Basically, it goes like this: the EU bails out Cypriot banks to the tune of 10 billion euros, in partial exchange for a 6.75% to 9.9% raid on Cypriot personal accounts (which is supposed to net about 5.8 billion euros in revenue), collectable probably now Tuesday*. See also here, here, and here.
Naturally, the subjects of Cyprus (I can’t in either good conscience or grammar call them “citizens”) are freaking out and trying to yank what money they can out of the banks; many wonder if the rest of the EU is going to follow suit. Should the average European be worried? Well, Walter Russell Mead (who is not entirely sympathetic to the Cypriots, given that they’ve been operating as money launderers to various unsavory Russians for some time) notes this:
The European financial authorities are swearing up and down that they will never, ever do anything like this again and that the rest of Europe’s banks are as sound as the euro itself, but that of course is exactly what they would say if they were planning to take much of your money away.
Mind you, if that money’s in a sock in a dresser somewhere then the authorities can’t actually confiscate it electronically. If I lived in Europe I’d have cleaned out my bank accounts and canceled direct deposit before I sat down to write this post. Because there’s nothing quite as precedent-setting as a one-time, last-ditch emergency measure.
Moe Lane (crosspost)
*Note that the article indicates that Cyprus is going to partially ‘repay’ the people getting the haircut with highly speculative natural gas revenues. I would recommend that people not… rely on that. Or that the Cypriot parliament will not ratify the agreement.
If I had any money in Europe, I would pull it out, like, RIGHT NOW.
You think that the Democrats wouldn’t do the same thing in exchange for bailing out a failing US state?
Did I say, “After taking the money out of Europe, I then put it in an American Bank”?
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No, I did not.
Metals. Silver, not gold… both because the gold market is manipulated, and because wolfram.*
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Also, if you don’t want anyone to come looking for your silver stash, I recommend buying it in non-coin form.
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Mid-century silverware and silver serving pieces, for example, are both likely to increase in value as collectibles, and are not tracked as purchases. They’re also useful in their own right.
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Just sayin’
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Mew
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One industrial use for wolfram, otherwise known as tungsten …
http://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/22/world/austrians-seize-false-gold-tied-to-london-bullion-theft.html
“You think that the Democrats wouldn’t do the same thing in exchange for bailing out a failing US state?”
Considering every other year they hold hearings on capitol hill where they raise the idea of confiscating, er, “exchanging for government-backed annuities”, every penny in every 401k…
The role of modern government since the formation of central banks is to punish savers.