The Cyprus Cash Grab - Coming to America?

Townhall.com ^ | March 19, 2013 | Neal Boortz

[Kaslin]

You were shocked - SHOCKED, you say - at the very idea that the government of Cyprus would order banks to seize 10% of every bank account and hand the money over the government? Well … excuse me for being rude, but maybe if you had been spending a better part of the last 20 years paying attention to the atrocities that happen with nauseating regularity in Washington, instead of going into an annual swoon over March Madness and/or the Oscars, or blindly tuning in to Entertainment Tonight every evening rather than an actual newscast, you might have seen this money grab coming. I’m no rocket surgeon, and I saw it coming (in America, not Cyprus) and I been warning the listeners to my talk show from 1993 right up until my retirement two months ago.

It’s simple. Taxing your income is simply not enough. The left is coming after your wealth. They’ll be satisfied with some of your retirement funds … for now.

If you haven’t been paying attention to the Cyprus story, here’s your short version: Cyprus is in financial trouble. The Cypriot government is led by communists. Trade unions are fighting austerity programs needed to erase huge deficits. Sound familiar? That is similar to the situation in the United States in more ways that you might imagine. So Cyprus did what every other troubled Eurozone country is doing: went to the Eurozone finance commissioners for a bailout. The commissioners said fine, but as a condition of the bailout Cyprus must levy a 10% tax against the outstanding balance in all depository accounts in Cyprus banks. Call it a tax. Or call it stealing. Either way, every Cypriot depositor loses 10% of their account. The government screws up, the people pay. Again, it sounds so very familiar.

Oddly enough, the people of Cyprus weren’t particularly elated over this move, nor were investors and citizens throughout the Eurozone. Imagine that! Cypriots immediately grabbed their ATM cards and started to withdraw as much money as they could from their accounts. Cash in their hands wouldn’t be hit for 10%. It was clear there would be a run on the banks as soon as they reopened. Now the plan to simply seize individual wealth is being delayed, though not abandoned.

Could it happen here? Well certainly it could. Congress could pass and the President could sign legislation calling for the seizure of 10% of every checking and savings account in every bank in America. This might finally be enough to cause a resurrection, but they could do it. So in America the wealth seizure has to be just a bit more selective and subtle. And that brings us to the warning I’ve been voicing for 20 years.

Go back to 1993. Bill Clinton has just been sworn in. The Democrats are running the show. They’ve passed a nice little tax increase – retroactive, mind you – and they feel encouraged. Along comes a lady by the name of Alicia Munnell. She’s been appointed by Clinton to be an Assistant Treasury Secretary for Economic Development. Munnell proposes a plan to come up with some cash to shore up Social Security. Not everyone, it seems, is “fortunate” enough to have a nice little IRA or 401k retirement account. Why this just isn’t fair! Everyone should have a comfortable retirement, not just the people who actually planned and worked for one! So Munnell proposed to Clinton an idea! Let’s just go out there and seize 15% of the outstanding balance of every IRA and 401k. Seize that money and pump it into the Social Security system. As it turns out, Munnell and Clinton never really had the chance to put their plan into action since the very next year the Republicans took control of the House and the Senate in the voter revolution of 1994. Munnell hasn’t gone away though. She now hatches her wealth seizure and redistribution schemes as the Director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

Never fear .. the idea is alive. House and Senate Democrats are even now toying with various plots to seize retirement and pension plans and pour them into some grand new government operated and controlled pension system .. a system that would be “fair” to everyone. This is just a perfect scenario for Obamian class warfare. “Those rich people are enjoying their fat-cat retirements with the money that should have been used to pay workers a living wage. They steal a comfortable retirement from the middle class and laugh at them from their yachts and private jets.” Yeah … that works. And as you should know, the government would certainly do a better job providing for American’s retirements than could free people interacting in a system of economic liberty.

Cyprus? I hope you enjoy that spectacle as it unfolds. Shake your heads and tsk tsk all you like. Just remember … the Democrat party is watching this episode and celebrating. You’re next.

[MrB]

Ah... but one of the inalterable conclusions that you would come to if you had a humanist worldview would be
that it CAN’T happen here.

Just ask any leftist - “we wouldn’t do that here”.
As for “why not”, they probably wouldn’t be able to answer,
but it has to do with their humanism - in a nutshell, people here and now are more advanced than those there and then.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

“Somthing is happening but you don’t know what it is...”

Ballad of a Thin Man.

[BitWielder1]

Our government, especially the won in the WH, would absolutely love to stick their grabby hands into private bank accounts.
That would be like a "tax" on responsible people, who saved for the future.
After all, the typical 0bama voter blows every cent he gets and then start whining for more, so they are safe from this and won't object.

[GeronL]

of course they will get away with it, the sheeple will buy any story they tell

[sauropod]

Yep.

[BitWielder1]

... we’ll just start shooting

When you learn that your local community bank was forced to electronically transfer 10% of your life savings to Washington, who exactly will you be shooting at?
Were you envisioning a showdown with government black suits in the town square?
They can rob you from afar and make it look all legal.
They do it every year.

[Soul of the South]

“Don’t ask me, I’m very tempted to go all ‘Old Testament’ on them. Maybe Hammurabi’s code will do?”

At the time of the founding of the nation the following were not considered “cruel and unusual punishment”.

1) Public stocks.
2) Tar & feathers
3) Hanging in the public square

Perhaps a combination of all three would be appropriate. A week in the stocks in the middle of winter being pelted by eggs and tomatoes thrown by citizens. Followed by a public tarring and feathering. Then a final encounter with the noose. Seems appropriate.

It is interesting our advanced society considers all of the above “cruel and unusual.” Yet we accept Waco, Ruby Ridge, and drone strikes on US citizens as civilized and acceptable.

[Venturer]

Exactly: The Q’s and the low interest rates are robbing us every day.

[jsanders2001]

> If enough people are aware, ready, and locked and loaded then maybe the Banksters will back off.

I think the “real” American patriots have had just about enough of this liberal utopian propaganda bullshit. I’d say it’s about time to get pissed and start “removing” the problem with whatever means necessary. The libs are about to do more than awaken the sleeping giant.

[Thidwick]

Many citizens, myself included, have had to take an early w/d from 401k retirement just to survive this oppressed economy. Thats 10% for the government straight away. How convenient for them.

[KarlInOhio]

Watch out for another tricky way of doing it. Because people are investing far too recklessly (or holding too much cash and not investing enough), they could require retirement accounts to invest a percentage in a "safe" investment of government bonds. Maybe only 10% at first. Then bump it up to 20 or 25%. Then a few years later require half of current funds and all new deposits be put in government bonds. Gradually increase it until you hit 100%.

When would people march on Washington? Ever? Over a few percent of required "diversification"? Would people even empty out their accounts and pay taxes and a 10% (or 20 or 50%, got to increase that to keep people from fleeing) penalty?

They'll gradually boil that frog rather than just toss it into an already boiling pot.

[KarlInOhio]

Many citizens, myself included, have had to take an early w/d from 401k retirement just to survive this oppressed economy.

For the first time in many years I didn't fully fund my 401k and don't know whether I'll make a deposit in my IRA for 2012. I'm not quite at the pull the money out point, but I am keeping the cash out of retirement accounts.

[SargeK]

DING DING DING! We have a Winnah!

Yep. The Cypriots resorted to outright confiscation since they can’t print their own currency.

Bernanke is doing the exact same thing in stealth mode by running the presses. My bank savings account (which is getting smaller all the time) earned a grand total of 24 cents last month on a balance big enough to buy a mid-size car.

We are frogs, folks, and they are slowly turning up the heat.

[The Great RJ]

Obama’s all out assault on the Bill of Rights will soon include an attack on the 5th Amendment guarantees that private property will not be taken for public use, without just compensation. He has already eroded the Amendment's protections against warrant-less searches and due process with his proposed use of drones.

[SargeK]

Your question is meant to be rhetorical, but history has shown that it does have an answer.

[TruthInThoughtWordAndDeed]

Commentary of the kind you have offered here is exactly the reason that I read Free Republic.

In lame stream media, the truth is hidden, or more likely, just plain ignored. Or, if it IS exposed, it is ridiculed.

But here, with insightful thinkers like you, we are all lifted. You put 2 and 2 together to get 4 with just a few words that any of us can understand.

Bravo!

Thank you.

[Rusty0604]

Exactly. And the interest paid on savings is lower than inflation.

[Little Ray]

It has already been done. It’s called “inflation.” They steal a few percent of our money every year.

[Rusty0604]

I’ve been keeping up with this also. I didn’t know they were considering confiscating it after death. That’s what they do to social security, and they only pay out something like $250 for burial, what can you do with that?

[Rusty0604]

I think they will force you to buy gov’t bonds.