Cyprus

[spdrun]

Are they completely friggin’ stupid or just bloody insane? Better a bailout and covert devaluation than overnight deposit haircuts for everyone — the latter will undermine faith in banking systems Europe-wide.

Manufactured. Crisis. Watch out.

[paramount]

Good cattch spdrun, after reading your thread I did some research – definitely a concern.

As I understand a 10 per cent seizure on all savings accounts?

No doubt the work of the criminal banking cartels.

[CA renter]

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets and the euro tumbled Monday as a plan to fund a bailout for Cyprus by taxing its bank deposits raised worries it could spark an exodus of capital from fragile European economies.

The tax is part of a rescue plan for cash-strapped Cyprus that was reached Saturday after talks among officials from countries that use the euro, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index slid 2 percent to 12,312.53. Export shares slid as the yen strengthened against the dollar and the euro.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 2.1 percent to 22,057.07. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.6 percent to 1,974.32. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 2 percent to 5,015.60. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, mainland China and the Philippines also fell.

…About 25 lawmakers from the communist-rooted AKEL party, the socialist EDEK and the Greens said they won’t vote for the tax in the 56-seat Cypriot parliament amid deep resentment over a move some called disastrous. If Parliament rejects the tax, that would put the entire aid package in jeopardy.

…In exchange for €10 billion ($13 billion) in rescue money, creditors would impose a one-time tax of 6.75 percent on all bank deposits under €100,000 ($131,000) and 9.9 percent over that amount.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2013/03/17/cyprus-president-bailout-plan/1995415/
—————–

This is a definite WTF moment in banking. Insane and stupid, indeed!

Good catch, spdrun!

[Jazzman]

The Germans asked for the tax and have been accusing the Cypriots of laundering Russian money. Go figure. Russians are obviously feeling guilty and have already offered to help. Money for the Bosnian conflict was funneled through Cypriot banks, so they’re not innocents. It’s also a low tax environment at least for expats, so it looks even more like a punitive anti tax evasion move. I lived in Cyprus. Nice little island, and has the only divided city left in the world. Turkey is probably smirking in the background, and Germany is probably glad Turkey was turned down from membership. I think one cause of the problem was Cypriot investment in Greece.

[SK in CV]

Update from the WSJ:

The Cypriot parliament is now scheduled to meet Tuesday at 1600 GMT … The government is also in discussion with its creditors to ease the burden on small depositors. … The new proposal will see smaller depositors, those with up to €100,000, taxed at 3%; savers with €100,000 to €500,000 taxed at 10%; and those with over €500,000 taxed at 15%, one official said.

That would be about 2 1/2 hours from the time I’m posting. Russia is not happy with the proposed tax and are threatening to withdraw their previous commitment for aid.

[all]

The elections are 6 months away and for Mrs. Merkel the only thing worse than being perceived as weak with lazy Greeks&Latins is being weak with thieving Slavic oligarchs. The Winter is nearly over and the Germans don’t need to suck the Russian stick for some natural gas until after the elections.

[spdrun]

Just another manufactured crisis, one that we actually need badly to at least temporarily undo the worst work that Counterfeiter Bennie has done.

[livinincali]

Anybody with a little bit of math skills should understand the excessively leverage in system is going to end badly. The only real question is how and when? This just proves that even if you get the how and when right, the government might be there to take away you winnings in the name of fairness.

[Jazzman]

Seems banks can stop electronic transfers, but not ATM withdrawals. 50% of depositors (funds) are Russian. I haven’t heard whether the tax is retroactive. Never say never, but I don’t think this will be mirrored across Greece, Italy or Spain. It seems pretty clear to me the quid pro quo is being aimed at dirty money. The Cypriot economy is too small to drag down the Euro zone.

[spdrun]

^^^

So why not just restrict the tax to non-citizen (or non-EU citizen) deposits?

[The-Shoveler]

Watching this unfold is like watching that dumb and dumber movie.

I doubt it will have much effect for our markets at this point, Ben and his buddies in Japan have their targets for the markets and I think they really do have the ability to hit them.

They cannot afford not to.

I think that is key IMO.

[spdrun]

What makes you think that the powers that be don’t want a temporary (say) 5-15% correction? This looks to all eyes like an engineered situation.

[The-Shoveler]

Hmm, possible, maybe to give the illusion of a free market ?
Could be.

[Jazzman]

[quote=spdrun]^^^

So why not just restrict the tax to non-citizen (or non-EU citizen) deposits?[/quote]
I think essentially that is what it is, but then it’s not just non-citizens who are involved.

[paramount]

So this is not a case of: Politicians stealing citizens money and handing it over to the banksters?

Also, is this really a deflationary move? They could have instead just printed up more money, right?

[Author]

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