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Stunned Greeks React To Initial Capital Controls And The "Decree To Confiscate Reserves
Zerohedge ^ | 04/20/2015 | Tyler Durden

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 government’s 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 mayor’s 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.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: alexistsipras; europeanunion; greece; greececrisis; nato; reparations; syriza; turkey; tylerdurden; tylerdurdenmyass; zerohedge
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Full Title:

Stunned Greeks React To Initial Capital Controls And The "Decree To Confiscate Reserves", And They Are Not Happy

1 posted on 04/20/2015 7:07:12 PM PDT by Rusty0604
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To: Rusty0604

“... you eventually run out of other people’s money.”


2 posted on 04/20/2015 7:10:27 PM PDT by Steely Tom (Vote GOP for A Slower Handbasket)
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To: Rusty0604

Anyone who lives in Greece and doesn’t keep his money under the mattress is a fool.


3 posted on 04/20/2015 7:10:56 PM PDT by proxy_user
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To: Rusty0604

This sounds pretty bad.


4 posted on 04/20/2015 7:11:19 PM PDT by dp0622
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To: Rusty0604

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?


5 posted on 04/20/2015 7:11:24 PM PDT by redlegplanner ( No Representation without Taxation)
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To: proxy_user

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.


6 posted on 04/20/2015 7:13:29 PM PDT by Sasparilla (If you want peace, prepare for war.)
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To: proxy_user

This is the path America is walking towards.


7 posted on 04/20/2015 7:14:58 PM PDT by crusher2013
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To: crusher2013

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.


8 posted on 04/20/2015 7:21:42 PM PDT by Rusty0604
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To: Rusty0604

This is like lifting up the cushions to look for change to pay the rent.

What’s next? Selling their plumbing?


9 posted on 04/20/2015 7:22:35 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: Rusty0604

The US needs Capitol Controls....


10 posted on 04/20/2015 7:24:12 PM PDT by Paladin2 (Ive given up on aphostrophys and spell chek on my current device...)
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To: Rusty0604

Rule 308 kicks in right after that.


11 posted on 04/20/2015 7:24:26 PM PDT by Farmer Dean (stop worrying about what they want to do to you,start thinking about what you want to do to them)
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To: redlegplanner

Time to emigrate to Libya....


12 posted on 04/20/2015 7:28:55 PM PDT by Paladin2 (Ive given up on aphostrophys and spell chek on my current device...)
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To: Rusty0604

“Unexpectedly” has become the new badge of socialism.


13 posted on 04/20/2015 7:32:13 PM PDT by cicero2k
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To: Rusty0604

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.


14 posted on 04/20/2015 7:37:59 PM PDT by crusher2013
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To: proxy_user
today I deposited $1200 into the bank.....they asked to see my ID and then took it and probably scanned it....

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....

15 posted on 04/20/2015 7:38:00 PM PDT by cherry
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To: Rusty0604
yep....they'll take the private retirement savings from people who don't get the defined pensions like all govt workers....

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....

16 posted on 04/20/2015 7:40:47 PM PDT by cherry
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To: redlegplanner
Convert your cash as fast as possible to gold

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.

17 posted on 04/20/2015 7:40:55 PM PDT by SeeSharp
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To: crusher2013
This is the path America is walking towards.

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.

18 posted on 04/20/2015 7:49:48 PM PDT by The_Media_never_lie (The media must be defeated any way it can be done.)
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To: Rusty0604

Everyone has fun when Commies are in Charge


19 posted on 04/20/2015 7:54:56 PM PDT by molson209 (Blank)
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To: cherry

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.


20 posted on 04/20/2015 7:57:52 PM PDT by calljack (Sometimes your worst nightmare is just a start.)
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