Euro: Currency Or Prison?
The following Wall Street Journal article deserves to be read in its entirety...
Authored by Vincent Cignarella, originally posted at WSJ Market Beat,
Is The Euro a Currency or a Prison?
Wearing the disguise of austerity, the euro has emerged as the gatekeeper of what is fast becoming a debtors’ prison.
The Troika of the ECB, IMF and European Commission acting in concert have become more like another Troika–of judge, jury and executioner–for any nation within the euro zone that dares not follow the letter of budgetary imposition.
The latest country bound by these handcuffs: Cyprus.
Like Lords of old, they gallop into town and demand of the serfs a levy on their lands, in this case deposits so they may remain within the realm and suffer the protection of the single currency regardless of the cost in pain and human suffering.
Monetary union, the vehicle to bring about peace and prosperity, has become the lash that tears at the fabric of the poorest of nations. In the case of Cyprus, it could easily push that nation into the arms of Russia and abandonment of the euro - the exact opposite result of what the single currency was designed to do.
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Read: Bernard Connolly - The rotten heart of Europe
http://www.pmbug.com/forum/f4/two-eye-opening-books-euro-crisis-1347/
It was designed as a debtors prison.
Which means it is time to storm the Bastille and let the prisoners FREE
European Revolution 1789 ... 2013
I'd prefer 1776 over 1789.
"Liberté, égalité, fraternité" is not what I want, especially not egalitarianism.
perhaps because you misunderstood them? read them as:
personal liberty (the basis of liberal parties)
equality before the law (and the basis of socialist parties, yes)
fraternity between citizens of a nation (the basis of conservative parties)
at the end, those are the three primary political colours, and nearly everybody has at least a little of them in his soul
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the EUR: a currency. common one between nations. and so one that can't be driven like a speedster car for electoral or other political reasons
let me see, when did we have something even remotely resembling the EUR? .... ah, yes: gold
and don't forget that we had debt crises even when debt was in gold - and they were remarkably similar to the Cyprus Affair
by the way, get some gold - you'll sleep better
Remind me: why do they re-open the banks (in Cyprus) on Tue?
let me see... WTF have the banks in Cyprus to do with the denomination of their assets and liabilities? note that when we had banking and sovereign debt crises in the 19th Century it was in gold - and nearly nobody blamed gold for being "a prison for debtors", or "too hard"
oh, wait... Lord Keynes did, or someone before him? or did it... Richard Nixon?
sure, printing with gusto solves every banking crisis - and you know what?
whenever you "just print and bailout", you don't have to reform or restructure banks - or jail corrupt, criminal bankers
isn't that swell?
"whenever you "just print and bailout", you don't have to reform or restructure banks - or jail corrupt, criminal bankers"
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So they aren't printing Euros then? There are no dollar swaps? Are you argueing for or against the Euro? I am confused.
swaps? remember that swaps are temporary - and then swapped back
sure, the ECB is printing - but what does it buy? compared to the FED's assets? (hint: FX-Reserves)
why do you think we eurozoners are so keen on balanced budgets? masochism?
no, it's because sooner or later everybody will have to balance budgets again, and the longer you wait the worse the consequences will be
Well then, if all the budgets are balanced, then there is no problem is there? Let Cyprus do whatever it wants then. By the way, the next time you want some oil or natural gas, please pay in Gold. Otherwise, you can pump it from under your own feet you arrogant piece of shit. Perhaps it would have been better to tether your future to the ruble eh? Consequences indeed.
what would you do with this crisis involving the sovereign nation called Cyprus if you were the government or in the parliament of let's say... Finnland? or the Netherlands?
If they are truly a sovereign nation I wouldn't be so arrogant as to think it was up to me. They made their bed, now they must sleep in it. For someone who speaks of consequences I am surprised that this simple concept escapes your grasp.
no, I agree with you
so...buy stocks right?
Larry Motherfucking Fink is buying Corrections Corp and debtor prisons
Indeed.'Leave it to the...hahahahahaha...."Wall Street Journal" to "blame the money." hey! Wall Street Journal! "money" is an inanimate object! It doesn't care what you, I or ANYONE thinks about "it." now imagine "a spiritual guide to wealth creation." hmmm.'interesting. In says right on YOUR money "In God We Trust." to which I ask..."do we?" no finer explanation of the "filthy lucre" of course. "would you like some F-35 fighter bombers with that?" NAME YOUR PRICE.
Currency crisises during the 19th century had there foundation in a leveraged gold standard, where warehouse receipts were in excess of their capital. You can revisit the corn laws, if that is helpful.
The type of gold standard is just as important as having one. When bankers and merchants are allowed to print currency with reckless capital requirements, it matters not what the capital is that backs it. When gold has a determined value, just as ridiculous.
The problem is the same: bankers in charge of currency with the police power of the state equals economic tyranny and crony capitalism.
equality before the law is of course something that does not apply to Corzine
Liberté, égalité, fraternité was a compromise between different factions (as you said). The French revolution was a total failure because of that. They couldn't keep the Republic and reverted back to imperialism (Napoléon).
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Comparing the Euro to gold is comical, gold doesn't need a central bank. Under the classical gold standard, debt levels and interest rates like we have them today were impossible. We also would never have gotten such extreme trade imbalances as we got them today within the Eurozone. And calling the Euro-project "Austrian" (as you did on other occasions) is absurd. It's monetarist facism while the US FED's path is a mixture of Keynesianism (full employment) and Monetarism (price stability) designed by MIT phds. Since Draghi took over from Trichet, the ECB somewhat adjusted it's course to the MIT model (instantly cutting the target rate back, LTRO, OMT, "do whatever it takes"), which is no wonder because Draghi is another MIT phd moron like Bernanke.
Cyprus is not just another domestic debt crisis. Their economy is healthier compared to other Southern Euro-states. It's a banking crisis that originated in the exposure of their banks to Greece. Who has been killing the Greek economy since 2010? The troika.
The Squid killed Greece. Cyprus is just an afterplay
you mean it's not Austrian because you know, Austrian feels good? Austrian is about giving to each according to his needs and so on?
I mean it's not Austrian because it's centralist and ultra-interventionist.
Time has forgotten the fourth: "ou la mort." Strange, since back in that era, more folks ended up with "la mort" than the other three.
Godless revolutions usually end the way that is expected.
They made Putin the most powerful man in the world right now. His choice of taking down the Euro or not.
http://sherriequestioningall.blogspot.com/2013/03/germany-warns-cyprus-b...
Not too sure about that.
3 possibilities:
1. He gets his money out and everyone else is taxed
2. Tax never actually happens
3. Tax happens but ECB reimburses him in another country for going along
He is not going to take down the Euro. Why would anyone so entrenched in the present system go against it?
Wasn't it the Freemasons that led the French Revolution?
Many European Banksters are Freemasons.
Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble said major Cypriot banks were "insolvent if there are no emergency funds,” according to a BBC report, meaning savers might lose all their money if no deal was reached.
The "wealth" isn't real to begin with. "Mark to fantasy" forever...
Forever
This "deal" is to protect the banks investors not clients.
The proposed and rejected Cyprus deal was structured to protect the mainland investors (i.e., exisitng term creditors) at the expense of the bank customers...the depositors.
Probably, structured in such manner because that is the only remaining source of immediate value on the balance sheets, and much of it is owned/controlled by non-EU citizens.
Either way, the banks' equity investors get wiped out. With "the cat out of the bag," depositors take any remaining money and run when the banks re-open.
If and after a proposed deposit seizure/haircut (which was shot down in Parliament), the remaining "jumbo" deposits would have fled Cyprus in anger, and the banks would have become illiquid thanks to fractional reserve structuring.
If the Cypriot banks re-open, denominated in a different currency, then the bank run still occurs, albeit in a new currency, because the majority of value on the balance sheets is from elsewhere.
"...meaning savers might lose all their money if no deal was reached."
Well frankly, in the midst of an open-ended bank holiday, if you can't access it, protect it, move it or use it, did you really ever *have* any money in the first place?
"insolvent if there are no emergency funds"
That basically describes every tbtf bank.
ALL the banks and countries that bought into the CDS Toxic Sludge (Made in USA, and packaged & sold by GS) are caught in the Debtor's Prison. So, in typical Stockholm syndrome fashion, rather than looking at what really happened, the masses are all to happy to blame each other. Thus self-enforcing their respective roles as sheep.
The EU banks that had little to no exposure to GS-Sludge (Germany) were sucked in nonetheless, thanks to the EU Solidarity group-think at high levels.
It's time that people did their homework, so they won't fall prey to charlatans peddling false-flag arguments that act as diversions from everything but the truth.
ALL the banks and countries that bought into the CDS Toxic Sludge (Made in USA, and packaged & sold by GS) are caught in the Debtor's Prison. So, in typical Stockholm syndrome fashion, rather than looking at what really happened, the masses are all to happy to blame each other. Thus self-enforcing their respective roles as sheep.
The EU banks that had little to no exposure to GS-Sludge (Germany) were sucked in nonetheless, thanks to the EU Solidarity group-think at high levels.
It's time that people did their homework, so they won't fall prey to charlatans peddling false-flag arguments that act as diversions from everything but the truth.
ALL the banks and countries that bought into the CDS Toxic Sludge (Made in USA, and packaged & sold by GS) are caught in the Debtor's Prison. So, in typical Stockholm syndrome fashion, rather than looking at what really happened, the masses are all to happy to blame each other. Thus self-enforcing their respective roles as sheep.
The EU banks that had little to no exposure to GS-Sludge (Germany) were sucked in nonetheless, thanks to the EU Solidarity group-think at high levels.
It's time that people did their homework, so they won't fall prey to charlatans peddling false-flag arguments that act as diversions from everything but the truth.
CRAP!!! TD, please delete multiple postings. I had connection problems, saying that the site was offline.
Thanks for telling me. I thought I'd been hitting the Sterno too hard again.
"Monetary union, the vehicle to bring about peace and prosperity...."
The WSJ is a rag. What a load of utter horseshit.
according to the WSJ we continental europeans should just had to adopt the USD, and so have even moar peace and prosperity
So there are no dollar swaps covering Euro printing then? Wake up, you have had and will get moar peace and prosperity.
.
Does it matter what currency you adopt, since all of them are worthless and printed into eternity? There are zero GOOD currencies, they are all debt instruments. Why don't you adopt the elimination of legal tender laws and let your people decide what is money?
100% agree.
The euro allowed the south to borrow more and at lower rates than what they otherwise would have. There can simply be no doubt about this. The tradeoff is that the governments in the south cant decide to print money to dilute their debt. Saying that this is the lash of serfdom forgets that no one would have given Cyprus, Greece, Spain or Italy money otherwise.
Stealing deposits to fund a "stability fund" was just full frontal fractional reservist bullshit. Only a complete moron could believe such a story. Face it, ECB, if you don't want to provide liquidity in the event of a bank run, then why do you exist?
Europe and Obummers Amerika are no different that communist China now. Same evil politicians. At least Europe has Grillo, Farange, Gerd Wilders and a few others.
F TV, F Hollywood and F massmedia who keep the evil elites in power and fool the pubic.
Freddie, I maintain that we have Grillo, Farage, etc. because of our electoral systems - think about that
Get out of paper while the getting out is good.
http://jimroger.blogspot.ca/
i.e. EUROpeons
Two excerpts from Connolly's book:
That was written in 1995!
So I guess he was right.
"Like Lords of old, they gallop into town and demand of the serfs a levy on their lands, in this case deposits so they may remain within the realm and suffer the protection of the single currency regardless of the cost in pain and human suffering."
We hit you because we love you baby.
"'It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again."