Posted on 04/20/2015 7:07:12 PM PDT by Rusty0604
Earlier today, following weeks of speculation, Greece finally launched the first shot across the bow of capital controls, when it decreed that due to an "extremely urgent and unforeseen need" (ironically the need was quite foreseen since about 2010, but that is a different story), it would be "obliged" to transfer - as in confiscate - "idle cash reserves" located across the country's local governments (i.e., various cities and municipalities) to the Greek central bank.
Several hours later the decree which was posted in the government gazette has finally percolated among the population, and the response to what even ordinary Greeks realize is now the endgame, is less than exuberant.
Bloomberg reports, that "as Greece struggles to find cash to stay afloat, local authorities say they oppose a government decision to use their reserves for short-term financing."
The governments decision to seize our reserves not only raises legal and constitutional issues, but also a moral one, said George Papanikolaou, mayor of Glyfada, the third-largest municipality in the metropolitan region of Attica after Athens and Piraeus. We have a responsibility to serve our citizens, Papanikolaou said by phone on Monday. Glyfada has about 16 million euros in cash reserves, he said.
George is unhappy because as recently as tomorrow, he will find there is precisely zero euros in his public bank account, as all the money has now been forcibly sequestered by the government in order to repay future Troika, pardon, IMF obligations.
Sadly for Greece, this is the only option left as the money has now fully run out: Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras ordered local governments and central government entities to move their cash balances to the central bank for investment in short-term state debt.
From Bloomberg:
The decree to confiscate reserves held in commercial banks and transfer them to the Bank of Greece could raise as much as 2 billion euros ($2.15 billion), according to two people familiar with the decision. The money is needed to pay salaries and pensions at the end of the month, the people said.
It is a politically and institutionally unacceptable decision, Giorgos Patoulis, mayor of the city of Marousi and president of the Central Union of Municipalities and Communities of Greece, said in a statement on Monday.No government to date has dared to touch the money of municipalities.
It took the radical leftist one all of 2 months since coming to power.
And the punchline is that the use of confiscated proceeds is unclear: the government says it is to pay pensions and wages, but recall that the same government recently confiscated pensions to repay the IMF, so according to the chain of logic, the government first raided pensions, and now municipalities, just to repay the dreaded Troika.
The Athens city council and the union of municipalities and communities in Greece will convene tomorrow to debate the order, a press officer of the mayors office said.
And one everyone realizes what just happened, expect the riot cam and the Greek Pay-Per-Riot channel, which has been on hiatus since the summer of 2012, to be fully reactivated.
Stunned Greeks React To Initial Capital Controls And The "Decree To Confiscate Reserves", And They Are Not Happy
“... you eventually run out of other people’s money.”
Anyone who lives in Greece and doesn’t keep his money under the mattress is a fool.
This sounds pretty bad.
ok freepers - what course of action is best followed by the individual in these situations? Convert your cash as fast as possible to gold, .22L, food, and Jack hidden under the bed?
Greece has been under various monetary threats from its own government for years. Many even not as severe than this one. Now, they are following through.
This is the path America is walking towards.
And the first thing they will take is private retirements. The democrats can’t stand to see all that money that they think rightfully belongs to them.
This is like lifting up the cushions to look for change to pay the rent.
What’s next? Selling their plumbing?
The US needs Capitol Controls....
Rule 308 kicks in right after that.
Time to emigrate to Libya....
“Unexpectedly” has become the new badge of socialism.
Right now they’re trying to get at that money via inflation.
But inflation is way to low for them.
You’re right, at some point they are going to try for the Retirement and Bank accounts.
one is suspicious when they put money INTO a bank these days...
I can't wait till we're caught up with our expenses and kiss JP goodbye....
the implied idea was save into your 401k or IRA and it was encouraged by the govt....it would make up for all these companies taking away defined pensions....
then sham wow......fooled you....
Banning private ownership of gold and confiscating gold is usually one of the first things governments in this situation do. Remember Roosevelt did it to us.
We are hellbent on becoming another Greece, on a larger scale. No one will face up to our financial problems. The only thing that matters to the media is gay marriage, lgbt, gay wedding cakes, etc. Won't end well.
Everyone has fun when Commies are in Charge
They are not just going to just take it, that would be too open and obvious, people might turn off the TV and complain. Oh no, they will just change the rules on tax deferred savings. you will need to invest in “Government backed securities” in order to get tax deferral, and people will put hundreds of billions of dollars into T-bills and bonds. we will do it to ourselves, just like we have done everything else to ourselves over the last 25 years or so. it is not as hard as you think to steal 10 trillion dollars. i think it will be here in 10 years or less, you have got to boil that frog real slow.
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