It doesn’t get any more insane than this. Tiny Cyprus had the audacity to ask the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout of $10 billion. They should have asked George Soros. They would have gotten better terms. Instead, the ECB and IMF, with the complicit government of Cyprus, plan a sneak attack against all Cypriots and end up shooting themselves in the foot or maybe a different part the EU anatomy. Teresa Monroe-Hamilton, writing for Trevor Louden;s New Zeal was one of the first to break the story.
Very few things give me nightmares… Yesterday’s event in Cyprus was one of them and the media is conspicuously silent. What do you get when you combine worldwide Marxist elitists, bankers and the media? A worldwide depression and a new dark age. The IMF (in case you are wondering who they are) is using Cyprus as a proving ground for the rest of us. It is a fascist Petri dish. They just implemented an across the board tax on all bank accounts over a holiday with no warning and no recourse. 9.9% if you have over 100,000 Euros in the bank, 6.75% is you have less than that. This is money being seized by the IMF, the European Union and the government of Cyprus to attempt to cover some of their debt. It is theft and it could have been a lot worse. The IMF had proposed a 40% haircut on all accounts. This is how it went down:
Banks first cooperated with the EU by sealing off the amount of the proposed levy—a 6.75 percent tax on deposits under €100,000 and 9.9 percent on those above —making it impossible for depositors to access their full amount. The only means bank customers have left is the ability to draw from the rest of their funds via ATM machines this weekend. Many depositors made their way to the machines on Saturday to drain their accounts. But the few banks that opened on Saturdays did so only briefly, and no international transfers will be able to go through until Tuesday, with Monday being the holiday. Cyprus’ Parliament is expected to meet Sunday to pass the required legislation., or after the deed was done. The deal also needs the approval of several eurozone parliaments; at the time of writing it was unclear how fast they can act and what will happen to bank deposits in the meantime.
What’s happening in Cyprus should send a chill over the entire world.
Politicians working with complicit big banks need no rule of law; no parliament debates to close in on the bank accounts of average people.
Zero Hedge noted:
The problem is that while for Cyprus tomorrow is a national bank holiday (yes, ironic), the EUR opens for trading in a few hours, with the global equity futures markets, and Japan cash to follow shortly thereafter. And with absolutely no clarity on what the “pre-determined” outcome from the Cyprus bailout will be heading into Monday open, where one of the outcomes is the possible collapse of the country’s entire banking system, which would certainly have contagious effects on all of the mainland, Europe is starting to freak out.
Yes, they planned their attack around a Bank holiday on Monday(today). A bank holiday in Cyprus, that is. So, while the Cypriots are emptying the ATM machines in their country, what do think the folks in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland would be doing today? Do you think they might want to move their money some place safer? Oops!
CNBC this morning is reporting what you would expect. Stocks are off in early trading and the Euro fell to $1.2890 down from $1.3054. Well, American exports just got more expensive. That should help our trade imbalance, right?
As The Commentator so astutely put it:
It shouldn’t have taken a genius to predict that the immediate reaction of depositors in Cypriot banks would be to get every last penny out of them as soon as humanly possible. Since it is the weekend, and since tomorrow is a national holiday in Cyprus, they can’t actually get through the front door. Surprise, surprise, they are therefore withdrawing everything they can from the ATMs, most of which have by now run out of cash.
It should be no surprise that Cyprus’ Parliament postponed their Sunday emergency session to rob all depositors (including foreign depositors, by the way) until today and the bank holiday has been extended through Tuesday and maybe into Wednesday.
I am going to enjoy watching how ECB President, Mario Draghi, and IMF President, Christine Lagarde, scrape the egg off of their faces. This has to be the most stupid thing either of them have ever done. It just goes to show how far central bankers will go to protect the banksters.
Well, that’s what I’m thinking. What are your thoughts?
Asylum Watch 
I’m sure they didn’t even contemplate that the average Cypriot would raid ATMs to get their money before it is taken from them. After all, the ECB and the IMF are the elite. THEIR bank accounts are safe. You see, robbing bank accounts to pay for debt is only for the little people. The elite are immune.
But the Russian mobsters are not happy at all. Cyprus was their favorite place to bank.
Sounds like Putin might have to “disappear” a few executives from the ECB.
I have been watching markets all morning.
The response to this has been really muted. US markets are melting up as banks have 5 billion in POMO money gathered on Friday to spend. Precious metals are getting hammered back down today after opening up big time. Housing starts fell.
So all news is pretty miserable. Behold the power of money printing.
So just another zombie bank manipulated day. Four years of this shit. I fully expect the DOW to finish UP today. In fact- I call if 50-50. It is 9 a.m. here.
I am in awe of nothing anymore.
It’s amazing how the markets have shrugged this off, so far. From WSJ live blog:
The precedent has been set regardless that Cyprus is a rather insignificant in size. A small little blog posted this story early on, and I doubted it. That will teach me.
I wouldn’t want to be holding bonds of Italy or Spain or Portugal.
I would imagine they would be savvy enough to grandfather in a point in time, likely the close of business on last Friday, in which to determine account balances. That makes the ATM run irrelevant as customers will still be liable for their pre-determined tax based upon balance.
I would imagine this will make mattresses once again the favored savings account around the world. Why not as you can’t make any money in a savings account anyway thanks to helicopter Ben.
Everyone will want tp be paid in cash and then they hope they can get home before they are mugged.
The confiscation of people’s money has been going on in Europe for a long time, it is just that this attempt in Cypress is being done in such a dumb and transparent way, and without the usual subterfuges that the multiple and different types of taxation, fees, forced contributions, hidden charges, etc, etc. represent.
It is a rather crass and stupid attempt that will do Cypress in. Like in my Fair Lady in the scene of the horse races, “they did my old lady in”. “Done her in?” Whatever does that mean?”.
Crass is the kindest word I can think of to describe what the EU cureaucratss and the banks did.
This is the strangest nd most disturbing twist yet to the European debt crisis.
I am hoping they will end up regretting they ever tried such a sick plan. The precident would be horrible.
Something like this could happen here in AmeriKa. But, first, we’ll see the annihilation of the mortgage-interest deduction. I’ve been hearing the promotion of that in the mainstream media the past few days. I also foresee that 401k’s will be hit hard. After all, this greedy, burgeoning administration has to find its pocket-lining funds somewhere!
You are absolutely right. Mortgage deduction and 401 K’s are part of the progressive plan. But, it is for our own good. At least that is what they will convince the low information voters to believe.