At the end of March, wealthy depositors with banks on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus had their accounts “levied” as part of a bailout deal for Cypriot financial institutions by other European Union members.
I delved into the news for an update on how the bribe plan worked. Admirably, as Cyprus receives EU-IMF bailout funds!
Cyprus has received the first installment of a 10bn-euro bailout package from international creditors, which was agreed earlier this year.
Cyprus received 2bn euros (£1.6bn; $2.6bn) in loans, said a statement by the European Stability Mechanism.
Another 1bn euros will be transferred before 30 June, the ESM said.
It’s a veritable bailout bonanza!!! While the repercussions of the Cypriot bailout are still not clear, it is worthwhile taking a look at the recipient of another bailout deal: Greece. Three years after their “rescue”, the Greek economy is still full of fail. In Mindful Money, economist Shuan Richards has this analysis:
It is now over three years since the bailout of Greece which if we recall was supposed to provoke “shock and awe”. Ironically it has followed the path of the original shock and awe claims of the attack on Baghdad where initial claims and boasts then became bogged down in an insurgency. In both instances reality proved inconvenient and we now see that Greece is bogged down in an economic decline rather than seeing the fruits of a “rescue” that was supposed to see her growing at 2.8% per annum right now. If that now sounds insane well it was supposed to rise to 3.1% next year on its way to 3.8% in 2015. Or we note it was put this way.
Richards actually has some information on Cyprus as well, and it is none too good:
You might think that something at least would have been learnt from this and yet what is beginning in Cyprus looks even worse.
For the period January-February 2013, the (Retail Sales) Index is provisionally estimated to have a decrease of 8,5% compared to the corresponding period of 2012.
Based on the seasonally adjusted data that shows the trend of unemployment, the number of registered unemployed for April 2013 increased to 44.043 persons in comparison to 41.413 in the previous month…….In comparison with April 2012, an increase of 9.803 persons or 27,7% was recorded
Sound familiar?
Both countries are faced with daunting unemployment numbers. However, at least one Cypriot industry is poised for a boom if the island follows the Greek economic model:
With Greece suffering the biggest economic depression in decades, all so a few rich men can preserve their wealth and not have their EUR-denominated savings wiped out (even if the alternative means finally being able to rebalance externally using the Drachma instead of forcing internal rebalancing via unemployment and plunging wages), it was only a matter of time before we found out just how humiliating the conversion of the entire economy to a “gray”, non-tax paying one would be for the citizens of Greece.
As the NYT reports, in just the past two years, the numbers of Greeks engaging in prostitution as a last course source of income has more than doubled: according to the National Center for Social Research, the number of people selling sex has surged 150 percent in the last two years.
George Washington once said: “Some day, following the example of the United States of America, there will be a United States of Europe.” Too bad our modern leaders decided to reverse roles, and use Europe as a template for our economic system.
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Comments
“Beggar thy neighbor” is running strong everywhere, especially here in Obamastan. The ultimate outcome is that savings will be worth only what the banks say they’re worth, and all prices will be controlled by the banks. We’re now in a race to see if Bernanke’s confiscation can outpace Obama’s scandals. I’d say there’s about two years left. This regime must get shut down ASAP.
P.S. Bernanke has been buying in to Europe’s collapse for awhile.
This is all so blatantly unconstitutional, such wholesale theft as has never been seen in human history. Rest assured, the prez don’t know nuthin’.
There’s a “European Stability Mechanism?” (Howls of laughter.) Not gonna touch the prostitution thing…too many opportunities, here, if it comes to that.
Meanwhile, in other new news from across the pond, as the latest British atrocity fades from the 24 hour news cycle, you can watch Stockholm burn.
I think its all the Cincinnati office’s fault!
I will call ACORN and see if they will help set up AphroditePriestesses.com
It could be based in Cyprus as “Aphrodite is also known as Cytherea (Lady of Cythera) and Cypris (Lady of Cyprus) after the two cult sites, Cythera and Cyprus, which claimed to be her place of birth.”
The language used to describe the shenanigans is designed to mislead. Who is being bailed out, the bank, the banks creditors, the govt.. It seems that the money comes from the ECB, but the ECB holds the Cyprus, Greek,Italy, Spain and more sovereign debt. The funds go to pay interest on that debt so they are paying themselves. Now who owns the ECB assets? It would seem to be that the various countries own the assets, but those assets are not really marked to market and the various countries own liabilities that will in the course of time be passed on to the taxpayers. Which countries have actual taxpayers?