Is it time to empty Euro bank accounts?

Whatever the decision in Cyprus,whether it is a yes or no vote to accept the EU bailout and live with the bank robbery,there must now be a run on the Euro. We have on this forum a number of expats living in EEC countries which still have fragile economies.

If the EU succeed in taking this money from Cypriot bank accounts then they must be tempted to repeat it in Spain,Italy and Greece.

At the moment the Euro is still quite strong against the £,so it would be no hardship to change into pounds. I was warned of this event last week and immediately emptied our Euro accounts.

I must say I am disgusted with this bank robbery,it seems to be orchestrated by the Germans,once again they seem to want to control Europe,dangerous events I think.

KudosDave

Its actually going on here and has been for some time. Savers are being robbed by artificially low interest rates and quantitative easing. The only difference is that the Cypriots have done it with one big hit, grabbing a percentage in a single attack Our governments preferring a more subtle approach by slowly draining away the worth of any savings over a period of time. Both disgusting in equal measure, but at least the Cypriots are more open about what they are doing.

 

This whole Euro thing is very worrying.

That's why I've been buying gold rather than saving cash.

I also think a line has been crossed Dave, the line that separates taxation from theft.

 

According to a financial expert on radio earlier, it appears that we in the UK have already lost as much and more of our saved money as the Cypriots are about to lose. The difference being that our losses have been through interest rates being well below inflation since the start of 2008. The end result appears little different in these two cases, but at least we have had the choice of staying with the low rates or changing our investments to alternatives at any time, a choice now denied to the Cypriots.

 

I can't complain about the Germans though, they've been clever enough to find that there's more than one way to win wars. The rest of us in Europe just have to become a lot smarter so they cannot continue to steal a march on the rest of us.

I think that the last thing modern Germany wants is to control Europe. It happens that they are Europe’s largest economy by far. But this doesn’t mean they should meekly bail everyone else out. It’s not unreasonable in this case for the Cypriots to make an effort and it is up to the Cypriots to decide what that effort should be. It's their government that initially decided to spread the load amongst all Cypriots. After a little bit of reflexion and a lot of public protest they may yet shift more of the burden onto the rich Russians whose not entirely snowy-white billions were welcomed by Cypriot banks.

Our Government has been printing money(Quantitative easing) which in the long run devalues our money whether it be saved, salaried or hidden under the mattress which I regard just as immoral as taxing ones bank account. Its a pity we cannot charge the government with theft.

Edited March 18, 201313 yr by jazper53

Whilst I accept the QE system slowly eroding our wealth,we do have a choice we can quit the bank. But in this case in Cyprus,they have frozen their bank accounts and emptying ATM machines so they cannot move their money. When national governments transfered supervision of the banking system to the European Central Bank in Frankfurt,they appear to have the legal authority to interfere in any of the banks which are part of the 17 Euro countries-thank goodness we never joined the Euro.

Our government spent fortunes propping up the principle that up to a certain limit savers money in a bank is protected,its almost a trust between banks and savers. This raid on savers cash is without precedent,it will cause massive ongoing problems where savers within those 17 Euro countries can no longer trust that their money is safe.

THIS WILL BE THE START OF THE END OF THE EURO.

KudosDave

Edited March 18, 201313 yr by Kudoscycles

Hopefully the start of us leaving the EU too.......

 

Honestly.....banks......who would have em......Ive decided that kids are far less bother...

 

Lynda

Funny enough...( it is strange the things you remember) way back in 1975 there was a 'old boy' at the company I worked, he was 'worldly wise', we had many a good dinner break chat, he said to me they ( the common market) are looking at having a 'European Dollar' as he called it, doomed to failure he said.

We may have not joined it, but we will be deeply affected by its failure the collapse of Europe could bring about a economic depression that will be global. Our best bet would be to align the Pound with the US $ or become the 53rd state of America with which we have more in common with, than the bunch of wallies on the other side of the channel. IMHO

The sh*tteth hit the fan methinks. Definitely very glad we are not it the euro, to me it is a concept that was doomed from the outset with clear fundamental flaws. I do not see how you can join one country's finances to others so deeply and still have each country able to properly control it's own economy. Just never made sense to me

Seems I am not alone in my thinking.

 

In a note to investors, Mark J. Grant of Southwest Capital wrote:

 

 

"People and institutions alike, all across Europe, have to be thinking and wondering about their money in the banks in Spain, Portugal, Italy and, frankly, in every country in Europe. If the European Union can steal money from the bank accounts in Cyprus then what is stopping them from stealing money from any bank in any country in Europe. In the rush to lessen the amount of money required from the nations of Europe to finance Cyprus these people have made a disastrous decision that will affect all of Europe far past the size of Cyprus or the amount of money involved."

 

 

This could spur even more withdrawals from banks in Spain, Italy and Greece which already owe more than they are worth

I'm trying not to be too facetious here, but whilst I am currently posting in two threads the phrase

 

"WHOARE IN EUROPE" sprang to mind.....sorry....just couldn't help myself

 

Lynda

Just been reading up a bit more on this I cannot believe the injustice of what is planned. Why is the required money not being recouped from the bankers who made millions from irresponsible lending and caused the crisis? Why is the money being taken from people who did nothing to cause the banking crisis in the first place?

We may have not joined it, but we will be deeply affected by its failure the collapse of Europe could bring about a economic depression that will be global. Our best bet would be to align the Pound with the US $ or become the 53rd state of America with which we have more in common with, than the bunch of wallies on the other side of the channel. IMHO

 

Replacing one lot of interfering idiots with another lot does not seem such a good idea to me.

 

Out of the frying pan into the fire springs to mind.

Replacing one lot of interfering idiots with another lot does not seem such a good idea to me.

 

Out of the frying pan into the fire springs to mind.

 

Trouble is....we arent an 'island'....apart from geographically.....and I guess we do need to cozy up and get warm with someone......who else is there ?

 

Pity we can't bring back the Commonwealth.....but understandably, I don't think they would have us now....we just all seem to have gone a bit 'globally mad' in recent years.......maybe it's time for an invasion......from another planet

 

Now that would REALLY make us all paranoid, no need then for Pedelecs shenanigans ........

 

Lynda

Just been reading up a bit more on this I cannot believe the injustice of what is planned. Why is the required money not being recouped from the bankers who made millions from irresponsible lending and caused the crisis? Why is the money being taken from people who did nothing to cause the banking crisis in the first place?

 

Oigoi,I absolutely agree....

Oigoi,I absolutely agree....

 

And so do I.......

 

Lynda

Maybe in the future we will be able to be payed in krugerrands or get one salary payed into some off-shore account or go back to a bartering system, and exclude the banking system completely, sounds good to me

In earnest, I rushed to empty my Euro bank account today, only to be reminded that I spent it all a while back!

 

Seriously though, perhaps this will start the domino effect and bring about an abrupt end to the Socialist Euro farce that manacles the european economies from getting out of this mess. Although, I fear it may be bloody, but probably for the best to get it over with once and for all.

Maybe in the future we will be able to be payed in krugerrands or get one salary payed into some off-shore account or go back to a bartering system, and exclude the banking system completely, sounds good to me

 

Yes, if only we could get back to bartering and get rid of banks, unfortunately they seem to have got us well and truly by the proverbials.....how did that happen ?....when ? ......where did all their power come from? ... insidiously trapping us and becoming mega powerful seemingly almost overnight, at least it feels like that.......no point in Krugerrands or off shore accounts.....they would soon go the same way

 

A Mattress (for the money !), and a necessary skill to barter with, sounds good at the moment....even if it isnt really feasible

 

Lynda

Yes Lynda, I agree with you that we should perhaps go back to using a mattress to store all our dosh. Maybe a biscuit tin or the freezer are another couple of good alternatives?

I don't think I'd like to be a Cypriot government member right now and especially not one with responsibility for the decision.

There are some very nasty Russians behind some of that money, who will not take kindly to some of it being stolen.

I don't think I'd like to be a Cypriot government member right now and especially not one with responsibility for the decision.

There are some very nasty Russians behind some of that money, who will not take kindly to some of it being stolen.

 

 

Now thats a very good point, and could be very interesting.

 

A couple of years ago it was estimated that there were upwards of 50,000 Russian mafia actually living on the Costa del Sol alone......so lets hope the Spanish govt arent reduced to doing the same.

 

Having seen some of their first proposed ridiculous knee jerk reactions to EU legislation, ( you MUST reduce carbon emissions.....ok we will ban all cars over 10yrs old from Madrid ) they really do get some crazy ideas (you Must try to improve your road accident rate......ok, we will ban all left hand drive cars from Spain )

 

Whilst they argue, demonstrate and waffle on the Russians would have a field day.......I would imagine they will already be withdrawing their ill gotten gains from the banks, and if so......thats not good news for the financial situation in Spain, and it really is grim there, we are having it easy here compared to Spain and the others that are in even worse dire straits than us.

 

You think Politicians are bad/mad here ?

Believe me, we should thank our lucky stars really........

 

Meanwhile, back to Cyprus, I think and hope that commonsense will prevail and that they won't tax people with under a certain amount in their accounts....which of course ....still leaves those angry Russians .....still, if they only take their anger out on the bankers lets just call it 'rough justice' lol

 

Lynda

Although not much reported in the press, many EU countries are actually doing reasonably well: Germany of course, but also the Czechs, Austria, the Scandinavians as usual, the Baltic states and others. They have their own problems but of the kind Osborne wouldn’t mind swapping his for. Most of these nations are in the Euro but some are not. So what have they got in common?

 

At the turn of the century they restructured their economies.

They brought in greater employee flexibility, more efficiency in the provision of healthcare and education and they reduced their social benefits.

 

Yet in all of these areas, provision remains far better than in the States.

In God’s own country most employees can be fired on a whim at 2 weeks’ notice and redundancy pay doesn’t exist. Being fired of course is the likely outcome of refusing to work the hours demanded of your employer.

Even ‘ObamaCare’ will not provide healthcare to the level of those EU nations and of the NHS.

American parents, as soon as their income permits, pull their kids out of state schools most of which are run down and grossly under staffed.

If you’re disabled or need a helping hand you’d better have had a good insurance policy and hope it doesn’t run out; otherwise with a few localised exceptions you can only seek charity.

 

So why is Britain in its particular mess? Remember how ten or so years ago the Chancellor was proclaiming over and over that he’d put an end to boom and bust? The government proudly told the world it had found a “third way”. One funded as it turned out, on private borrowing. The entire economy grew on private borrowing and consumption. The banks fell over themselves to fuel grotesque property speculation. People felt rich because of the imagined future value of their property, on which they borrowed and spent. The ensuing boom filled the government’s coffers. So instead of restructuring the economy whilst the going was good, everyone spent like there was no tomorrow till… tomorrow came.

 

So it’s really irrelevant to blame current ills on Europe or even on the Euro. Blame lies much closer to Britain’s borders. Indeed I would suggest it lies within.