I say let them default. Can't manage your assets - go out of business. Employ shady schemes - go to jail. Now this would be fair.
The madness of the bailout in Cyprus
31–40 of 252 posts
Re: The madness of the bailout in Cyprus
#32Expect this to happen all over Europe. In particular England. It has happened before and will happen again, until the fuckers in charge understand and learn. But no one would vote on the guy calling for budget cuts. Everyone likes the guy with the hand outs.
Greece has cut its budget on an order of ~20%. It hasn't helped them at all. http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/GRCGFCEQDSMEI_Max_...
Jeez, this was -forced- from europe, the Greeks didn't vote it in. My point is, no politician that's paycheck depends on votes will ever force this in. It has to come from the outside - EU.
Re: The madness of the bailout in Cyprus
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Like 90% of the past 5 years, this isn't a banking problem, it's a government problem. The IMF can suggest ways to fund a bail out, but the government has to accept it. Confiscating your citizens money is a horrible precedent.
What is any tax but confiscation?
Weakly moderated forums are usually a bad place to discuss the role and funding of government.
Re: The madness of the bailout in Cyprus
#34Re: The madness of the bailout in Cyprus
#35This makes me extremely uncomfortable and I don't understand how anyone could think this was a good idea.
We have high unemployment across Europe, Catalunya is attempting to become independent and there is open talk in the press about a military coup if that goes through. Meanwhile, Greece elected a bunch of fascist mps, and now this?
Imagine if you woke up tomorrow and 10% of your savings were gone. What would you do? Take your money out of the bank, sure, but also immediately attempt to remove your government.
Not exactly a move towards stability here.
Re: The madness of the bailout in Cyprus
#36This is THEFT. I leave my country if that happens to me.
(I am from Poland, EU)
Re: The madness of the bailout in Cyprus
#37Funny that it's targeting only bank accounts and completely ignoring all other liquid assets. By which I mean: Holy shit, if this isn't targeted directly at middle class and lower households and small businesses, I don't know what would be. Also, these guys have all got to be huffing paint if they think a run on the banks won't be a direct result EVEN AFTER THE MONEY IS GONE.
Wealthy Russians take a 10% cut on their deposits. Cyprus is a tax haven. Or the government has to bail out the banks via debt. Only the US can do that since the world buys oil in dollars and if we devalue our currency we can spread the pain. Cyprus cannot make decisions about their currency unilaterally.
Re: The madness of the bailout in Cyprus
#38Funny that it's targeting only bank accounts and completely ignoring all other liquid assets. By which I mean: Holy shit, if this isn't targeted directly at middle class and lower households and small businesses, I don't know what would be. Also, these guys have all got to be huffing paint if they think a run on the banks won't be a direct result EVEN AFTER THE MONEY IS GONE.
The holders of those bank accounts are the ones deriving the benefit of the bailout. Without the bailout, those banks would go under, and in that situation the depositors would see a lot less than 90%.
It's still a silly idea from a practical viewpoint - the article is absolutely right about the loss of confidence - but I don't think it's immoral. The root cause here is that the depositors put their money in a bank which lent it to someone that isn't paying it back. Frankly those depositors should be counting their lucky stars that they're seeing anything - plenty in the same situation in the past haven't.
Re: The madness of the bailout in Cyprus
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is any tax but confiscation?
Usually, it's not retroactive.
It often is retroactive.
California is looking at a retroactive tax on angels and entrepreneurs right now.
http://www.businessinsider.com/california-entrepreneurs-retr...
Re: The madness of the bailout in Cyprus
#40If I were in Greece, Italy, Spain, or Ireland, I think I would pull out all my bank deposits but the bare minimum cash needed to cover obligations.
I've been thinking about this lately, and, at the risk of sounding like a doomsday kook, this seems to make sense to me (perhaps in a milder sense) no matter where one lives. My plan is, if I ever get over $X in my account, where X is some reasonable buffer to pay bills, etc., that I'll just buy gold with the overage[1]. Back in the day you'd at least get reasonable interest by keeping money in a bank, but nowadays it's really only the convenience of direct deposit and online bill pay that draws me. Even then, all these charges and penalties and sales pitches every time I enter a bank are really turning me off.
[1] I acknowledge some logistical challenges with my plan if I become a millionaire.