"The two main banks at the centre of Cyprus’s financial crisis further slashed the daily cash withdrawal limits from ATM machines on Sunday, state media reported. With queues growing outside cash machines across the island, Laiki (Popular) Bank cut maximum withdrawals at ATMs to 100 euros a day and the Bank of Cyprus reduced its limit to 120 euros a day, the Cyprus News Agency said." Continue reading →
"Taking the bailout model to extremes - the EU has given Cyprus an ultimatum - either force savers to save banks, or go bankrupt. United Kingdom Independence Party MEP Nigel Farage gives his perspective on the deposit levy and Cypriot parliament vote." Continue reading →
"As Cypriot party leaders met, a senior Cypriot official told Reuters that Nicosia had agreed with EU/IMF lenders on a 20 percent levy over and above 100,000 euros at No. 1 lender Bank of Cyprus, and four percent on deposits over the same level at others. Cypriot lawmakers voted in late-night session on Friday to nationalize state pensions and split failing lenders into good and bad banks. They also gave the government powers to impose capital controls, anticipating a run on banks when they reopen on Tuesday. A plan to nationalize semi-state pension funds has met with resistance, being possibly even more painful for ordinary Cypriots than a deposit levy." Continue reading →
"At least 1,000 bank workers fearing for their jobs staged a march on the Cyprus presidency on Saturday ahead of a planned protest outside parliament which is to debate a bailout to save the island from bankruptcy. The workers marched from union headquarters towards the presidential compound where they held a brief rally at the gates before heading towards the finance ministry. The marchers held placards that read: 'Hands off provident funds' and 'No to the bankruptcy of Cyprus' as well as 'Let us dream.' Police initially blocked the protesters from nearing the presidential palace before then letting them through." Continue reading →
"For a few days, the people of Cyprus were calm, quietly and orderly accepting the unreality of the levy being imposed upon them - incredulous that it was even possible. As we reach the 4th day of bank closures, amid rolling rumors and ECB threats, it appears the people have reached a tipping point as this series of images from Cyprus ATM lines indicates - the bank-jog has arrived. When will it become a full blown sprint? It appears the catalyst for this latest move is the ECB threat and EU concerns over the future of the two biggest insolvent banks: As AFP reports: EU calls on Cyprus to set capital controls and merge 2 biggest banks Laiki and Bank of Cyprus." Continue reading →
"The decision to inflict pain on both large and small depositors was almost universally described as a historic blunder. But the mistake was to do so in a manner that was not camouflaged by financial smoke and mirrors. In truth, rank and file depositors have been paying, and will continue to pay, for all manner of bailouts and stimulus. Whether it's through lower interest payments on deposits, inflation, higher taxes, higher borrowing costs, or the accumulation of unsustainable sovereign debt, Cypriots will bear the burden of past profligacy. But the new plan for Cyprus was far too transparent, simple, and direct to survive in a world dependent on deceit and obfuscation." Continue reading →
"The European Union gave Cyprus till Monday to raise the billions of euros it needs to secure an international bailout or face a collapse of its financial system that could push it out of the euro currency zone. Trying to placate its lenders, the government proposed to parliament a 'solidarity fund' that would bundle state assets, including future gas revenues, as the basis for an emergency bond issue, likened by JP Morgan to 'a national fire sale'. It also sought the power to impose capital controls on banks, a type of measure unseen since before the country joined the single currency bloc five years ago." Continue reading →
"This is a major setback for the New World Order in Europe. They are barely holding the Eurozone together with promises and fiat money. The voters in tiny Cyprus have called their bluff. Let’s see what they come up with now. Let’s see how they prevent the bank run that their policies triggered. They all seem so clever. But this time, a national parliament has called their bluff. Where is their power now? What rabbit will they pull out of a hat this time?" Continue reading →
"Three years into a crippling recession that has reduced incomes here by as much as 60 percent, increased the number of suicides by 40 percent and forced 1.3 million people onto growing unemployment lines, Greeks are grappling with ways to remain sane. Many of them are turning to what some call a free cure to just about any ailment: laughter. In one improvised routine, members are taught to laugh at the sight of an electricity bill or the kind of tax notice that Greeks have been repeatedly served in recent years as part of new austerity measures intended to make up for decades of profligate spending by the state." Continue reading →
"The usually reserved waitress at our favorite Greek-owned Sunday breakfast place approached us in dismay. Her daughter and son-in-law were escaping Greece for the US. Even middle class professionals were finding themselves digging in the garbage for food to eat, she said. Former Greek career diplomat Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos says that the government has hired Blackwater, the American private military firm infamous for its activities in Iraq, which now goes by the name 'Academi', along with five other international for-profit security outfits. He says bluntly: 'The Greek government does not trust the police whose salaries have also been cut.'" Continue reading →