The Great Cyprus Gold Raid – Banksters to Steal 10 Tons!

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The Never-Ending Story of the Destruction of a Modern State

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EU Banksters to Steal 10 tons of Cyprus Gold in Government Vaults

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Double-Whammy to Hit Cyprus, Gold Investors, as International Banksters Drive Down Price of Gold on Spot Markets to Get More of Cypriot Gold

The never-ending story of the destruction of  a modern State continues as the millions of people in the affected areas watch helpless while the financial vultures devour their countries and dump them into a pit of poverty.

The latest outrage in this drama is now taking place in the government vaults in Cyprus, where the EU banksters have demanded Cyprus transfer 10 tons of gold to them in order to receive “loans” to re-capitalize their banks.  This raid on the gold vaults will bankrupt the government of Cyprus, leaving them a mere 3 tons of gold left to “back” their currency.  And even this may vanish into the vaults of the EU, as the estimated value of 400 million euros of the gold is now dropping daily as the big international banksters are at the same time trying to drive down the price of gold on the spot market.

As of 15 April, 2013, gold has been driven down to $1378.00 U.S. per ounce, a huge 12 percent slide since just 11 April.  The big banksters, spreading fear and propaganda around the world, are causing a “panic sell-off” on gold.  Hedge funds and big investors dumping gold is driving down the price, the shorts shaking out anyone long on gold, and at the same time making the gold in the vaults of the Cypriot government less valuable every day, pushing them to “hurry up and transfer the gold to us before it becomes worth less (or worthless?)”.  This is a trick as old as humanity, but the pressure on the Parliament in Cyprus is enormous, and they must be reeling under it.  The events of the last couple of months has shown that in actuality, democracy is finished in Cyprus – it is done.  The very fact that the second “offer” of the E.U. banksters was never passed by Parliament, but only signed directly by the President and the representative of the E.U. was the last nail in the coffin of democracy.  For Cyprus, it is now the rule of the banksters.

Lies Spew Forth From Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan

Meanwhile, trying to add fuel to the fire sale on gold, banks like Morgan and Goldman Sachs have revved up their propaganda machines, spreading the lie that inflation is “gone” and there is now no chance of inflation, so all you out there who own gold are stupid to hold it.  Sell it now and get into the stock market they say.

Goldman Sachs: “the retreat of gold is accelerating.”

J.P. Morgan: “inflation is moving down to around 2 percent in the second half of 2013.”

National Securities Corp. in NY: “The perception is that gold is not really needed as a safe haven. People are looking at the stock market, and they’re stunned, and there’s no inflation. So people are saying, ‘What do we need gold for?’”

Bloomberg: “The price of gold is crashing.”

This propaganda push by the big banksters will yield them a huge profit in a short term gold slide.  Morgan, pushing the line that inflation is going to bottom at 2% this year, should talk to some common folks and ask them how they have seen skyrocketing prices in food, gasoline, and rents in the last couple of years. Ooooops!  We don’t count that, say the banksters.  Yeah, the things that matter the most to common folks, aren’t even counted in their phoney statistics.  Meanwhile, Morgan has piled up trillions of dollars of derivatives obligations, and the U.S. Fed and the E.U. have pumped up trillions of dollars and euros in their “quantitative easing” schemes, meaning they have massively inflated the money supply by “creating” and printing it, backed by nothing but hot air.

This may be the biggest gold heist in history, since the post-WW 2 theft of the gold and treasures of the Pacific Basin countries by the U.S. and the Vatican, secretly taking the gold from the caves in the Philippines where the Japanese Imperial forces had hidden it.  That gold was used mainly by the U.S. C.I.A. in black operations and to prop up the post-war Japanese government.  (see “Gold Warriors” by the Seagraves for details).

 

 

U.S., British Banks Plan To Rob All Depositors

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Wall Street, Banks Prepare For Financial Collapse.  Plans Now in Place to Rob Americans of Their Bank Deposits as They Did in Cyprus

RuleOfBanksby Ellen Brown

This article first appeared at Web of Debt.

Cyprus-style confiscation of depositor funds has been called the “new normal.” Bail-in policies are appearing in multiple countries directing failing Too Big To Fail banks to convert the funds of “unsecured creditors” into capital; and those creditors, it turns out, include ordinary depositors. Even “secured” creditors, including state and local governments, may be at risk. Derivatives have “super-priority” status in bankruptcy, and Dodd Frank precludes further taxpayer bailouts. In a big derivatives bust, there may be no collateral left for the creditors who are next in line.

Shock waves went around the world when the IMF, the EU, and the ECB not only approved but mandated the confiscation of depositor funds to “bail in” two bankrupt banks in Cyprus. A “Bail in” is a quantum leap beyond a “bail out.” When governments are no longer willing to use taxpayer money to bail out banks that have gambled away their capital, the banks are now being instructed to “recapitalize” themselves by confiscating the funds of their creditors, turning debt into equity, or stock; and the “creditors” include the depositors who put their money in the bank thinking it was a secure place to store their savings.

The Cyprus bail-in was not a one-off emergency measure but was consistent with similar policies already in the works for the US, UK, EU, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, as detailed in my earlier articles here and here. “Too big to fail” now trumps all. Rather than banks being put into bankruptcy to salvage the deposits of their customers, the customers will now be put into bankruptcy to save the banks.

Why Derivatives Threaten Your Bank Account

The big risk behind all this is the massive $230 trillion derivatives boondoggle managed by US banks. Derivatives are sold as a kind of insurance for managing profits and risk; but as Satyajit Das points out in Extreme Money, they actually increase risk to the system as a whole.

In the US after the Glass-Steagall Act was implemented in 1933, a bank could not gamble with depositor funds for its own account; but in 1999, that barrier was removed. Recent congressional investigations have revealed that in the biggest derivative banks, JPMorgan and Bank of America, massive commingling has occurred between their depository arms and their unregulated and highly vulnerable derivatives arms. Under both the Dodd Frank Act and the 2005 Bankruptcy Act, derivative claims have super-priority over all other claims, secured and unsecured, insured and uninsured. In a major derivatives fiasco, derivative claimants could well grab all the collateral, leaving other claimants, public and private, holding the bag.

The tab for the 2008 bailout was $700 billion in taxpayer funds, and that was just to start. Another $700 billion disaster could easily wipe out all the money in the FDIC insurance fund, which has only about $25 billion in it. Both JPMorgan and Bank of America have over $1 trillion in deposits, and total deposits covered by FDIC insurance are about $9 trillion. According to an article in Bloomberg in November 2011, Bank of America’s holding company then had almost $75 trillion in derivatives, and 71% were held in its depository arm; while J.P. Morgan had $79 trillion in derivatives, and 99% were in its depository arm. Those whole mega-sums are not actually at risk, but the cash calculated to be at risk from derivatives from all sources is at least $12 trillion; and JPM is the biggest player, with 30% of the market.

It used to be that the government would backstop the FDIC if it ran out of money. But section 716 of the Dodd Frank Act now precludes the payment of further taxpayer funds to bail out a bank from a bad derivatives gamble. As summarized in a letter from Americans for Financial Reform quoted by Yves Smith:

Section 716 bans taxpayer bailouts of a broad range of derivatives dealing and speculative derivatives activities. Section 716 does not in any way limit the swaps activities which banks or other financial institutions may engage in. It simply prohibits public support for such activities.

There will be no more $700 billion taxpayer bailouts. So where will the banks get the money in the next crisis? It seems the plan has just been revealed in the new “Bail-in” policies.

All Depositors, Secured and Unsecured, May Be at Risk

The bail-in policy for the US and UK is set forth in a document put out jointly by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Bank of England (BOE) in December 2012, titled Resolving Globally Active, Systemically Important, Financial Institutions.

In an April 4th article in Financial Sense, John Butler points out that the directive does not explicitly refer to “depositors.” It refers only to “unsecured creditors.” But the effective meaning of the term, says Butler, is belied by the fact that the FDIC has been put on the job. The FDIC has direct responsibility only for depositors, not for the bondholders who are wholesale non-depositor sources of bank credit. Butler comments:

Do you see the sleight-of-hand at work here? Under the guise of protecting taxpayers, depositors of failing institutions are to be arbitrarily, de-facto subordinated to interbank claims, when in fact they are legally senior to those claims!

. . . [C]onsider the brutal, unjust irony of the entire proposal. Remember, its stated purpose is to solve the problem revealed in 2008, namely the existence of insolvent TBTF institutions that were “highly leveraged and complex, with numerous and dispersed financial operations, extensive off-balance-sheet activities, and opaque financial statements.” Yet what is being proposed is a framework sacrificing depositors in order to maintain precisely this complex, opaque, leverage-laden financial edifice!

If you believe that what has happened recently in Cyprus is unlikely to happen elsewhere, think again. Economic policy officials in the US, UK and other countries are preparing for it. Remember, someone has to pay. Will it be you? If you are a depositor, the answer is yes.

The FDIC was set up to ensure the safety of deposits. Now it, it seems, its function will be the confiscation of deposits to save Wall Street. In the only mention of “depositors” in the FDIC-BOE directive as it pertains to US policy, paragraph 47 says that “the authorities recognize the need for effective communication to depositors, making it clear that their deposits will be protected.”  But protected with what? As with MF Global, the pot will already have been gambled away. From whom will the bank get it back? Not the derivatives claimants, who are first in line to be paid; not the taxpayers, since Congress has sealed the vault; not the FDIC insurance fund, which has a paltry $25 billion in it. As long as the derivatives counter-parties have super-priority status, the claims of all other parties are in jeopardy.

That could mean not just the “unsecured creditors” but the “secured creditors,” including state and local governments. Local governments keep a significant portion of their revenues in Wall Street banks because smaller local banks lack the capacity to handle their complex business. In the US, banks taking deposits of public funds are required to pledge collateral against any funds exceeding the deposit insurance limit of $250,000. But derivative claims are also secured with collateral, and they have super-priority over all other claimants, including other secured creditors. The vault may be empty by the time local government officials get to the teller’s window. Main Street will again have been plundered by Wall Street.

Super-priority Status for Derivatives Increases Rather than Decreases Risk

Harvard Law Professor Mark Row maintains that the super-priority status of derivatives needs to be repealed. He writes:

. . . Derivatives counter-parties, . . . unlike most other secured creditors, can seize and immediately liquidate collateral, readily net out gains and losses in their dealings with the bankrupt, terminate their contracts with the bankrupt, and keep both preferential eve-of-bankruptcy payments and fraudulent conveyances they obtained from the debtor, all in ways that favor them over the bankrupt’s other creditors.

. . . When we subsidize derivatives and similar financial activity via bankruptcy benefits unavailable to other creditors, we get more of the activity than we otherwise would. Repeal would induce these burgeoning financial markets to better recognize the risks of counter-party financial failure, which in turn should dampen the possibility of another AIG-, Bear Stearns-, or Lehman Brothers-style financial meltdown, thereby helping to maintain systemic financial stability.

In The New Financial Deal: Understanding the Dodd-Frank Act and Its (Unintended) Consequences, Mr. David Skeel agrees. He calls the Dodd-Frank policy approach “corporatism”“ a partnership between government and corporations. Congress has made no attempt in the legislation to reduce the size of the big banks or to undermine the implicit subsidy provided by the knowledge that they will be bailed out in the event of trouble.

Under-girding this approach is what Mr.Skeel calls “the Lehman myth,” which blames the 2008 banking collapse on the decision to allow Lehman Brothers to fail. Mr. Skeel counters that the Lehman bankruptcy was actually orderly, and the derivatives were unwound relatively quickly. Rather than preventing the Lehman collapse, the bankruptcy exemption for derivatives may have helped precipitate it. When the bank appeared to be on shaky ground, the derivatives players all rushed to put in their claims, in a run on the collateral before it ran out. Mr. Skeel says the problem could be resolved by eliminating the derivatives exemption from the stay of proceedings that a bankruptcy court applies to other contracts to prevent this sort of run.

Putting the Brakes on the Wall Street End Game

Besides eliminating the super-priority of derivatives, here are some other ways to block the Wall Street asset grab:

(1) Restore the Glass-Steagall Act separating depository banking from investment banking. Support Marcy Kaptur’s H.R. 129

(2) Break up the giant derivatives banks. Support Bernie Sanders’ “too big to jail” legislation.

(3) Alternatively, nationalize the TBTFs, as advised in the New York Times by Gar Alperovitz. If taxpayer bailouts to save the TBTFs are unacceptable, depositor bailouts are even more unacceptable.

(4) Make derivatives illegal, as they were between 1936 and 1982 under the Commodities Exchange Act. They can be unwound by simply netting them out, declaring them null and void. As noted by Paul Craig Roberts, “the only major effect of closing out or netting all the swaps (mostly over-the-counter contracts between counter-parties) would be to take $230 trillion of leveraged risk out of the financial system.”

(5) Support the Harkin-Whitehouse bill to impose a financial transactions tax on Wall Street trading. Among other uses, a tax on all trades might supplement the FDIC insurance fund to cover another derivatives disaster.

(6) Establish postal savings banks as government-guaranteed depositories for individual savings. Many countries have public savings banks, which became particularly popular after savings in private banks were wiped out in the banking crisis of the late 1990s.

(7) Establish publicly-owned banks to be depositories of public monies, following the lead of North Dakota, the only state to completely escape the 2008 banking crisis. North Dakota does not keep its revenues in Wall Street banks but deposits them in the state-owned Bank of North Dakota by law. The bank has a mandate to serve the public, and it does not gamble in derivatives.

A motivated state legislature could set up a publicly-owned bank very quickly. Having its own bank would allow the state to protect both its own revenues and those of its citizens while generating the credit needed to support local business and restore prosperity to Main Street

For more information on the public bank option, see here. Learn more at the Public Banking Institute conference June 2-4 in San Rafael, California, featuring Matt Taibbi, Birgitta Jonsdottir, Gar Alperovitz and others.

Ellen Brown is an attorney, chairman of the Public Banking Institute, and the Ellen Brownauthor of eleven books, including Web of Debt: The Shocking Truth About Our Money System and How We Can Break Free. Her websites are www.webofdebt.com and www.ellenbrown.com.

 

E.U. Bankers Rob Depositors of up to Astounding 40%

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Massive Demonstrations Rock Cyprus – E.U. Banksters Steal Billions From Depositor’s Accounts – Parliament Shut Out of Process

Massive Protests Rock CyprusThe “Troika of Doom”, the European Central Bank, the European Union, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Sign A Deal With the President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades.

The bullies of the so-called “Troika” have signed a piece of paper that they are calling an “agreement” with the new rightist President of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades that reorganizes the banking system of Cyprus.  The Cypriot Parliament was totally shut out of the process – the voice of the peoples’ representatives silenced and ignored in one of the most heavy-handed operations yet mounted by the European banks and Bilderberg ruling class.

And in one of the most cynical statements made yet this year, Daniel Gros, from the Centre for European Policy Studies, in an interview with Euronews, said that “It was necessary to have some theatre”, letting the Cypriot Parliament to say “no” to the first bailout offer.  Then a second deal was signed by the President with the “Troika”, with no vote from the Parliament at all.  This is a cynical admission that the entire process is being stage-managed by the euro banksters.

Troika Buys Nations

Good Bank vs Bad Bank

The deal as forced on Cyprus is the most onerous that can be imagined for the middle class, the poor, and small business, as well as some of the wealthy and foreign investors.  The “Troika” has seized the Second largest bank in Cyprus, the popular Laiki Bank, and divided it into 2 parts, a “good bank” where all deposits under euro 100,000 were transferred and will be given to the remaining Bank of Cyprus, and a “bad bank” which will carry all the debt and derivitives, plus all the accounts that have over euro 100,000.  The depositors who have money in the “bad bank” will be subject to a loss of their funds of up to 40% of their accounts. ECB appointed Bank Gov. Panicos Demetriades, who is also on  the ECB board, said that the funds transferred to the “bad bank” will be used to pay off bad debt.  In addition, the bond-holders of the Laiki Bank will likely suffer a 100% loss and the bond-holders of the Bank of Cyprus will also take a heavy loss.

Bank of Cyprus Gov Panicos Demetriades is an ECB Board Member

Bank of Cyprus Gov Panicos Demetriades is an ECB Board Member

Food Markets Slump 50%

The fresh fruit and vegetable markets have dropped 50% in sales.  A Euronews video reported that the poor people have been hit hard, now only affording to buy potatoes, just the basics.  The banks were completely shut down on March 16th, throwing the population into chaos, with no money to buy anything.  On Sunday, March 24th, currency controls allowed a withdrawal of only 100 euros per day.  Not only have mass demonstrations rocked the island, but the employees of the now closed Laiki Bank tried to storm the bank.  Police kept the employees out by using force.  These employees will now be out of work permanently.

In a recent interview, Eurogroup Chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said that Cyprus is being used as a “model” for future operations of the ECB that might be put on to other countries, probably referring to the problems of the “P.I.G.” nations. This admission caused an uproar in the E.U. as the ruling elites were upset that the Eurogroup Chief had let the cat out of the bag, so to speak.

With the collapse of the financial system, Cyprus now faces a rolling crises, poverty, unemployment, business failure, and a total dissolution of trust in the banking system.  Now the entire world knows that their deposits in any bank can evaporate in an instant.  Likewise the investors in the banks themselves, the shareholders and bondholders can easily be hung out to dry by the big Central Banks.  Meanwhile, the Wall Street derivatives peddlers who caused all this get off scot free.

Better to die on your feet

 

 

Cyprus On Verge of Financial Collapse

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2nd Largest Bank Tanked – International Crises Looms as Russia, Turkey, EU and Plutocrats Maneuver To Control Gas Reserves

Deposits Over $100,000 To Be Robbed Up To 40% By E.U., IMF

by Walter Smolarek – LiberationNews.org

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades

As the global economic crisis—now in its sixth year—drags on, the rich and powerful are still sticking with the same old formula: Do whatever is necessary to save the banks and make poor and working people pay, one way or another. In recent days, a looming financial collapse in the Eastern Mediterranean island country of Cyprus emerged as the latest flashpoint.

In February 2012, a second bailout for Greece included a partial default of the country’s debt, called—euphemistically—a “haircut” and also “private sector involvement.” This was supposed to help make the debt sustainable and avert Greece’s exit from the Eurozone, which would likely have far worse consequences for the finance capitalists involved in the deal.

Last year’s default imposed major losses on Cyprus’s biggest banks, which had used large amounts of its depositors’ money to “invest” in Greek bonds. Cyprus then became the fifth country in the Eurozone—the 17 countries that use the euro currency—to seek international assistance for bailing out its banks. The bailout money required—eventually amounting to 10 billion euros (about $13 billion)—was to be provided by the “troika”—a bloc composed of the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Union.

Cyprus—outside of the Turkish-controlled northern section of the island—has close political, economic and cultural ties with Greece, almost to the point of being a protectorate. The Cypriot banking sector has been teetering on the verge of collapse ever since the effects of the partial default began to be felt. The fear among the rulers of Europe is that this would cause a full sovereign default and force Cyprus out of the Eurozone, a politically unprecedented development that would have potentially devastating ripple effects.

Cyprus, with a population of roughly 1 million, is among the smallest countries to use the common currency. Since 2009, the Eurozone has been consumed by what has been termed a “debt crisis” that has sent unemployment rates, poverty and general misery skyrocketing across Europe. Although the corporate media portrays the situation as a consequence of out-of-control social spending, the Eurozone is suffering from the generalized effects of the world crisis of capitalism exacerbated by high levels of government borrowing, financial speculation on that debt and the highly uneven development of member states.

From 2008 until the end of February, Cyprus was led by President Dimitris Christofias of the Progressive Party of Working People (AKEL). Although AKEL refers to itself as a communist party—Christofias himself received his doctorate in the Soviet Union—it has adopted a bourgeois electoral and parliamentary approach to dealing with the island nation’s debt crisis. Christofias put through three austerity packages but was unwilling to accept the troika’s terms for a bailout deal.

Nicos Anastasiades of the right-wing Democratic Rally party promised in the lead-up to the February election to negotiate an acceptable deal with the troika. This enabled him to beat the AKEL candidate and become the new president of Cyprus. Anastasiades signaled his intention to finalize a bailout deal as soon as possible and immediately began intensive negotiations.

‘Bail-in’

Last week, Anastasiades announced that he had reached a jarring agreement with the troika. In return for the troika’s bailout money, Cyprus would have to conduct a “bail-in” and seize 6.7 to 9.9 percent of all bank deposits in the country to raise 5.8 billion euros (about $7.5 billion). Doing away with the veneer of “competitiveness,” “restructuring” and “fiscal adjustment” that other austerity measures have been cloaked in, the troika proposed outright theft that would be felt most by poor and working people.

However, the prospect of such blatant robbery was rejected by virtually all sections of Cypriot society. The working class was outraged that what little savings they had managed to scrape together would be diminished to pay for the capitalists’ crisis. But the ruling class in Cyprus also feared losing their recognition as a tax haven for offshore millionaires and billionaires—a cornerstone of the Cypriot economy.

The parliament of Cyprus bowed to this near-unanimous domestic pressure and refused to endorse the plan—President Anastasiades’ deputies abstained and every other lawmaker voted no. The crisis reached its peak as the country’s banks were closed to prevent massive withdrawals and capital flight.

Referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Cypriot president reportedly told European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn: “When I warned you that there would not be a parliamentary majority to pass the agreement, you didn’t want to listen. Give my regards to Mrs. Merkel.” At a subsequent meeting of European finance ministry officials, a French representative lamented, “The [Cypriot] parliament is obviously too emotional and will not decide on anything.”

Plan B

The government of Cyprus, scrambling to avert a default and Eurozone exit, pursued a multifaceted bargaining strategy in an attempt to force the troika to soften its demands. It proposed stealing pension funds and publicly owned state assets to create an outrageously named “solidarity fund,” which would also include assets from the Church of Cyprus. This was supposed to raise the 5.8 billion euros required by the troika and render the “bail-in” unnecessary.

The Cypriot government also attempted to leverage the hundreds of billions of cubic meters of natural gas recently discovered in the waters south of the island nation. It was prepared to offer large stakes in future gas production to capitalists willing to immediately put up the money. Many portrayed the sale of gas reserves, which rightfully belong to the Cypriot people, as Cyprus’s ace in the hole.

However, there are several problems that made this proposal ultimately untenable. First of all, the necessary infrastructure—which would cost at least $36 billion—would not be in place until at least 2018 to begin production. At that point, the market will likely be flooded with gas from the United States, Australia and parts of Africa, largely due to the explosion in the practice of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.” Finally, Turkey, which has effectively controlled Northern Cyprus since a war in 1974, is likely to launch an immediate and aggressive legal challenge to the South’s right to exploit the gas reserves.

President Anastasiades hoped to play Russia and the European Union against each other to strengthen his own bargaining position, weakening the troika by exploring the possibility of a Russian-financed bailout.

Politically, President Anastasiades hoped to play Russia and the European Union against each other to strengthen his own bargaining position, weakening the troika by exploring the possibility of a Russian-financed bailout. These two world powers have conflicting geo-strategic interests, finding themselves on opposite sides of major developments like the civil war in Syria and NATO’s “defensive” missile shield in Eastern Europe. Russia sees in the Eurozone debt crisis an opportunity to expand its influence. It already extended a $3.3 billion loan to Cyprus in 2011, and Russian state energy company Gazprom has made moves to acquire the Greek national gas company DEPA, which is, ironically, slated for privatization under orders from the troika.

Russian deposits larger than GDP

Many Russian oligarchs stash huge sums of money in Cypriot banks to evade taxes—amounting to $26 billion, which is larger than the Cyprus’s entire GDP. This gives Russia a tangible economic interest in the stabilization of Cyprus’s economy. The Russian ruling class bitterly opposes the idea of a deposit tax, especially on large accounts

However, Cypriot overtures to Russia were ultimately unsuccessful as diplomats were unimpressed at offers of partial control over the island country’s gas reserves. Some members of the Russian capitalist class also seemed to be confident that they could avoid losing up to 40% of their deposits. Prominent millionaire Alexander Lebedev dismissed the issue as “not worth talking about.” He added: “Cyprus was always a transit jurisdiction—money would pass through and then go to Lithuania, Latvia, Belize, Switzerland, everywhere. There are plenty of ways [to avoid capital controls]. … Certain schemes can be put into place.”

The Russian government nevertheless continues to take a politically assertive stance, warning the troika that it may swap a part of its foreign reserves held in euros for another currency.

‘Bail-in’ retained in modified form

With the European Central Bank threatening to cut off massive cash infusions, called Emergency Liquidity Assistance, the Cypriot president turned back to the troika for the desperately needed bailout money and finally reached a deal on March 25. The “bail-in” deposit tax was retained in the final version but in a modified form- affecting up to 40% of deposits of more than 100,000 euros (about $128,000). While this may seem like a pro-worker decision, it simply sets the stage for the kind of devastating attacks on the rights of poor and working people in Cyprus that have already been seen across Europe. The capitalist rulers of the Eurozone also seem to have wanted to punish Russia for meddling in its sphere of influence.

Under the deal, the second largest Cypriot bank, Laiki, is to be dissolved and split into a “good” bank composed of its profitable assets and a “bad” bank made up of its nonperforming investments. The “good” bank is to be absorbed by the country’s largest bank, Bank of Cyprus, which will now enjoy nearly unchallenged monopoly status—further proving the Marxist assertion that capital consolidation intensifies during periods of economic crisis.

As usual, European politicians and corporate media commentators refer to the bailout deal as a conclusive settlement to the crisis. This, however, is far from the truth. The Cypriot economy is likely to be plunged into a severe recession as a result of this financial meltdown, further weakening the banking sector and calling into question the effectiveness of the agreement that was just reached. As European Union Economic and Financial Committee Chairman Thomas Wieser bluntly put it at a Eurozone meeting a few days prior to the finalization of the bailout agreement, “The economy is going to tank in Cyprus no matter what.”

As capitalist politicians use the livelihoods of poor and working people in Cyprus as bargaining chips, the only available avenue for struggle is militant, persistent and organized mass action. The rulers of the Eurozone hold all the cards at the negotiating table, but the people have the power in the streets.

Check out LiberationNews.org for more articles on the E.U. crises and other financial topics.

 

 

Collapse of the E.U. Beginning?

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Helga Zepp-LaRouche Warns of Chain-Reaction Collapse of the E.U. and Hyper-Inflation.  Run On E.U. Banks May Be Next as UK Pensioners Told To Pull Their Funds From E.U. Banks as Currency Controls Loom.

Helga_Zepp-LaRouche_Axis_for_Peace_2005-11-17Helga Zepp-LaRouche, in an Emergency International Webcast warned that the crisis in Cyprus is threatening to unravel the entire European Union.  She also considers the possibility that this crisis is being created to lead Europe into a “Political Dictatorship” by collapsing the Euro and forcing the people of the European nations into a dictatorship.  The present “bank robbery” of the accounts of the average citizens who are asked to take a so-called “hair cut”, meaning that the Central Bank wants to steal 6.75% of their bank funds, is really nothing more than one of the largest bank robberies in history, committed by the European Central Bank and their plutocratic owners. Even more money would be stolen from larger accounts over $100,000.  These would be hit with almost 10%.

It is interesting to note that Cyprus is a place where many grey area depositors have money stashed.  Rumors abound that both the Russian and Israeli mobs have millions in bank deposits there.  It is also rumored that various mafias from the Middle East, Lebanon, Palestine, and France use Cypriot banks.  Are these folks going to stand for a “shakedown” by the even bigger mafia – the European Central Bank – Rothschild Axis?  Or will there be hell to pay for this act?  The Russian, Israeli, Lebanese, and other mobs could easily begin a “pay back” for this treachery.  If you see the strangled bodies of E.U. bankers floating down the Seine, you will know that the biggest mob war in modern history has  begun.

In addition, any “currency controls”, meaning that depositors will be limited in their ability to withdraw the full amount of funds from their own accounts, will also trigger a complete loss of faith in the E.U. banking system.  Indeed, it may already be too late to stem the loss of faith in the system.  According to Zepp-LaRouche, the British government has warned its citizens living overseas in European countries to withdraw their pension funds since looming currency controls, bank closures, and bank “holidays” may limit their access to their own funds needed to pay rent, eat, and otherwise survive.

Helga Zepp-LaRouche also warns these arrogant  bankers that any planned dictatorship in the European Union is doomed to failure.  Millions of people are not going to stand for it.  Click on the link below to hear the complete web cast:

Click here to see Helga Zepp-LaRouche

The Battle of Cyprus – Banksters vs Workers

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Could This Happen Here?  The E.U. Wants To Take Money Out of Depositor’s Accounts Without Their Permission! These Are Thieving Banksters Who Should Be Escorted To The Nearest Prison.

Here’s a snip from Ellen Brown’s latest article chronicling the criminal activities of the European Union:

Ellen BrownIf these worries become really serious, . . . [s]mall savers will take their money out of banks and resort to household safes and a shotgun.

– Martin Hutchinson on the attempted EU raid on deposits in Cyprus banks

The deposit confiscation scheme has long been in the making. US depositors could be next . . . .

Retirement. (Photo: Loz Pycock / Flickr)On Tuesday, March 19, the national legislature of Cyprus overwhelmingly rejected a proposed levy on bank deposits as a condition for a European bailout. Reuters called it “a stunning setback for the 17-nation currency bloc,” but it was a stunning victory for democracy. As Reuters quoted one 65-year-old pensioner, “The voice of the people was heard.”

The EU had warned that it would withhold €10 billion in bailout loans, and the European Central Bank (ECB) had threatened to end emergency lending assistance for distressed Cypriot banks, unless depositors – including small savers – shared the cost of the rescue. In the deal rejected by the legislature, a one-time levy on depositors would be required in return for a bailout of the banking system. Deposits below €100,000 would be subject to a 6.75% levy or “haircut”, while those over €100,000 would have been subject to a 9.99% “fine.”

Read the entire article:  Click Here

Click here for Ellen Brown’s web site.

Click here for Public Banking Institute

Bye Bye Breuer!

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Lanny Breuer, the Assistant Attorney General and Head of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice is leaving in March, 2013.  Last month we joined others calling for him to resign in disgrace. Great News for the American People Who Were Victims of the Greatest Bank Fraud in History, but unfortunately too late:

Lanny

*** Not ONE big bankster prosecuted by Breuer, including the rulers of HSBC, Running the Money Laundering of Trillions of Drug Money!  Remember the Savings and Loan scandal?  Over 1,000 crooked banksters sent to jail.  Breuer’s record is zero!.

*** Stonewalled the so-called “Fast and Furious” gun mess with the ATF! Even Congress could not get to the bottom of this scandal.

***Let British Petroleum off the hook – the Corporation fined, but NO individual responsibility, NO corporate official goes to jail.   Thousands still sick and the Gulf still leaking in this massive government-corporate cover-up.  We will probably never know how many people died from the Gulf poisons.  BP continues to make billions in profits, and now with the other oil companies, are having the American Public pay their fines through higher oil prices.  Thanks a lot Lanny!  What a peach of a guy you turned out to be!  We will be watching to see which big corporation will be hiring you in the next couple of years.  We bet you get a job as lead consul to a big bank or oil company?

Suggestion:  Mr. Breuer, redeem yourself by giving away all your money and devoting yourself as an advocate for those millions of folks who suffered foreclosure by this bankster swindle.  The ones you let off the hook completely.

Now the question is:  Who is the next cover-up boy who will fill Breuer’s shoes?

Who will Obama appoint next?  The Pillsbury Dough Boy?

HSBC Too Big To Fail?

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Glenn Greenwald Exposes Two-Tiered U.S. Justice System

Banksters Are “Too Big To Indict” and are Protected By The Obama Administration While the Poor and Middle Class Suffer Enormous Repression.

Here’s The Number One Protector of U.S. Banksters:  Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, Exposed by Frontline’s Story on “The Untouchables”, Now Protects HSBC Criminals From Jail.  Breuer Should Resign In Disgrace.

Lanny Breuer, HSBC

The US is the world’s largest prison state, imprisoning more of its citizens than any nation on earth, both in absolute numbers and proportionally. It imprisons people for longer periods of time, more mercilessly, and for more trivial transgressions than any nation in the west. This sprawling penal state has been constructed over decades, by both political parties, and it punishes the poor and racial minorities at overwhelmingly disproportionate rates.

But not everyone is subjected to that system of penal harshness. It all changes radically when the nation’s most powerful actors are caught breaking the law. With few exceptions, they are gifted not merely with leniency, but full-scale immunity from criminal punishment. Thus have the most egregious crimes of the last decade been fully shielded from prosecution when committed by those with the greatest political and economic power: the construction of a worldwide torture regime, spying on Americans’ communications without the warrants required by criminal law by government agencies and the telecom industry, an aggressive war launched on false pretenses, and massive, systemic financial fraud in the banking and credit industry that triggered the 2008 financial crisis.

Read More of This Blistering Story at Op-Ed News.

Frontline Series Calls Banksters “Untouchables”

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The Big Banks Got Away With Hundreds of Billions

“Justice” Dept. Never Prosecuted Even ONE Big Bankster Executive

Despite Overwhelming Evidence of Massive Fraud

Frontline’s recent hour long documentary called “The Untouchables” traces the banking fraud from start to finish.  The big banks made hundreds of billions (if not TRILLIONS) of dollars packaging up mostly bad loans to sell to “investors”, many overseas but also to American pension funds.  These packages, called “Derivatives” were packed with bad mortgage loans, complete fraud.  The big bankster executives got a free pass from President Obama’s Justice Department, who went after a few low level criminals but let the all the big boys off the hook.  Please watch this compelling and completely documented report:  CLICK HERE.

Banking: thousands of customers switch their accounts out of the big five

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Building societies, credit unions and co-operatives benefit as anger over scandals turns to action

FULL STORY HERE

The Co-operative bank has seen the number of people switching to its current accounts jump by 43% over the past year. Photograph: Ian Dagnall/Alamy

Consumers are deserting major high-street banks in unprecedented numbers after a slew of revelations about unethical behaviour, according to data from the Move Your Money campaign.

Building societies, credit unions and co-operatives have all reported a sharp rise in new business over the past 12 months as the reputation of the major banks has taken a hammering.

Laura Willoughby, Move Your Money’s chief executive, said: “Anger with the banks is turning into action. This year British banks have been exposed for exploiting their customers, starving the economy of credit and flouting the law.”

Credit unions – small, usually locally based savings groups – have attracted almost 20,000 new accounts in the past six months, according to Move Your Money, while ethical banks Triodos, Ecology and the Charity Bank have all reported a jump in customers.

Building societies saw 78,000 customers sign up for savings accounts in the third quarter alone after Barclays was implicated in the Libor-fixing scandal, which has spread to engulf several other banks.

“Customers are clearly far more interested now in the way financial services companies are run,” said a spokeswoman for the Building Societies Association. “Putting that into the mix alongside interest rates and service has been positive for mutuals like building societies.”

The Co-operative bank, which will treble the size of its network next year when it takes over 632 Lloyds branches, has seen the number of people switching to its current accounts jump by 43% over the past year.

Move Your Money urges savers to shift their accounts from the so-called big five – Barclays, HSBC, Santander, Lloyds Banking Group and RBS – to ethical or mutually owned alternatives.

The government has sought to boost competition in the banking market as a way of improving the performance of the big players. Business secretary Vince Cable said: “One of the biggest things is competition: getting new banks in to challenge the others.”

Andrew Tyrie, the Conservative MP chairing the parliamentary commission on banking standards, said last week: “The latest revelations of collusion, corruption and market-rigging beggar belief”.

…snip