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.
If you waited for this situation to make those decisions, it’s way too late.
If they don’t outright seize bank & retirement accounts here, they’ll simply count them against you in terms of any programs (higher ObamaCare/MediCare insurance premiums/co-payments, lower Social Security payments, etc.). In the end, they’ll come close to their desired outcome (equal poverty for all).
The way they'd get to the retirement accounts is to turn them into federal government annuities. If that were the only way to get FDIC insurance on retirement savings, it would reach a level of acceptance and then could be made mandatory.
Read a crazy article years ago suggesting that.
Don't wait until the last minute. Have gold/silver coins. Canadian Maple Leafs are 24k. Have money outside of the country if possible.
They got the government they voted for...what’s the problem?
Convert your cash to prepaid rent and non-perishable food.
That’s it in a nutshell.
Almost every other choice is worse.
The only things I would change are : caliber(s), whiskey brands...and I'd keep some paper money. 1, 5, 10's. Maybe some 20's.
About $1,000.
Buy some fish antibiotics and bic lighters...LOTS of that and Whiskey.
Politicians promise to rob the other guy (the 'rich') and pass out the proceeds. Why do they think said politician would respect anyone's property rights?
The Dems were holding hearings about that right before they lost the majority in the House.
The U. S. will be the last to fall. But fall we will. Its maybe 20 years away.
They really have the majority dumbed down don’t they?
Focused on stupidity while they rob us blind and the country goes to hell.
Revolution is afoot, with (really) bad times ahead.
Fish antibiotics?
Hence my tag line for six years.
They are the same thing but no Rx. required.
At this point, converting to gold would be problematic because as soon as you try to barter the gold, many people will know you have a “stash” and are likely to come after it.
Stockpiling bulk goods takes a lot of room, so I am of the opinion that a one time investment into something that can be bartered. Things like a good quality still, means of making lamp fuel, refilling lighters, etc.
Or require a higher and higher percentage be invested in Government bonds, ... for a safer investment.
the difference between their government and ours is that theirs blatantly announces they are going to steal the people’s money, while our government does so by creating new ridiculous taxes- but it won’t be long before our government begins announcing they are going to seize 401’s retirement accounts or whatever-
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