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First Cyprus, Next the US
US News & World Report ^

Posted on 03/20/2013 11:53:55 AM PDT by quesney

Slowly but surely we have seen the walls that once limited what government could do pulled down. Retroactive tax increases are now permitted. U.S. residents can be taxed as punishment for private services they choose not to purchase. Can confiscation of assets with due process, in the name of the greater national good be far behind—even though such a move would violate the constitutional protections we all currently enjoy?

The welfare state is out of control and cannot pay its bills. It is writing checks it literally cannot cash, having to take out IOU after IOU to get the markets functioning. At some point, unless the spending problem that Barack Obama likes to say doesn't exist is addressed, the central bank is going to break. At that point all bets are off. Franklin D. Roosevelt was able to dramatically expand the power of the executive branch and the federal government during the Great Depression because Congress was willing to give him those powers as it was a time of national emergency. Does anyone truly believe that the 47 percent of Americans who don't pay any federal income tax will rise up in anger if a portion of the assets of those who do are taken as part of a one time tax if the system of social services completely goes off the rails at some future date?

(Excerpt) Read more at usnews.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: cyprusconfiscation; eucrisis; uscrisis

1 posted on 03/20/2013 11:53:55 AM PDT by quesney
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To: quesney
Retroactive tax increases are now permitted.

Retroactive tax increased began under Bill Clinton.

2 posted on 03/20/2013 11:55:33 AM PDT by Cowboy Bob (Democrats: Robbing Peter to buy Paul's vote.)
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To: quesney

This article is in the US News and World Report? I am amazed.


3 posted on 03/20/2013 11:58:45 AM PDT by Parley Baer
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To: Parley Baer

It’s a shame no one reads it any more.


4 posted on 03/20/2013 11:59:44 AM PDT by abb
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To: Parley Baer; quesney

Would not expect this from Useless News and World Distort...


5 posted on 03/20/2013 12:02:42 PM PDT by Old Sarge (We are officially over the precipice, we just havent struck the ground yet...)
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To: quesney

Our Marxist president, Hussein Obama, has broken the federal piggy bank with all his Leftist giveaways, and is looking for more money to flush down the toilet.

In the circumstances, and in light of the Cyprus confiscation, no one’s savings are secure.

What Hussein doesn’t take with new taxes, he’ll take by outright confiscation, and to h*ll with the constitution.

He’s so far outside either ethical accountablity or law that he’s breaking new ground and no one is safe.

If there’s anything left over, inflation will render it useless as Obama’s administration prints more and more money.

Don’t bother to protest, he’s not listening to anyone or anything but his own inner voice, so it won’t do any good and, besides, the DHS has several BILLION rounds of ammunition, each round of which has an American’s name on it.


6 posted on 03/20/2013 12:05:23 PM PDT by Jack Hammer
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To: Old Sarge; quesney

Actually old Mortie Zuckerman has been writing some pretty subversive stuff the last couple years.

He’s hardly a FReeper, but not part of the Baraqqi regime either.

http://www.usnews.com/topics/author/mortimer_b_zuckerman


7 posted on 03/20/2013 12:06:48 PM PDT by nascarnation (Baraq's economic policy: trickle up poverty)
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To: quesney

Critical information on the Cyprus banking crisis is not being reported.

Without an EU bailout, depositors will lose close to 100% of their money!

So, here’s the deal.....

Do you want the Germans to give you 90% of your money, minus an illegal 10% confiscation?

Or, do you want ZERO percent of your money?

This uproar is ridiculous.

The depositors, except for the Russians, of course, are exactly the same people who elected the politicians who drove the country and the banking system into insolvency.

Now, now, the Cyprus depositors are enraged because the GERMANS refuse to guarantee 100% of their money!

This is nuts!


8 posted on 03/20/2013 12:20:24 PM PDT by zeestephen
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To: zeestephen
Critical information on the Cyprus banking crisis is not being reported.

Without an EU bailout, depositors will lose close to 100% of their money!


The main point is that, if there is an arbitrary 10% or any other percentage seizure of money from depositor accounts, it will completely destroy the banking system in Cyprus, and most likely in other at-risk countries (which is all of them, these days). Who in their right mind in the EU (or here!) would leave their money in a bank if they see that, at any moment, a chunk can simply be taken? Faith in the system is what keeps it running. Remove the faith and it's anarchy.
9 posted on 03/20/2013 12:38:42 PM PDT by fr_freak
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To: zeestephen

You are completely wrong on this one.

The right thing to do is for Cyprus to declare bankruptcy. They keep all the money they currently have in their coffers. The Cyprus banking system survives and the Germans get screwed royally.

This is as it should be. The Germans need to be punished by the market for making loans they suspected would never be paid back in the first place.


10 posted on 03/20/2013 1:11:02 PM PDT by o2bfree (All us minorities got us an Obamaphone!!!)
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To: quesney

What’s with the U.S. NEXT ? Uncle Sam already is.

As most Freepers have known, and as Cavuto pointed out this week, an ObamaCare tax provision will take 3.8% of the sale of your house.

Confiscation is confiscation whether it is money or property.


11 posted on 03/20/2013 1:18:42 PM PDT by A'elian' nation (Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred. Jacques Barzun)
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To: quesney

Dont worry the Republicans will take a strong stand!!!


12 posted on 03/20/2013 2:05:12 PM PDT by rrrod (at home in Medellin Colombia)
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To: o2bfree
We agree on more than you realize.

During the Greek crisis I posted multiple times here that Greece should default on EVERY debt, but STAY in the Euro.

There is no reason to print your own currency and inflate if 100% of your debts are already gone.

To keep the government and the banks solvent in the short term, Greece could issue 7 day treasury bills at 0.25% per week, about 13% annually.

I would buy and roll over that debt without hesitation.

If the unions, political parties, and the government bureaucracy could agree on a serious budget and essential reforms, interest rates would quickly fall, and then Greece could borrow on longer terms once again.

If they could not agree, then bankruptcy would be inevitable.

I have not studied the Cyprus crisis.

I assume the problem is that the Cyprus government can’t pay its debts, and the Cyprus banking system is loaded up to the eyeballs with Cyprus sovereign debt.

If that’s the case, then Cyprus banks cannot “survive” if the government defaults, and Cyprus must borrow short term at very high rates to save them.

As to Germany, the financial loss on Cyprus debt would not be seriously painful.

If I’m the German Finance Minister, I say, “Go ahead, default. We are happy to save German banks. But Cyprus banks? No thank you.”

But when I hear the people of Cyprus demand 100% of their deposits AND demand a German led bailout, I say, “Forget that noise.”

13 posted on 03/20/2013 8:56:29 PM PDT by zeestephen
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