems like everywhere i turn these days, the Dutch are popping up for some odd reason.

Maybe it's one of the Dutch members of the Bilderberg group that is attempting this 900 Million euro short. I wonder too if it is a naked short? Maybe it's Buzzy Krongard trying to collect a payout since he couldn't collect after 911.
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 06:51:09 AM
In other Global Currency Trends ...  :D

Bank of Cyprus Chairman resigns as heads roll over bailout

Students have taken to the streets of the Cypriot capital Nicosia, protesting against the last-ditch bailout deal sealed on Monday. Reports say a couple of smoke bombs went off, as the crowd chanted against the troika. Cypriots have been anxiously waiting for banks to re-open on Tuesday, but their doors remain closed, all banks on the island will stay shut until Thursday. Even then, capital flows will be temporarily restricted. The last-ditch bailout deal may be hailed as a relief by the government and the EU, but it's certainly no comfort for people struggling to withdraw their money,

Aid Raid: Fear & Loathing grips Cypris as ECB hastens debtline

Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: syntaxmachine on March 26, 2013, 08:20:16 AM
RUH ROH! X3

The Golden Dilemma
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2078535

"Gold objects have existed for thousands of years but for many investors gold has only recently become a tradable investment opportunity. Gold has been described as an inflation hedge, a 'golden constant', with a long run real return of zero. Yet over 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20 year investment horizons the variation in the nominal and real returns of gold has not been driven by realized inflation."
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 12:35:37 PM
.
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: OzmO on March 26, 2013, 01:57:45 PM
Classic, when people don't buy into your retarded argument, suggest they are sheep.

 ::)
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 03:21:16 PM
Quote from: OzmO on March 26, 2013, 01:57:45 PM
Classic, when people don't buy into your retarded argument, suggest they are sheep.

 ::)

Actually OzmO, I'm not suggesting that YOU are a sheep.
On the contrary, ...I suspect you to be a wolf, who is just wearing sheep's clothing.
It's something I have suspected foe a while, ...you and a few others.

There are however, a lot of sheep out there, ...and I believe many are going to be fleeced & slaughtered by the bankers.
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: OzmO on March 26, 2013, 03:25:21 PM
Quote from: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 03:21:16 PM
Actually OzmO, I'm not suggesting that YOU are a sheep.
On the contrary, ...I suspect you to be a wolf, who is just wearing sheep's clothing.
It's something I have suspected foe a while, ...you and a few others.

There are however, a lot of sheep out there, ...and I believe many are going to be fleeced & slaughtered by the bankers.

So you think i work for "the man"?  And that i am paid to debunk and spread disinformation?
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 03:31:27 PM
Quote from: OzmO on March 26, 2013, 03:25:21 PM
So you think i work for "the man"?  And that i am paid to debunk and spread disinformation?

I suspect you might be a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 04:16:54 PM
In other Global Currency Trends ....  :D

Unique Cyprus model to spill further across Eurozone



Forget the earlier well reported figure of 20%

Looks like depositors with accounts larger than 100,000 € stand to lose as much as...

40%
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: OzmO on March 26, 2013, 04:27:36 PM
Quote from: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 03:31:27 PM
I suspect you might be a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Well, I do where wool suits.  and as Denzel said.....    "You are either a wolf or you are a sheep."
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 04:43:09 PM
in other Global Currency Trends .... :D

Geopolitical Giants: BRICS World Wealthiest Giants in 30 years?

A new powerful institution, the BRICS joint development bank, is set to emerge on the international financial arena - that's as the 5th annual summit of the world's fastest emerging economies has kicked off in South Africa. The leaders of Brazil, Russia, China, India and the host nation this year are joined by Egypt's president Morsi - who's hoping to book a place in the club.

Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: Fury on March 26, 2013, 06:39:14 PM
Haha, so the mods delete my post but they leave her blatant advertising up? How is she not banned?
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: OzmO on March 26, 2013, 06:59:09 PM
I agree, now its getting stupid.   

Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: Jack T. Cross on March 26, 2013, 07:01:11 PM
Quote from: OzmO on March 26, 2013, 04:27:36 PM
Well, I do where wool suits.  and as Denzel said.....    "You are either a wolf or you are a sheep."

Quote from: tonymctones on March 26, 2013, 06:54:22 PM
agreed alot of white guys where hoodies, how many do so while at night in a neighborhood prone to break ins without arrests?

goodness youre a moron

I hope this is just a simple coincidental lapse in spelling.
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: OzmO on March 26, 2013, 07:26:10 PM
Quote from: Jack T. Cross on March 26, 2013, 07:01:11 PM
I hope this is just a simple coincidental lapse in spelling.

Wow busted, you are so sharp.  Got me, I am really Donald Rumsfield  :D
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: syntaxmachine on March 26, 2013, 07:56:51 PM
Quote from: OzmO on March 26, 2013, 03:25:21 PM
So you think i work for "the man"?  And that i am paid to debunk and spread disinformation?

Global elites are very concerned with regulating the ideational climate on Getbig and other bodybuilding message boards. They know that bodybuilders tend to be well-connected, well-informed, and politically influential persons who, if made aware of their nefarious plans, could mobilize and single-handedly detonate the entire inequitable power structure.

Does your last name include the word 'child' by chance?!
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: Jack T. Cross on March 26, 2013, 09:24:23 PM
Quote from: OzmO on March 26, 2013, 07:26:10 PM
Wow busted, you are so sharp.  Got me, I am really Donald Rumsfield  :D

Both you and Tony fly off the handle so quickly and senselessly, it almost wouldn't surprise me to find out you're the same person.
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 10:28:21 PM
Quote from: OzmO on March 26, 2013, 06:59:09 PM
I agree, now its getting stupid.   


OzmO, your MO is so transparent. You let your little attack dogs run wild on the board, trolling, making unwarranted & libelous ad hom attacks, subverting threads, ...you even get it on it without doing a darn thing to maintain any rules whatsoever, ...but the instant I post something to clear up the deliberate lies & disinformation you allow to be injected into the thread, ...you call it SPAM advertising, and use it as an excuse to either delete the thread, or move it off political (under the guise of trying to maintain some rules) and move it to a place where there are no rules.

You're getting pretty predictable these days.

I'll say one thing in your favour though. It used to be that you guys on political would simply delete my defense of my business against libelous attacks, but leave the libelous attacks in place. 

What's with your selective deletions and attacks on posters. If one didn't know better, one might assume you were in the employ of evil bankers who want to enslave everyone, ...either you or the one who controls you.  :-\
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 10:29:36 PM
In other Global Currency Trends ...  :D

BRICS Nations Plan New Bank to Bypass World Bank, IMF
By Mike Cohen & Ilya Arkhipov - Mar 26, 2013 9:36 AM ET

The biggest emerging markets are uniting to tackle under-development and currency volatility with plans to set up institutions that encroach on the roles of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

The leaders of the so-called BRICS nations -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- are set to approve the establishment of a new development bank during an annual summit that began today in the eastern South African city of Durban, officials from all five nations say. They will also discuss pooling foreign-currency reserves to ward off balance of payments or currency crises.
“The deepest rationale for the BRICS is almost certainly the creation of new Bretton Woods-type institutions that are inclined toward the developing world,” Martyn Davies, chief executive officer of Johannesburg-based Frontier Advisory, which provides research on emerging markets, said in a phone interview. “There’s a shift in power from the traditional to the emerging world. There is a lot of geo-political concern about this shift in the western world.”

The BRICS nations, which have combined foreign-currency reserves of $4.4 trillion and account for 43 percent of the world’s population, are seeking greater sway in global finance to match their rising economic power. They have called for an overhaul of management of the World Bank and IMF, which were created in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in 1944, and oppose the practice of their respective presidents being drawn from the U.S. and Europe.

Reform Needed

“We need to change the way business is conducted in the international financial institutions,” South African International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said in a March 15 speech in Johannesburg. “They need to be reformed.”
The U.S. has failed to ratify a 2010 agreement to give more sway to emerging markets at the IMF, while it secured Jim Yong Kim, an American, as head of the World Bank last year over candidates from Nigeria and Colombia.
Finance ministers and central bank governors from the BRICS nations, who met in Durban today, agreed to set up currency crisis fund of about $100 billion, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega told reporters today. He didn’t give details of proposed funding for the new bank, which Brazil wants established by 2014. The nation’s leaders are due to sign a final accord tomorrow.

FDI Inflows

Goldman Sachs Asset Management Chairman Jim O’Neill coined the BRIC term in 2001 to describe the four emerging powers he estimated would equal the U.S. in joint economic output by 2020. Brazil, Russia, India and China held their first summit four years ago and invited South Africa to join their ranks in December 2010.

Trade within the group surged to $282 billion last year from $27 billion in 2002 and may reach $500 billion by 2015, according to data from Brazil’s government. Foreign direct invesment into BRICS nations reached $263 billion last year, accounting for 20 percent of global FDI flows, up from 6 percent in 2000, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said on its website yesterday.
“If they announce a BRICS bank it will be quite something,” O’Neill said in an e-mailed reply to questions on March 15. “At a minimum it symbolizes they can achieve something as political group and means lots of other things could follow in the future. It also means that they will have their own kind of special World Bank, which may aid infrastructure and trade projects.”

Currency Pool

While BRICS leaders may approve the creation of a development bank in principle at the summit, details on funding and operations may take longer to finalize.
Russia favors capping each side’s initial contribution at $10 billion, Mikhail Margelov, President Vladimir Putin’s envoy to Africa he said in a March 15 interview in Moscow.

“It will be some time before it will be feasible for this bank to start financing say, a railway project,” Simon Freemantle, an analyst at Standard Bank Group Ltd., Africa’s biggest lender, told reporters in Durban yesterday. “That is some way out.”

Interest rates near zero in the U.S., Japan and Europe have fueled foreign investors’ appetite for higher-yielding assets, driving up currencies from Brazil to Turkey. Brazil has warned of a global currency war as nations take reciprocal action to weaken their currencies and protect export industries.

African Leaders

Brazil’s real has gained 1.9 percent against the dollar since the beginning of the year, while South Africa’s rand has dropped 8.7 percent in the period.

For South Africa, which makes up just 2.5 percent of total gross domestic product in BRICS, the summit is a way to showcase its role as an investment gateway to Africa. President Jacob Zuma has invited 15 African heads of state, including Egypt’s Mohamed Mursi and Ethiopia’s Hailemariam Desalegn, for talks with the BRICS leaders at the summit. For most of the BRICS leaders, it’s also the first opportunity to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping after his appointment on March 17.

“We will discuss ways to revive global growth and ensure macroeconomic stability, as well as mechanisms and measures to promote investment in infrastructure and sustainable development,” Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a statement yesterday.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-25/brics-nations-plan-new-bank-to-bypass-world-bank-imf.html
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 10:32:40 PM
In other Global Currency Trends ...  :D

Cyprus Capital Controls First in EU Could Last Years
By Yalman Onaran - Mar 26, 2013 9:00 PM ET

Cyprus is on the verge of an unprecedented financial experiment: imposing controls on money transfers in an economy that doesn’t have its own currency.

Countries from Argentina to Iceland have used similar measures in the past to defend against devaluation. Being part of the euro zone may make it harder for the Mediterranean island to enforce restrictions, as any money that leaves the banking system can be taken out of Cyprus without losing value.

That also may make it more difficult to meet the goal set yesterday by Finance Minister Michael Sarris to lift any controls in “a matter of weeks.” When economies in Asia and Latin America tried to stem the outflow of money in the 1980s and 1990s, they ended up keeping the measures in effect for six months to two years. Iceland, another island nation with an outsize banking system, still has capital controls five years after its banks collapsed in 2008.

“Thanks to political mismanagement, we now have a first: capital controls in the euro zone,” said Nicolas Veron, a senior fellow at Bruegel in Brussels and a visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “How long is temporary? It could turn out like Iceland, extending to many years.”

Russian Deposits

Cyprus may announce what types of controls it plans to implement today, before its banks are scheduled to reopen tomorrow. The country’s leaders are seeking to prevent the flight of money from the island’s lenders, which have been closed for almost two weeks. Russian holdings in Cypriot banks are estimated by Moody’s Investors Service to be $31 billion, or about a quarter of total deposits.

Parliament last week gave wide-ranging powers to the central bank governor, Panicos Demetriades, and Finance Minister Sarris, including the ability to limit daily withdrawals and force the renewal of time deposits upon maturity. The two officials also can restrict the opening of new accounts, credit- or debit-card use, wire transfers among the branches of the same bank and non-cash transactions.


“They’re going to need some serious controls to make sure the money doesn’t leave the country,” said Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, a London-based strategist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. “Otherwise, I can’t see how any of this money with a high propensity to leave will stay voluntarily.”

ECB Financing

A rush of money out of Cyprus would shift more financing responsibility to the European Central Bank, which provides about 10 billion euros of emergency loans to the country’s lenders. After 30 billion euros, the ECB would have to lower its standards for the collateral it demands from Cypriot banks, Panigirtzoglou said. With deposit flight and rising loan losses in Cyprus and Greece, the ECB could lose money on the funds it lends.

The island’s lenders have been closed since a plan by the European Union to force losses on depositors in exchange for a 10 billion-euro bailout touched off a political upheaval. Parliament rejected the deal, which would have taxed all bank accounts, including those under the 100,000-euro deposit- insurance limit. A new agreement shuts Cyprus Popular Bank Pcl (CPB), the nation’s second-largest lender. Uninsured depositors of that institution and the Bank of Cyprus Plc, the biggest, will share losses, while insured deposits in all the banks are spared.

Icelandic Controls

When Iceland imposed capital controls after a property bubble burst and its banks collapsed, political leaders said they would be temporary, too.

Financial firms, with assets 11 times the national economy at the peak, were too big to save. So Iceland let them fail, splitting them into good and bad banks. Bondholders bore most of the losses. Iceland’s krona dropped by more than half.

Restrictions on the movement of capital out of the country were intended to stabilize the currency. They mostly related to the conversion of the krona to other currencies and targeted legacy foreign investments in the nation’s securities.

Even with such a limited reach, the Icelandic capital controls have had a negative impact on the economy, according to Pall Hardarson, president of Nasdaq OMX Group Inc.’s Iceland unit. They’ve discouraged outsiders from investing and made it harder for Icelandic companies to sell bonds overseas, he said. After doubling every year for five years, foreign direct investment in the island collapsed in 2008 and has remained about 25 percent below the pre-crisis level.

“Ultimately we need to create confidence in the economy, and with these controls it’s hard to do so,” said Hardarson. “Officially they only apply to legacy investments, but nevertheless they send a signal that things aren’t the way they’re supposed to be.”

Two Euros

Krona-denominated bonds left from the boom era cannot be converted to foreign currency when they mature. The proceeds need to be reinvested in krona assets. That has created two foreign-exchange rates for the island’s currency -- an official one traded domestically and one offshore.

The offshore krona trades lower than the official one because it reflects the difficulty exchanging them for dollars or euros, according to Hardarson. One euro was worth 159.54 kronur on official markets yesterday and 220 kronur offshore, according to Keldan.com, an Icelandic data provider.

The same is going to be true for the euro now that a member country is walled off from the rest, said Raoul Ruparel, chief economist at Open Europe, a London-based research group.

“Now there are two euros, one in Cyprus, one elsewhere,” said Ruparel. “The whole point about a single currency is that money is fungible, it can cross borders without any restrictions. The capital controls in one member basically ends that arrangement.”

Capital Flows

To be effective, controls in Cyprus will have to be stricter than those in Iceland, Ruparel said. Iceland’s importers and exporters have been exempted from currency- conversion restrictions as long as they can show the exchange is for trade purposes. If a similar exemption were to be made in Cyprus, Russian companies on the island could use the loophole to take their money out swiftly, Ruparel estimated.

Cyprus-based Russian companies, taking advantage of the island’s lower tax rates, are the largest source of foreign direct investment in Russia, according to central bank data.

Most efforts to restrict capital flows out of a banking system or a country have failed to protect the currency they were intended to prop up, according to separate papers by Sebastian Edwards, an economics professor at the of University of California at Los Angeles, and Graciela Kaminsky, an economics professor at George Washington University.

Argentina Restrictions

Argentina restricted bank withdrawals in 2001, when it was faced with a banking crisis following the government’s debt default. Three months later the country had to abandon its currency peg to the dollar, which it had maintained for a decade. The government imposed losses on deposits through forced conversion of dollar savings to pesos at unfavorable rates.

Being a member of the euro zone is similar to maintaining a peg to another currency at a fixed-exchange rate. When the local currency is overvalued as a result of inflation, countries with pegs eventually end the fixed regime and devalue, as Argentina did. Cyprus might do the same, faced with dire economic prospects, Open Europe’s Ruparel said.

“Stuck with an overvalued euro, Cyprus loses out on tourism, one of its two main economic activities,” he said. “The other one, banking, is dead with capital controls. So what advantage does Cyprus get from being in the euro now?”

Cyprus Contraction

Cyprus’s 18 billion-euro economy is the third smallest in the 17-nation euro area. Before the bailout, which was coupled with an austerity package, the European Commission predicted a contraction of 3.5 percent in 2013. Economists said afterward that the damage will be greater.

The decision to burn depositors with more than 100,000 euros and restrict money movements will hurt confidence in other weak economies and banking systems of the euro zone, according to a report yesterday by DBRS Inc., a Toronto-based rating firm.

“During the current period of low to no growth in Europe, it is certainly possible that a run on Cypriot deposits could spread, in spite of existing or future controls on capital,” wrote Fergus McCormick, head of sovereign ratings at DBRS.
A total of 378 billion euros was pulled from banks in Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy in the 13 months through August, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The flight was reversed only after the ECB pledged to buy government bonds of those countries, calming investors.

Greek Ties

Cyprus’s three biggest publicly traded banks had a total of 6.5 billion euros of losses in 2011 after writing down the value of their Greek bond holdings. They have also been bleeding on their loans to companies and individuals in Greece, which is in its fifth year of a contracting economy.

At least 1,600 Greek shipping, trade and tourism companies headquartered in Cyprus are threatened with closure, according to National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce. Greek firms that held deposits in Cyprus were unable to meet a deadline this week for paying taxes in Greece, the Athens-based organization said.

The divided island’s internationally recognized southern part is ethnically Greek and has close ties to the financially troubled country. The northern part is controlled by a breakaway government backed by Turkey.

Russian companies with banking ties to Cyprus will face the same hurdles as their Greek counterparts, though the impact on the Russian economy will be less significant. Russian economic output, which expanded by about 4 percent last year, is almost 10 times as much as Greece’s.

The biggest losers may be Cypriots themselves. Unemployment could double to 30 percent as a result of the planned bank restructurings, estimates Hari Tsoukas, a professor at Warwick Business School in Coventry, England.

“Life will be difficult for people living in Cyprus,” Tsoukas said. “The country will be another version of Ireland and Greece, with a tough austerity program. In another decade, we can look forward to another recovery.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-27/cyprus-capital-controls-first-in-eu-could-last-years.html
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: OzmO on March 27, 2013, 07:34:17 AM
Quote from: 24KT on March 26, 2013, 10:28:21 PM
OzmO, your MO is so transparent. You let your little attack dogs run wild on the board, trolling, making unwarranted & libelous ad hom attacks, subverting threads, ...you even get it on it without doing a darn thing to maintain any rules whatsoever, ...but the instant I post something to clear up the deliberate lies & disinformation you allow to be injected into the thread, ...you call it SPAM advertising, and use it as an excuse to either delete the thread, or move it off political (under the guise of trying to maintain some rules) and move it to a place where there are no rules.

You're getting pretty predictable these days.

I'll say one thing in your favour though. It used to be that you guys on political would simply delete my defense of my business against libelous attacks, but leave the libelous attacks in place. 

What's with your selective deletions and attacks on posters. If one didn't know better, one might assume you were in the employ of evil bankers who want to enslave everyone, ...either you or the one who controls you.  :-\

Incorrect. 

I remove plenty of posts attacking you.  You however have no problem posting things that will eventually lead to you talking about your business. 
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: 24KT on March 27, 2013, 09:57:15 PM
Quote from: OzmO on March 27, 2013, 07:34:17 AM
Incorrect. 

I remove plenty of posts attacking you.

I thank you for that, ...however I would appreciate it even more, if rather than removing your posts that attack me, after the fact, that you simply not participate in let alone initiate unwarranted attacks against me to begin with. 

Quote from: OzmO on March 27, 2013, 07:34:17 AM
You however have no problem posting things that will eventually lead to you talking about your business. 

OzmO, I do not make the news. If current events that are unfolding by the minute cause people to think about a product or business I may be associated with, then all that means is perhaps I may have had a little foresight, or perhaps may have been onto something.

Are you saying this board should be a microcosm of the current state of the media in the USA? That legitimate news or journalism should be censored because it may alert people to what's happening all around them?

I post about what is going on in Cyprus because I don't believe it will be limited to Cyprus. If people are forewarned, and can see the writing on the wall, maybe a few more people can do what they feel they have to in order to protect themselves. 

And since when does protecting one's self automatically equate to buying a product I'm affiliated with.

And how would people even know what I'm affiliate with had it not been for you mods on political not only allowing the gimmicks to stalk me, then trash my name & products all over the board, but even got in on the action yourself... forcing me to have to try to correct the misinformation purposely injected into the board, that was allowed to stand.

You say no trolling, no baseless attacks, no ad hom attacks, but you not only allow it, you initiate and participate in it, as well as encourage it. You let the trolls make outrageous libelous statements that I am forced to defend, then when I do, you whack the thread or move it.

You call it fear propaganda when it is actually news, ...but you allow others who do spew fear propaganda to run amok, and you call it politics rather than the outrageous conspiracy theory that may be, or more accurately the outrageous wishful thinking that it is.

If actually news events, FACTs cause you to fear, ...maybe you should listen to your inner voice for solutions rather than try to silence someone else's voice.

YOU are the one who keeps bring up my products, you and the trolls, and it is you and the trolls who keep subverting the threads.
Title: Re: Why You Should Be Terrified Of What Just Happened in Cyprus
Post by: OzmO on March 28, 2013, 08:52:48 AM
Quote from: 24KT on March 27, 2013, 09:57:15 PM
I thank you for that, ...however I would appreciate it even more, if rather than removing your posts that attack me, after the fact, that you simply not participate in let alone initiate unwarranted attacks against me to begin with.  

OzmO, I do not make the news. If current events that are unfolding by the minute cause people to think about a product or business I may be associated with, then all that means is perhaps I may have had a little foresight, or perhaps may have been onto something.

Are you saying this board should be a microcosm of the current state of the media in the USA? That legitimate news or journalism should be censored because it may alert people to what's happening all around them?

I post about what is going on in Cyprus because I don't believe it will be limited to Cyprus. If people are forewarned, and can see the writing on the wall, maybe a few more people can do what they feel they have to in order to protect themselves.  

And since when does protecting one's self automatically equate to buying a product I'm affiliated with.

And how would people even know what I'm affiliate with had it not been for you mods on political not only allowing the gimmicks to stalk me, then trash my name & products all over the board, but even got in on the action yourself... forcing me to have to try to correct the misinformation purposely injected into the board, that was allowed to stand.

You say no trolling, no baseless attacks, no ad hom attacks, but you not only allow it, you initiate and participate in it, as well as encourage it. You let the trolls make outrageous libelous statements that I am forced to defend, then when I do, you whack the thread or move it.

You call it fear propaganda when it is actually news, ...but you allow others who do spew fear propaganda to run amok, and you call it politics rather than the outrageous conspiracy theory that may be, or more accurately the outrageous wishful thinking that it is.

If actually news events, FACTs cause you to fear, ...maybe you should listen to your inner voice for solutions rather than try to silence someone else's voice.

YOU are the one who keeps bring up my products, you and the trolls, and it is you and the trolls who keep subverting the threads.



Jags, save the retarded arguments for the same people who always fall for fear propaganda and stop acting like you are just reporting the news.  You are so obvious its stupid.

You did the same thing a few years ago with your gas pills when you frequently posted news stories about gas prices.

The only difference is, I am not putting up with your BS as much anymore.