The Cyprus Cash Grab - Coming to America?

Townhall.com ^ | March 19, 2013 | Neal Boortz

[Kaslin]

You were shocked - SHOCKED, you say - at the very idea that the government of Cyprus would order banks to seize 10% of every bank account and hand the money over the government? Well … excuse me for being rude, but maybe if you had been spending a better part of the last 20 years paying attention to the atrocities that happen with nauseating regularity in Washington, instead of going into an annual swoon over March Madness and/or the Oscars, or blindly tuning in to Entertainment Tonight every evening rather than an actual newscast, you might have seen this money grab coming. I’m no rocket surgeon, and I saw it coming (in America, not Cyprus) and I been warning the listeners to my talk show from 1993 right up until my retirement two months ago.

It’s simple. Taxing your income is simply not enough. The left is coming after your wealth. They’ll be satisfied with some of your retirement funds … for now.

If you haven’t been paying attention to the Cyprus story, here’s your short version: Cyprus is in financial trouble. The Cypriot government is led by communists. Trade unions are fighting austerity programs needed to erase huge deficits. Sound familiar? That is similar to the situation in the United States in more ways that you might imagine. So Cyprus did what every other troubled Eurozone country is doing: went to the Eurozone finance commissioners for a bailout. The commissioners said fine, but as a condition of the bailout Cyprus must levy a 10% tax against the outstanding balance in all depository accounts in Cyprus banks. Call it a tax. Or call it stealing. Either way, every Cypriot depositor loses 10% of their account. The government screws up, the people pay. Again, it sounds so very familiar.

Oddly enough, the people of Cyprus weren’t particularly elated over this move, nor were investors and citizens throughout the Eurozone. Imagine that! Cypriots immediately grabbed their ATM cards and started to withdraw as much money as they could from their accounts. Cash in their hands wouldn’t be hit for 10%. It was clear there would be a run on the banks as soon as they reopened. Now the plan to simply seize individual wealth is being delayed, though not abandoned.

Could it happen here? Well certainly it could. Congress could pass and the President could sign legislation calling for the seizure of 10% of every checking and savings account in every bank in America. This might finally be enough to cause a resurrection, but they could do it. So in America the wealth seizure has to be just a bit more selective and subtle. And that brings us to the warning I’ve been voicing for 20 years.

Go back to 1993. Bill Clinton has just been sworn in. The Democrats are running the show. They’ve passed a nice little tax increase – retroactive, mind you – and they feel encouraged. Along comes a lady by the name of Alicia Munnell. She’s been appointed by Clinton to be an Assistant Treasury Secretary for Economic Development. Munnell proposes a plan to come up with some cash to shore up Social Security. Not everyone, it seems, is “fortunate” enough to have a nice little IRA or 401k retirement account. Why this just isn’t fair! Everyone should have a comfortable retirement, not just the people who actually planned and worked for one! So Munnell proposed to Clinton an idea! Let’s just go out there and seize 15% of the outstanding balance of every IRA and 401k. Seize that money and pump it into the Social Security system. As it turns out, Munnell and Clinton never really had the chance to put their plan into action since the very next year the Republicans took control of the House and the Senate in the voter revolution of 1994. Munnell hasn’t gone away though. She now hatches her wealth seizure and redistribution schemes as the Director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

Never fear .. the idea is alive. House and Senate Democrats are even now toying with various plots to seize retirement and pension plans and pour them into some grand new government operated and controlled pension system .. a system that would be “fair” to everyone. This is just a perfect scenario for Obamian class warfare. “Those rich people are enjoying their fat-cat retirements with the money that should have been used to pay workers a living wage. They steal a comfortable retirement from the middle class and laugh at them from their yachts and private jets.” Yeah … that works. And as you should know, the government would certainly do a better job providing for American’s retirements than could free people interacting in a system of economic liberty.

Cyprus? I hope you enjoy that spectacle as it unfolds. Shake your heads and tsk tsk all you like. Just remember … the Democrat party is watching this episode and celebrating. You’re next.

[TurboZamboni]

250 for burial, what can you do with that?

buy some flowers, maybe a cheap urn.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Most likely here they will do it a little slicker. There will be a 5 day banking holiday and when the banks open back up there will be a new dollar. It will take 3 old dollars to buy 1 new dollar. Viola’ a 66% devaluation. So if you had $10,000 you now have about $3,300

[Ignatz]

Why do you think they are coming for our guns?

[Sir Napsalot]

>>>> In addition to the Constitutional and personal liberty problems

Problems? What problems? What Constitution?///
/Pelosi (and Boehners on our side) et al.

[henkster]

You’re welcome. What I posted is just a bit of critical thinking; thinking out the logical consequences of what is proposed. That’s the real problem with Americans today. As a whole, Americans are not trained or inclined to think critically and logically.

[LucyT]

*

Ping to Article.

[Did the the author intend using the word insurrection instead of resurrection?]

Then check out graphic at # 3 , and comments # 7 , esp # 10.

Will welfare checks be reduced by ten percent? Five percent? No? Why not? Congress won't be reducing their income, either.

[cornfedcowboy]

Cypriots problem will be Russia. Oodles and oodles of Russian cash is saved in Cyprus. This could quickly get ugly. Many moving parts. The worst part is uncertainty if the vote does not occur.

[dfwgator]

Russia wants a new Navy base, since their current one in Syria is in jeopardy....no better spot for one than Cyprus.

[Vaduz]

So Munnell proposed to Clinton an idea! Let’s just go out there and seize 15% of the outstanding balance of every IRA and 401k.
Any bets that O&CO will run with that idea?.

[dragonblustar]

National planning Cyprus-style solution for New Zealand

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1303/S00306/national-planning-cyprus-style-solution-for-new-zealand.htm

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

With the finance minister of New Zealand proposing the same looting of bank account, it raises the threat factor of bank confiscations around the world.

Importantly, cash withdrawals from US banks may already face a tangible threat, because only 5% of US daily retail is backed by paper currency. So literally, if you want to withdraw over a thousand dollars at a time, when others do, every branch bank in the US could be depleted quickly, and the banks would have to limit or forbid withdrawals. (Which they can now do legally on their own.)

Bottom line: if you think you may have to withdraw a lot of cash from the bank to protect it, begin by doing so now in limited amounts. It will gradually reduce your overhead in the bank, while giving you a cash cushion in case things go sour in a hurry.

On the plus side, solid and fireproof cash boxes are now very popular in the stores.

[PGalt]

Thanks for the ping to a very good thread, LucyT.

Socialism Is Legal Plunder - “The Law”; Frederic Bastiat 1801-1850

http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html

http://vimeo.com/43762138

h/t zerohedge poster “rfwashere”