Is Anyone Else Concerned About Cyprus?

[pinegrovedave]

The banks are due to open tomorrow. They've been closed since the 15th and nobody has been able to get to their money. Food shortages are looming while those with cash are buying up the foodstuffs in the markets. Supermarkets are not accepting credit cards, but are demanding cash...which of course means that many Cypriots cannot purchase food.

Meanwhile, while the banks are closed, the gov't and the EU are talking about levying some pretty hefty taxes on the deposits. What that means is that the citizens will be coughing up a large portion of the bailouts so that the mismanaged bank(s) can remain solvent.

I also read somewhere that Spain is "eyeing" this model as a viable option for their problems as well. There was a big fear that once they open, there will be a run on the banks, but capital controls imposed means that people can't take their money and move it out of the country and they'll have limited access to their funds.

This could get ugly...very fast.

 

[Prime C]

That's some bullshit. Fuck banks. Im on the cash system.:D

 

[midwestdensies]

I dont watch any news or read any form besides grocery aisle banter but thats fucked up and the main reason why i suppose. So fucked up!

 

[mendel]

Dave the ECB calls it a tax, but lets call it what it is, theft, they are STEALING people's fucking money. It boils down to the fact that there is no deposit insurance where your govt's debt is concerned. They have crossed the rubicon.Your right, spain is talking of doing the same thing, as is greece and italy. Luxembourg is on the ropes as is slovenia.

I emptied my accts monday when the bank opened, it credit default swaps kick in, it will make the beare stearns/AIG fiasco of '08 look like childs play. it will be a bond market issue, (large market) as opposed to an equity market (small by comparison to bonds) blowup.

Fiat currency and its derivatives are pieces of shit, always have been always will be.

He who panics first panics best (gets all his shitty currency).

 

[Seamaiden]

More of us SHOULD be paying attention, because this is how it starts. I'm damn close to asking Dave that we start pulling our funds out of banks, though we are fortunate. We sit on a piece of arable land with our own water supply and power. We have already begun growing our own food and saving resultant seeds (as well as begun swapping seeds with other locals). Others are nowhere nearly as fortunate, and so what would they do? I can see huge riots, governments bringing out militia to handle them, and everything turning to shit in a very short period of time.

 

[kolah]

I was not aware of this..thanks. I need to read up on it.

I don't use banks. I don't use credit cards or debit either.

and remember, US currency (aka monopoly money) is doomed and will continue to keep losing its value so if you have some... transfer it to something of real value...or use it while it still has buying power.

 

[Seamaiden]

What or whose currency is retaining value? Puka shells, anyone?

 

[kolah]

I think gold and silver is safe. Land property too.

I have approached things looking at a longer time-frame and have invested in commodities, mostly tobacco and coffee. IMO these two will have very good value for the future. Lots of hand-tools as well.

 

[Seamaiden]

Toilet paper! That'll be the new gold. Or will it be the new black...?

 

[green punk]

Machined metal. Reloading necessities; Brass, powder, lead, primers, dies, shell holders. Is a solid investment.

 

[Seamaiden]

Lots of old mines out here, too, come to think of it. Folks are still pannin' and flumin' these rivers up here (what a back-breaker!).

I can't shoot for shit.

In any event, if it really comes down I think that maybe being a little more prepared, especially in terms of networking with locals, is better than just letting the shit come down. I'm making a point to have a certain amount of cash stashed away in a safe place. The older folks will have a tough time of things, many are already since they'd invested, relied on pensions and such and I know my own folks' retirement accounts were gutted a few years ago. Medications... man oh man, you better not need medications.

How terrible this must be for those people! It's gonna be a lot worse than the LA riots, and that shit was scary, seriously scary. It was hard trying to lead a normal life when you didn't know if your shop would end up being raided, or the way home blocked by burning cars, or your home being targeted. I really feel for those folks out in Cyprus.

 

[fishwhistle]

I was thinking about this last night and would it have really been worse than what happened here in the US?I mean in hindsight i would have rather took a 10% hit on my savings than what i ended up taking in the reccession,i conservatively lost closer to 30-40% of my net worth,not cash but real estate values(not inflated BS ones either)retirement savings,business losses etc etc.If given a choice now i would say take the 10%,lol.In no way am i condoning letting the govt take ANY money from people but im just saying maybe the 10% is the lesser of the evils because if it collapses your cash is worthless along with every other thing you own,the way i see it the only things with value will be Guns,water,food and fuel,You cant even eat your gold or silver,a tomato is worth much more than an ounce of metal when you or your child are starving.

 

[Seamaiden]

Yeah, I'd take a 10% loss over what's turned out to be close to a 50% loss in terms of the RE, I agree with that. But I'm not so sure we're over the hump here, either.

 

[kolah]

I also think that people who rely on meds will really need to stockpile it. As these folks will be the first victims of "die-off" should things get bad. Even if it's only for a week or two, we willl have a lot of junkies wigging out...and desperado to the max. Not to mention the diabetics, high blood pressure folks, etc.

 

[sky high]

Our reality.......

I'm ready to simply pay my/my wife's individual shares of the National debt....require a balanced budget w/ some reserve savings and provisions for building infrastructure from the Gov't.....SHOOT any politician who doesn't make it happen....and move the fuck on.

Realistically though..... we're living a life and tying our future to this roller coaster thing we call the "market'. It isn't by choice, but it's how the wife's pension package has been set up for the last 30 years. We've ridden the ups and downs...the largest after 9-11.....and then the crash of the housing market in 2008. The latter event has really pissed us off because we have never used 'credit" other than to buy this house (never had a balance on a credit card we didn't pay off within 30 days have never paid interest on one in 30 years) but we got drug through the mud because a whole buncha other folks who don't save/have a long-term financial plan tried to buy homes....with NO money/no money down. Yikes. We were SO broke and I had to sell all my motorcycles and toys to come up with the REQUIRED 20% down back then (1990)...so to get whapped because others weren't required to DO THE SAME sucks ass. Fuckers.

Kinda riding it all out now...and hopin things don't crash again. A few more years and we will be fully set to retire w/o worry...OK...other than what all of the folks who didn't save will do when they have no $$$ or Gov't assistance/SS to fall back on. Scary shit all around......but we aren't gonna knee jerk and make rash decisions over the news of the day...anyday.
Long term...we feel you just ride it out. We don't "trust" the banks or the Gov't either....but stuffing the mattresses full of cash also doesn't seem to be a wise thing to do at this point..especially when the stock market is fuckin jammin as hard as it has been. Crazy shit.

Spin the wheel......place your bets....

 

[mendel]

Sky there have already been hearings on capital hill exploring the idea of confiscating the funds of IRA's/401-k's and replacing it with govt bonds. BTW, the real inflation rate is 12% a yr, so you have to get a 12% return to break even. The Us dolladolla-bill-yo has lost 93-97% of its purchasing power since the federal reserve act of 1913.

As Rothbard said, 'paper money is the promise of wealth, its worth what you can trade it for.'

The stock market is stoned on Us govt handouts. the federal reserve bank of new york city is currently pumping 85bill per mo into the too big to fail banks, so they dont fail....hehehe...........they are leveraged 55-1, margin call anyone? When the cash from fed.gov stops the markets are toast. Over 80% of Us market volume is from institutional investors.

Most private and govt mandated retirement programs in the US are at least 50% underfunded. Why do you htink all those hon-yock govt employees in minnesota stormed the state capital last yr.

 

[mendel]

Oh forgot to add, the prime minister of Italy, mario Draghi, is a former goldman sachs executive. Im sure that will go well.

Anytime a country issues currency its has borrowed from a private bank at interest, there is never enough money to pay off the debt. thank about it.........

 

[paperplane]

Shit is getting scary thats for sure. By them printing 85 billion every month they are pretty much already stealing our money without actually taking it. Inflation is another form of stealing. The good thing about inflation is if you owe debt it works in your favor. We have pulled all our money out of the banks, And currently trying to convince the wife to cash out her 401k before its gone. Im sure they will attack that first.

 

[ttystikk]

The big banks wrecked or economy back in the Reagan era, and we let them get away with it. They did it again with our mortgages in 2008. Since nothing has changed except a few faces, it will happen again, and worse. Soon. We will not be back in the woods, loading our own, but if Americans don't figure out how to break the link between government and banking in this country, they will keep doing it until we are all broke. They will have stolen everything, only to realize that if they have it all, it's worthless.

 

[sky high]

I could find no concrete info about when these hearings actually took place mendel. I did see where the idea was supposedly mentioned, but not that it went farther than that http://www.factcheck.org/2008/11/iras-401ks-and-you/

There are, however, lots of right-wing/anti-obama sites that make all sorts of claims in this area. Again, I can find no solid proof to back up such claims. (like hearing minutes/dictation/reports/conclusions/etc.) got a link? a date when these hearings were held?

I sure dunno what will happen, mendel. It's like Vegas. Might win. Might lose. Either way, we have it sitting there for now....and a nice chunk saved "safely" off to the side......and from what I see of the percentages that say that between 49-63% of Americans have NO retirement funds set aside whatsoever....it seems likely that most of those folks out there who are claiming it's all gonna fail don't have >anything< saved to even have a worry about such info in the first place, whether it be true or not. (aka...no dog in the fight) .

Bottom line, we've lived through/in hell and we know we can weather any/all that is to come....

best of luck however ya roll, folks!