Cyprus Bank Scandal Reveals Fragile Nature of International Banking
Could we see governments around the globe ‘dip in‘ to private bank accounts as was witnessed with the tiny nation of Cyprus? The reality is that the precedent has already been set.
If you were a citizen of Cyprus just a few days ago, chances are you have completely lost any trust in the same banking system that attempted to withdraw up to 10% of your private finances under a Cyprus government deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). And for that matter, any real trust in the European government of Cyprus. It had all been structured to disable the ability of citizens to do just about anything.
Banks shut down for famed ‘bank holidays’ as ATMs went out of service — all as the digits on the computer screen began to decline by around 6.75 to 10% depending on the figures in the account. Anything above 100,000 Euros was subject to around a 9.9% ‘reduction’.
Surely it makes sense for these citizens to now seek cash-based holding systems and perhaps precious metal investments to hold their wealth. But did it rattle the cage for others around the world? What about United States citizens?
The fact of the matter is that a serious and troubling precedent was set in more than just one way regarding the Cyprus banking scandal, which has been dubbed the ‘great EU bank robbery’ by the Daily Mail. First and foremost we see a precedent with the Cyprus government colluding with the IMF to literally steal finances from private citizens in order to secure a bailout from Germany of 8.7 billion Euros. A bailout that Germany agreed to provide if Cyprus robbed all citizens who had bank holdings. Ultimately, the terms were shot down as the story went international and was met with revolt.
Cyprus ‘Bank Heist’ Opens Door to Fragile Banking Reality
The incident should have and could have led to international withdraws from banks worldwide as citizens realize that their dollars are extremely fragile inside the banking system that can close down at a moments notice before withdrawing private funds and siphoning them to the government. We could have even just small withdraws from citizens, perhaps leaving in ‘just enough’ to utilize for a while while preventing a 100% withdraw from the government. However, we did not.In fact, it looks like the reality behind how simple it is for the government to ‘dip in’ to private banks accounts is not even fully realized.
The fact of the matter is that, just as the citizens of Cyprus, the large majority of citizens with banking investments will not act until it’s too late to do so. It is absolutely concerning to think that overnight private banks could give up a fraction or the entirety of your private wealth, but that is what we are seeing — and to think that this is an isolated incident that will not happen again is quite elementary. There were people who literally were about to lose portions their life savings to the government and private banks. Individuals like as Stella Steward, who explained her situation after she learned she had lost 2,000 Euros:
“There was no warning that this was about to happen and we are all in shock…”In addition to the outraged citizens there was actually more than one banking official who was willing to speak out on the issue and how it affects the trust in banks around the entire globe. In a telling statement that properly sums up the events from the perspective of someone who knows what’s going on, the CEO of Saxo Bank (Lars Seier Christensen) explained on his blog The Trading Floor:
“I believe it could be the beginning of the end for the Eurozone…If you can confiscate 10 percent of a bank customer’s money, you can confiscate 25, 50 or even 100 percent. I now believe we will see worse as the panic increases, with politicians desperately trying to keep the EUR alive.”
Christensen makes an excellent point, and it really comes down to whatever the government or private banks feel that they can get away with. In the case of Cyprus, we saw the highest being around 9.9%, but in more dire circumstances it could easily be higher.
But the good news is, and this is something no one is mentioning in the reports on this within the mainstream media, is that there’s a bulletproof defense against such a scenario: physically investing your cash and holding onto it yourself. In the event of the Cyprus ‘bank heist’, only those who chose not to place their funds in the banking system were safe from any problems.
Read more: http://www.storyleak.com/cyprus-bank-scandal-fragile-international-banking/#ixzz2OMR5c9zL
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