MoD flies emergency cash to Cyprus for British personnel:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21847013

Cypriot ministers reject EU-IMF bailout tax:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21842966

:hmmm: You couldn't make this up...

The problem is not just for the individual. Think - where does business keep its money? Everything from its donation fund accounts to its payroll is kept in banks. This alone means a 10% payroll cost increase for most employers across the board....

And when employees are cut to make payroll - more people scream at government to "fix" it and pay unemployment...

Ongoing:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013...t-bailout-levy

What I find surprising (I mean that rhetorical only) is that the bosses of those Cyprian banks are still walking in freedom. They should disappear behind iron bars for the next 20 years to come. The government, too. They are hardened criminals, plain and simple, and they are a threat to all and everybody.

The Cyprian people did not complain when they benefitted from their criminal actions, by high interests. They did not complain about the government they had elected that had led them into this no-way-out situation and into the arms of Russian money launderers. But now as the bill of their decisions - free decisions! - is being presented, they suddenly do not want to be responsible for their share of guilt. And if Finland, Germany, Austria do not agree to to budget them with the incomes of Finnish, German and Austrian employees and by raising their own debts, then the old Nazi posters get shown immediately again.

Cyprus adds less than 0.23% to the total EU's economic income. In other words - it is completely irrelevant, and only it'S intentionally corrupoted banking system gives it some - unfavourable - meaning, economically. But it claims the right to hijack a whole continent. That pisses me off big time.

Another high risk candidate that is not talked much about, is Luxembourgh, and I cannot understand why. It'S banks hold account deposits that are 22 times as high than it economical production. If people start to move their money away, then a party will begin compared to which all what we have seen until here was just lame and boring.

The whole economic system of ours, is a total and complete mess, a giant facade shining with blinking lights for a very small time, but build on sand and artificially blown up by endlessly funding states on tick. And people vote for such policies, and punish everybody warning against this suicidal madness by not voting him. I think there are no real innocents in this. We are all guilty, due to our stupidity, our short-sightedness, our endless greed for more-more-more. There is a block-high wave of brown stuff heading for us. And we deserve to get rolled over by it.

And when it is over, you know what will happen? People will restart and will do it in exactly the same ways and they will enthusiastically repeat the same mistakes, since payday for this new round of madness then will be a long time away in the future.

The Russians will not like to be expected to pay now, but they will, to protect their money laundering schemes, they also will see the opening door for gaining influence on the EU through the side door, and they will see an option to eventually build a naval base on Cyprus in case they lose their base in Syria.

Wasn't Luxembourg one of your fanciful feudal hoppian utopias which everyone should copy?

I'm not familiar with the ins and outs of the Cypriot (I've always wanted to use that word) scheme to appropriate funds, but most corporate bank accounts are set up as sweep accounts. That means the money is never really in the actual "bank account" unless it's going to be used that day. The money is kept in investment accounts and "swept" into the bank account to meet scheduled payments or a predetermined balance amount.

So I would wager the amount at risk for a corporation would be relatively small if they were just targeting plain vanilla bank accounts.

I spoke to a Cyprus attorney/friend who obviously is in the middle of this.

Latest rumours is that there will not be a levy or if there is one, it will only hit Cyprus residents.

The EU will only lend 10 bn Euros, so they have to find the other 6. Apparently negociations are ongoing in Moscow and Russia might pony up the missing cash.

Banks are closed until next tuesday and a deal is expected by then.

Latest rumor is Gazprom is buying one of the banks in return for a significant chunk of Cypriot gas prospects and basing rights for the Russian Mediteranian Squadron (replacing the Russian bases in Tartus)

How do you know what the Cyprian people did or didn't complain about? Have you conducted a poll?

"lend"...? :har:

Cyprus have really buggered up trying to take 10% of peoples savings.

If they'd copied Cameron and Clegg they could have had it all.

The Cypriot church (Orthodox I believe) are also offering to help bail out their government.

Unicredit and German Statistics Office published some interesting calculations yesterday. The development of savings over the past 4 years were compared in four countries, and inflation effects were shown. It shows how massively Cypriots have benefitted from the redistribution pattern that have been established in the EU - and who has the highest losses due to them.

In Italy, 10 thousand Euros private savings on your bank account in 2008 have turned into 11500 in 2012, and after cleaning that of the inflation loss, 10473. Net win: 473 over 4 years.

In Spain, 10 thousand Euros in 2008 turned into 11800 in 12000, leaving 10791 after inflation cleaning. Net gain after 4 years: 791 Euros.

In Cyprus, 10000 Euros in 2008 blew up to 13100 Euros in 2012 before and still a fat 11852 euros after inflation correction. Net win: 1852 Euros.

And here comes Germany. 10 thousand Euros in 2008 turned into 10800 Euros in 2012, after inflation over that four years: 10100 Euros. Net gain: 100 Euros.

Now take into account that since quiter some time, we have extraordinarily low interest rates in Germany. If you would calculate only the past 2 years, 2010 to 2012, German savers already have "accieved" solid losses. What the Cypriots are complaining about, that their private savers should pas a share of their national guilt, already is expected from German savers since quite some time now. Just that it is not considered polite to say that loud in Europe.

Moral by the end of the day: in all the Eurozone, your saving are not longer save, politicians have demonstrated once again that they make their rules as they like them, only to break them short time later. Trustworthiness: zero. People elect these politicians because they tell so nice fairy tales, and do not stage protests of the scale we see now in order to confront them, so the criminal schemes being established obviously is okay for people as long as they get their fat share of the overall cake. That this cake is baken by pushing up debts, taxes, and inflation that eats up interest gains so that in the end the whole misery gets worse not better, and people again must pay the bill, a higher bill - this seems to escape many people.

The whole system is that rotten that words fail. And with each round played like this, the final bill gets tougher.

But people would not vote for somebody saying that. Better more promises to keep the illusions alive longer. Send the band on deck!

BTW, the ECB didn't order the Cypriot banks to confiscate any money. They asked for a copay from the government of Cyprus of almost 6 billion for them to apply the bailout.

How Cyprus generates that is their own business. Of course since they decided it would be a great idea to be the "Cayman Islands of the med"™, and give outrageous interest rates to (largely russian) depositors that exceed the GDP of their country, it's their own choice to be in this situation. How to loan money at a higher rate to pay the 5% rate? Loan the money to Greece. Brilliant!

Anyone who put their money in those banks at 5% interest when stable countries have rates a fraction of that should have wondered how their tiny bank could be so much more awesome than banks in the UK or Germany. Too good to be true is too good to be true.

People keep trotting out "granny losing her life savings," but who puts their retirement money in a savings account? Maybe granny does when it pays 5% vs ~2% for 10 year t-bills, and far lower for shorter term t-bills. A not so bright granny.

Bottom line is that the (rejected) proposal to charge ~7% on those lower value accounts, and 10% on higher would basically wipe out a little more than a year's overly inflated interest rates.