Middle Class Dismissed

Western banking regulations could be ‘mutually destructive’: IMF

"Western governments have put in place banking regulations that could be 'mutually destructive' and undermine efforts to prevent bust banks from costing taxpayers billions of pounds, according to a report by the International Monetary Fund. Policymakers representing the world's biggest financial centres have failed to make the banking sector stand on its own feet by ending implicit subsidies and co-ordinating rescue plans when multinational banks go bust, the Washington-based lender of last resort said. Subsidies to the banking sector in some countries are as high as they were before the crash, amounting to $590bn (£355bn), with the eurozone the worst affected." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWestern banking regulations could be ‘mutually destructive’: IMF

Cyprus abolishes maximum daily cash withdrawal limits

"In a decree issued by the finance ministry, the 300 euro limit per person per day was scrapped, along with restrictions on breaking fixed-interest time deposits prior to maturity. The decree also allowed, under conditions, individuals to open bank accounts in other credit institutions. Restrictions remain on moving money abroad. Cypriot officials have previously said they anticipate that all controls could be fully lifted by the end of 2014. Cyprus was forced to wind down a major bank and convert large deposits in a second to recapitalise it in order to qualify for aid from the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCyprus abolishes maximum daily cash withdrawal limits

Ukraine Goes Cyprus 2.0, To Tax Deposits Over 100,000 Hryvnia

"Ukraine's parliament is to consider draft laws which would ban foreign-currency bank deposits and introduce a 25% tax on interest on deposits in banks and other financial institutions in circumstances where the interest received is more than 5% above the rate set by the National Bank of Ukraine. The proposed amendments to banking and tax legislation were put forward by Yevhen Sihal, who is a member of the country's ruling Party of Regions. In an explanatory note submitted with the drafts, he argued that the higher tax rate will encourage consumer spending, reduce the cost of business loans, and provide extra funding for the country's Pension Fund." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUkraine Goes Cyprus 2.0, To Tax Deposits Over 100,000 Hryvnia

Colorado Man Will Go to Trial Over $42 Girl Scout Cookie Purchase

"A Colorado man's purchase of $42 of Girl Scout cookies has led to a court date and more than $700 in debt for what he says was an error by a Girl Scout troop's bank. Tad Osborn, an IT professional in Fort Collins, Colo., bought about a dozen boxes last year from a scout from his neighborhood. He wrote a check for $42 and enjoyed the cookies with his family. Then last summer, he received a notice from a collection agency, informing him that his check had bounced and nearly doubled his bill to $82. The debt collection agency, AAA Collectors Inc., sued Osborn for $739.85, the bulk of which is $450 in attorney fees, followed by court and principal costs." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingColorado Man Will Go to Trial Over $42 Girl Scout Cookie Purchase

Free banking will go, says RBS chief

"Savers eventually will have to pay for their current accounts, according to the new chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland. Ross McEwan, the head of Britain’s second-biggest current account provider, said that free banking would come to an end because up-front fees were more transparent. RBS had no plans to scrap free banking, but he cast the eventual adoption of a fee-based system in the context of making banks more straightforward for customers. He said in a weekend interview: 'I think [the end of free banking] is something that will be addressed in the marketplace.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFree banking will go, says RBS chief

Why the Working Poor and Banks Are a Bad Match

"The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is expected to draft rules governing payday lending this year. But the conventional wisdom that will likely guide it is based on false perceptions about the working poor and the best way to serve them. So argues Lisa Servon, a professor at The New School in New York, who spent four months as a teller at a check-cashing business in the South Bronx and three at a payday lender in Oakland, Calif. Servon's conclusion is that many low-income consumers fulfill their financial needs outside the regulated banking system by choice and in many cases are better off for doing so." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhy the Working Poor and Banks Are a Bad Match

All-Time High Unemployment: Depression In Europe Getting Deeper

"This week we learned that eurozone unemployment came in at an all-time high of 12.2 percent for September. Back in January 2012, it was sitting at just 10.4 percent. The funny thing is that the mainstream media will barely call what is going on in Europe a 'recession' even though the unemployment rates in both Spain and Greece are now much higher than anything that the United States ever experienced during the 'Great Depression' of the 1930s. A 25-year-old Spanish man with three college degrees that moved to London in a desperate search for a job is now cleaning up poop for a living. The economic collapse of Europe continues to march on, and there is no end in sight." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAll-Time High Unemployment: Depression In Europe Getting Deeper

Debt hits 200-year high; IMF warns of ‘savings tax’ and mass write-offs

"Much of the Western world will require defaults, a savings tax and higher inflation to clear the way for recovery as debt levels reach a 200-year high, according to a new report by the International Monetary Fund. The IMF working paper said debt burdens in developed nations have become extreme by any historical measure and will require a wave of haircuts, either negotiated 1930s-style write-offs or the standard mix of measures used by the IMF in its 'toolkit' for emerging market blow-ups. Financial repression can take many forms, including capital controls, interest rate caps or the force-feeding of government debt to captive pension funds and insurance companies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDebt hits 200-year high; IMF warns of ‘savings tax’ and mass write-offs

Get Ready for Confiscation

"Once it has sunk in that such a move is perfectly acceptable in Europe, the US will declare its own bail-in policy. Those who still cling to some hope that there may be some good news here, may say, 'Well, at least if I have less than €100,000 on deposit, I can still call that my own.' These folks will be the same ones who are relieved that they are likely to be left out of a 'one-time' wealth tax that is currently being floated as another solution to the exorbitant operating costs of governments. However, any government that steals your money once is likely to have another go at a later date. And another and another. Once they are accepted at all—for any reason—governments tend to repeat them." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGet Ready for Confiscation

Get Ready for Confiscation

"Once it has sunk in that such a move is perfectly acceptable in Europe, the US will declare its own bail-in policy. Those who still cling to some hope that there may be some good news here, may say, 'Well, at least if I have less than €100,000 on deposit, I can still call that my own.' These folks will be the same ones who are relieved that they are likely to be left out of a 'one-time' wealth tax that is currently being floated as another solution to the exorbitant operating costs of governments. However, any government that steals your money once is likely to have another go at a later date. And another and another. Once they are accepted at all—for any reason—governments tend to repeat them." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGet Ready for Confiscation