The Cyprus Bungled Redistribution

Bungled, yet successful.

Please excuse all the Cyprus-related posts lately.  We think the 'tax on savings' theft is a paradigm shift with huge consequences for freedom and liberty.

While it is rumored that deposits over 100k Euros in Cyprus banks will be taxed at 25%, one must remember that means the bank customers are being allowed to keep 75% of their money.  Would losing 25% of your savings bother you?

More rumors: Laiki bank customers will be allowed to withdraw as much as 100 Euros once the government allows the banks to open.  Actual withdraw limits and bank openings are unknown.  Would being restricted in how much of your money you could access bother you?

Nobody is jumping out of windows yet, and nobody is connecting yesterday's suicide of Boris Berezovsky to the Cyprus redistribution.

Did you know the retail stores have less than three days of inventory?  They too are blocked from their bank accounts.

We suggested Congress pass a law, or Constitutional Amendment, forbidding a Cyprus-like tax on savings.  Glenn at Instapundit has been suggesting the same.  And now there is a White House petition demanding a statement from Obama to this end.  Something like his promise to not fund abortions in Obamacare, perhaps?  The petition is approaching 100k signatures, or in other words a "minority" that will have to convince the majority that taking money from savings is bad.

Daniel Greenfield writes at the Sultan Knish blog:

What we are actually seeing are the beginnings of bailout cannibalism as the Eurocrats manipulate entire nations into fighting each other while scrambling to gain some political advantage out of the mess. The real purpose of the deposit grab was to wreck Cyprus' banking sector and continue the centralization of international finance. At the same time it was meant to give German voters, who have been funding much of the mess, the feeling that other people were getting screwed as well.

While the Cyprus redistribution event (banks closed and funds frozen while bureaucrats decided how much the owners could keep) was extended from Thursday until this Tuesday, we've seen very little in the press.  A conspiracy to keep the chatter to a minimum to avoid panic and bank runs in other European countries?  Or perhaps everyone buy us is taking this pill:



Blog, New Rhodesia Dispatch, offers a visual tool to help you identify your risk to asset seizure.  The Asset Seizure Risk Cube.

John DeWitt at New Rhodesia Dispatch, shares our fear:

If the Cyprus episode promised to be isolated, we wouldn’t worry about it. But it’s not going to be isolated. It is a reconnaissance in force by the global socialist allies of the Regime for the next phase in the collectivist agenda: moving beyond mere income taxation (against which going Galt is a defense) to outright asset confiscation.

ZeroHedge, March 17th:

...it is surprising we learn today that the Russian Navy will dispatch a permanent fleet of five or six combat ships to the Mediterranean Sea, with frigates and cruisers making up the core of the fleet.

How far into the Mediterranean one wonders?

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How soon until we read that Russia is willing to invest even more unguaranteed loans into the Cypriot financial system.... in exchange for one tiny little naval and/or military base?

There is still talk that this deposit tax will be a "one-off."  With panic showing in Cyprus and elsewhere, the question isn't "will there be a bank run," but "how big of a bank run."  Unlike the bank runs of days long past, these bank runs will be wire transfers.  So expect the Interwebs to be a bit slow on Thursday.

And let's be clear about the meaning of "one-off."  It is another term for "first.

And don't look for riots - at least not related to banks.  Food perhaps.  Communists are behind nearly all riots, and there are few, if any, communists among the 100k Euro account holders.  No, the communists will stay home at Mom's house, overcome with glee at the theft of the bourgeoisie.

UPDATED 3.25 Noon:

Today's Drudge headline:

It is official: Cyprus accounts with balances over 100k will lose 40% of their balances, not 25%.

Blogger Frances Coppola, at Coppola Comment, EXPLAINS EVERYTHING, including the capital controls in Cyprus.   By far the best source of information on the Cyprus banking disaster.

We did notice the term "one-off" is nowhere to be seen in today's news.

Raoul Ruparel explains at ZeroHedge that the 40% was not a bank levy (tax) as was discussed earlier this week.  Instead the 40% losses are part of a bank restructuring.  He explains the deal, offers predictions, and identifies some positives aspects.

Found at WesternRifleShooters:

We'll be popping some popcorn in anticipation of the coming "assisted suicides" of the folks who came up with this "deal."

UPDATED 3.25 7pm:

Whoops!

What do you mean the Cyprus banks forgot to close their branches in London and Russia last week?

You mean the non-Cyprus account holders could access their funds at a foreign branch, thus leaving the "haircut" for only the Cyprus account holders?

ZeroHedge:

In other words, by now any big Russian funds in Cyprus are long gone, and the only damage accrues to the locals: for one reason because their money over the critical EUR100K threshold has been "vaporized", and for another because the marginal driving force and loan demand creator in Cyprus, the Russians, are gone and are never coming back again.

Destroy confidence in your banking system.

Redefine a bank account as a liberal's last ditch option for covering the losses from liberal policies.

Confiscate Chase away billion dollar deposits.

Chase away the spending in your hotels, restaurants and resorts from those high-dollar depositors.

Drive your economy into the toilet.

Well done Cyprus!  Well done European liberals! Watch as we make the same mistakes here in the US!

The only solution for Cyprus, and for the rest of us, is to have a "one-off" purge of all liberals from government.

And for fun's sake, let's give them a "haircut" unseen since the Sioux.