Cyprus Bank Theft

[Jaggernaut]

So now after years of being told that you should save money for your old age, your retirement, the EU has decided to pilot a scheme in a tiny island that allows the government to steal up to 10% of whatever savings over 100,000 euros you might have been able to accumulate. 6.7% if less than 100,000. How can that be legal anywhere in the civilised world?

 

And why would anybody EVER deposit their money in a bank if this goes ahead.

 

And if it goes ahead in Cyprus, when for other, bigger EU countries?

 

 

PS: So, the UK government will underwrite it for members of the diplomatic corps (i.e. a few fat cats probably most of whom have all their cash stashed in Switzerland or Jersey), and military personnel (as if your normal squaddie is likely to have 100,000 euros saved up and deposited in a Cyprus bank!). In contrast, not a word about protecting the tens of thousands of Brit ex-pats living in Cyprus and who are more likely to have such savings there. Not that I think the government should protect their foreign savings, but it's a cheap publicity stunt to claim that they'll protect the savings of some chosen people, when in fact they know that it'll cost them virtually nothing at all.

[twinny]

I'd love to have £100,000. I'd also wouldn't mind £90,000.

[Jaggernaut]

I'd love to have £100,000. I'd also wouldn't mind £90,000.

 

When would you start to mind what got taken from you?

 

Would why it got taken matter?

 

Remember, this isn't money you've been gifted. It's money that you've saved all your life, possibly losing out on things that other people took for granted and spent their money on at the time.

[twinny]

When would you start to mind what got taken from you?

 

Would why it got taken matter?

 

Remember, this isn't money you've been gifted. It's money that you've saved all your life, possibly losing out on things that other people took for granted and spent their money on at the time.

 

I honestly can't tell you what that would be like, I can barely imagine having £2,000 let alone £100,000.

[The Devil's Point]

 

And why would anybody EVER deposit their money in a bank if this goes ahead.

 

 

I totally agree what is happening to savers in Cyprus is outrageous and completely unfair. However, it is worth remembering that many savers here are effectively losing money on a daily basis as well due to low interest rates and high inflation (much higher than is officially claimed IMO).

 

I think it can be argued it isn't worth saving money in bank accounts already, but you would need to find somewhere better to invest the money which might not be much safer.

[Junior]

Surely the first €100k is protected under the deposit protection scheme and cant be touched? If a % of that is taken by the Government then can the savers claim against that scheme?

 

Utterly stinks though, why bother saving anything with any bank when this kind of thing can happen. Will result in more people keeping their savings as cash in their house.

[Jaggernaut]

Surely the first €100k is protected under the deposit protection scheme and cant be touched? If a % of that is taken by the Government then can the savers claim against that scheme?

 

Utterly stinks though, why bother saving anything with any bank when this kind of thing can happen. Will result in more people keeping their savings as cash in their house.

 

I don't think so, which it why it's so outrageous. If you have 100,000 euros saved, 9,900 will be taken away from you.

[yoda-jag]

Bob Geldof has been sent to Cyprus to sort it out.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFQ4HNvcz3w

[Norgethistle]

I honestly can't tell you what that would be like, I can barely imagine having £2,000 let alone £100,000.

If you even had £200 you'd be getting £13 taken of it under this robbery scheme

[ian_mac]

Cyprus should quite simply default and leave the EU.

 

No one seems to have mentioned Iceland in the media for years, they were the first country to go tits up.

 

The euro was an absolute nightmare from the start and all the chickens are coming home to roost now.

 

What's happened since has been a real success story but the media don't want us to know about it.

[The Mighty Quinn]

i'd rather it happened to cypriots than me. screw them

[SussexJag]

Sadly i don't think we're a million miles from this. If the uk debt was to get more expensive, we would quickly be in a position where there would be bo reslistic way of paying it off - like greece, cyprus, etc. the current 'austerity' would be a breeze compared to what that would mean.

[banderas]

i'd rather it happened to cypriots than me. screw them

First they came for the socialists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me,

and there was no one left to speak for me.

[jaggybunnet]

First they came for the socialists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me,

and there was no one left to speak for me.

 

yeah but the top two deserved it

[Blackpool Jags]

 

 

yeah but the top two deserved it

 

Unlike the magnificent Royalists and Tories who are the backbone of any civilised society. Heh heh heh.

[jaggybunnet]

Unlike the magnificent Royalists and Tories who are the backbone of any civilised society. Heh heh heh.

 

at last you see sense

[Blackpool Jags]

Can't get emoticons on this thing, JB, but thumbs up, mate.

[The Devil's Point]

Sadly i don't think we're a million miles from this. If the uk debt was to get more expensive, we would quickly be in a position where there would be bo reslistic way of paying it off - like greece, cyprus, etc. the current 'austerity' would be a breeze compared to what that would mean.

 

Personally I could always see the arguments for retaining triple A credit rating and now that's lost we are certainly more exposed. I think the coalition is being quite successful in terms of bringing down the structural deficit, but the actual deficit (in terms of spending/expenditure) is still worrying to say the least. Quantative easing will inflate away a lot of value of the debt but obviously brings other problems.

 

I suppose we can always print money if it comes to it. However, we might see a return to the ridiculous inflation rates of the seventies and people taking wheelbarrows full of money to pay there way into Firhill.

[Jaggernaut]

Personally I could always see the arguments for retaining triple A credit rating and now that's lost we are certainly more exposed. I think the coalition is being quite successful in terms of bringing down the structural deficit, but the actual deficit (in terms of spending/expenditure) is still worrying to say the least. Quantative easing will inflate away a lot of value of the debt but obviously brings other problems.

 

I suppose we can always print money if it comes to it. However, we might see a return to the ridiculous inflation rates of the seventies and people taking wheelbarrows full of money to pay there way into Firhill.

 

Of course one of the problems is that it makes money less valuable, so basically devalues all of our savings.

[The Devil's Point]

Of course one of the problems is that it makes money less valuable, so basically devalues all of our savings.

 

Exactly, and it also erodes the value of the minimum wage. We are not in fact being screwed by "cuts", we are being screwed by inflation.

 

In theory the deficit should fall as the economy picks up, lowering welfare spending and increasing tax take. It's undeniable that this isn't happening yet though.

 

But what, seriously, is the aternative to austerity? We can't just keep spending money we don't have. Surely when you are in a hole you should stop digging.