This is unlike the U.S. Great Depression, in so many ways, it is not comparable.
The bank holidays may well have done more harm than good, I agree, but during the Depression, the problem with most banks was liquidity, not solvency. The Cypriot banks are insolvent, not just illiquid. The shortfall is being made up by the taxpayers of the Eurozone.
Calling this a “seizure” of deposits is rank demagoguery. I would love to hear what Daniel Hannan has to say about this.
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This is getting ugly in a hurry. Two things that got my eye here are first that they have the gall to offer depositors *equity* in failing banks; and that Cyprus was a preferred offshore to Russian oligarchs, people it would be a very bad idea to cross.
Personally, I think it would be hilarious if some of the oligarchs put out contracts on some of those involved, both in Cyprus and elsewhere.