"The Henry Hazlitt Memorial Lecture, sponsored by James M. Rodney, presented at the Austrian Economics Research Conference. Recorded 21 March 2013 at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Includes an introduction by Joseph T. Salerno." 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 →
"All Cyprus is, it’s (similar to) a division of the Grand Cayman Island, it’s just a different group of people washing and money laundering. But this is about much more than Cyprus, bank runs, and stealing money from the depositors. What we are looking at, Eric, on another level is an alliance, an alliance leading to wars. Look, they just appointed a new President in China, Xi. Where is the first place he went to visit? Moscow. Putin. Then there is Iran. So you can see the alliances already forming: It’s China, Russia, and Iran, against the United States, the Arab League, and Nato. And then you look at where the United States is now moving its military - Asia." 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 →
"Should kidnap victims pay their debts? That, roughly, is the question facing Estonia, which issued £700,000 ($3.4m) and $4m in 40-year bonds in 1927, but was then annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. Most investors swallowed their losses. But not William Hardison, a Florida-based businessman, who holds around $90,000-worth of the septuagenarian paper. Estonia's booming, debt-free economy is one of the most successful in the ex-communist world. But the situation with Estonia's kidnapper is rather different. Russia took on the Soviet Union's assets and liabilities in 1991, and has since bargained hard to get out of paying the latter." Continue reading →
"Holders of Soviet bonds first sold in Communist leader Leonid Brezhnev’s final year are getting in France what they can’t get from President Vladimir Putin: money. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ordered Russia last month to pay on part of the 25 trillion rubles ($785 billion), equal to almost half of Russian economic output, the government says it still owes the public from lost Soviet savings. Putin is stalling, most recently signing an order in April to halt payments on the notes until at least 2015. Now, armed with court rulings, veteran speculators are joining pensioners in seeking to cash in." Continue reading →
"Russia has made no decision yet on whether to extend the duration or ease the terms of a sovereign loan to Cyprus, a government source told Reuters on Monday. European Union officials, who over the weekend agreed a 10 billion euro bailout for the Mediterranean island, have said they expect Russia to extend its 2.5 billion euro ($3.27 billion) loan by five years, until 2021, and refinance terms. The involvement of any Russian investors - private or state - in recapitalization of the island's struggling banks is still a matter of talks, the government source said." Continue reading →
"If Gazprom were to control this massive resource, combined with the fact that Russia is beginning to court Israel for its natural gas, Gazprom would become the preeminent player in the Middle East for natural gas… and further increase its stranglehold on European energy. The government of Cyprus has initially rejected the offer, opting instead to work with the European Union and keep the natural gas to themselves, the Cypriot government could soon find themselves running away from more EU-mandated madness…and straight into Russian arms. In the next few months, we will definitely see Cyprus become the battleground of the energy cold war." Continue reading →
"Cypriot Finance Minister Michael Sarris denied reports on Tuesday that he had resigned, as lawmakers in the troubled euro zone member debated a divisive tax on bank deposits to secure an international bailout. Sarris, who was in Moscow on Tuesday, told Reuters by text message there was 'no truth' to the reports, which had further rattled nerves with lawmakers poised to reject the tax." Continue reading →
"German politicians and many of their European colleagues suspect Cyprus to be a tax haven and a money-laundering site for Russian oligarchs. Of the 68 billion euros stored in Cypriot bank accounts, around 20 billion ($26 billion) belong to Russian account holders. A report compiled last year by the German secret service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst, claims to have found evidence that Cypriot banks or Russian bank branches based in Cyprus are used to launder illegal money. Germany’s ruling coalition of conservatives and liberals is facing general elections in September, and politicians fear accusations they are sacrificing German tax money to bail out Russian billionaires." Continue reading →