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Are Greek Capital Controls Now Inevitable?
While the trading algos are blissfully honing their headline-scanning skills (it should take no longer than a few nanoseconds to find whether "patient" and "international" are in the FOMC statement) ahead of tomorrow's Fed announcement and avoiding any macro developments from around the globe, the biggest international news hit earlier today when Greece came one step closer to if not a Grexit, then a full blown bank run and capital controls when none other than the chair of the Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem became the first European Union official to suggest the possibility of capital controls to prevent Greece leaving the euro, which in turn drew a furious reaction from Athens, which accused him of "blackmail."
Quoted by Bloomberg, Dijsselbloem said that "It’s been explored what should happen if a country gets into deep trouble -- that doesn’t immediately have to be an exit scenario,” he said. For Cyprus, “we had to take radical measures, banks were closed for a while and capital flows within and out of the country were tied to all kinds of conditions, but you can think of all kinds of scenarios.”
In Athens, the insolvent but proud government issued an angry reply: cited by Kathimerini, spokesman Gavriil Sakellaridis said "It would be useful for everyone and for Mr Dijsselbloem to respect his institutional role in the eurozone. We cannot easily understand the reasons that pushed him to make statements that are not fitting to the role he has been entrusted with. Everything else is a fantasy scenario. We find it superfluous to remind him that Greece will not be blackmailed."
Considering Greece has been blackmailed from day one of the new Syriza government with the only motive that matters money, thus forcing the government to not only give up on all of its pre-election promises, but to soon implement even more "austerity" than the much hated Samaras regime, that statement in itself is superfluous.
But is Greece truly on the verge of capital controls, especially the kind that has the blessing of the very man who created the Cyprus "blueprint"? For the answer we go to ISI, which discussed just that in a flash note issued earlier today:
Greece Capital Controls?
Dangerous talk today about the possibility that capital controls may be needed in Greece from Dutch Finance Minister Dijsselbloem who heads the Eurogroup of finance ministers. We have repeatedly highlighted this risk. But for a senior eurozone official to do so is striking as it could easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Small wonder there was sharp push-back from the Greeks.
The risk of capital controls is indeed elevated for a simple reason: in the absence of substantive progress by Athens in implementing measures that will lead its creditors to release additional bail-out funds, the ECB cannot plausibly provide fully elastic lender of last resort support for Greek banks facing runs through ELA.
In the absence of a credibly elastic lender of last resort, it would be rational - in the sense of the classic Diamond / Dybvig model of a rational bank run - for Greek depositors to pull out their deposits rather than risk being the last to do so. In the event of such a run the imposition of capital controls may be viewed as the least bad available option to stabilize the financial sector.
In the real world deposits can be surprisingly sticky, particularly when as in the Greek case depositors with easy access to overseas banks and alternative financial products left a long time ago. And, the bank stabilization fund remains in place with substantial committed funds to support bank solvency.
The Eurogroup cannot impose capital controls on Greece. Our understanding is that only the Greek government can impose capital controls (restrictions on bank withdrawals, cross-border transfers) and this would require the consent of the European Commission, as guardians of the single market.
Tsipras knows how unpopular this move would be and has no desire to be driven into it. The ECB could force Greece by making capital controls a condition for continued ELA, but is trying hard to avoid becoming an active player in the Greek drama.
Still, a resumption of accelerated deposit drain as the conflict between Greece and its creditors continues seems quite plausible. And if this happens the list of options is very thin.
The fact that Dijsselbloem has highlighted the possibility of capital controls makes this outcome more likely. Depositors may now withdraw funds to avoid restrictions on their bank accounts and end up forcing the very imposition of capital controls their individual actions were intended to preempt.
What is going on? One possibility is that Dijsselbloem made a rookie mistake at a time when he is deeply frustrated with Athens. Another is that he fully intended to ramp up pressure on the Greek government to move forward with program implementation by raising the specter of Greek citizens being unable to access their bank accounts. Neither is particularly encouraging.
We continue to worry a) about the capacity of the Greek government to implement at home without a rupture in the ruling coalition and b) that the eurozone authorities are complacent about the degree to which they can retain control of the situation while allowing stress to mount in Greece as much as needed to ensure the domestic politics yields to program implementation.
Loose talk about how capital controls worked in Cyprus understates major differences in the political and economic context. Capital controls would be much more damaging and difficult to implement in Greece, which has an economy much larger and more complex than that of Cyprus with vastly greater payments and settlements needs.
Moreover if capital controls were imposed as a product of a stand-off between Greece and its creditors rather than in the context of agreement as to the way forward (as ultimately in Cyprus), Greek politics could lurch towards the need for a parallel / substitute currency rather than as hoped towards commitment to the euro at all costs.
Raising the prospect of capital controls does pile the pressure on Greece and may ultimately be part of the forcing mechanism that delivers implementation and funding. But this is playing with fire.
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Time for a hard reboot. End the shit show.
Question: Are <insert_country_here> capital controls inevitable?
Answer: Yes.
The primary variable is simply time.
We are all truly fucked.
Regards,
Cooter
EDIT: I am strongly considering opening up a TreasuryDirect account and making monthly purchases of 1 year Treasury bills set to auto-roll into new 1 year Treasuries. I might build a position up to annual household salary on a rolling 12 month schedule. I don't like banks at this point and I figure since I am a (sovereign) US subject and me being a small guy, I think this is as good as it gets for keeping liquidity in the system.
Curious what others think.
There is no way you can sugar coat that, eh?
Is it me or is this yet another one of those Tyler Omitted Submitted Sources (TOSS) pieces that we are supposed to just read and not even have a chance of diving the writer and or his/her motivations?
For all the hooplah Zero Hedge get up about the media and mis/disinformation, why not set an example and list your source for the this article and every article you "submit" Tyler?
Tylers have to make a buck to keep the site up. Maybe it is paid, maybe it is contributed, maybe it isn't.
But it is fair game to kick them in the balls.
On that note, OilPrice doesn't even bother to allow comments anymore. I think my last three or four have been NOT posted and it appears neither have anyone elses.
Tylers still are competitive for quality informaiton, but if folks aren't smart enough to shop around for perspective, think critically about facts, and so on, well then there isn't much we could do for them anyway.
Regards,
Cooter
Er, nobody is forced to agree with everything hosted/published here and I suspect the folks behind ZH don't. What is great is that ZH has to be the best platform going for alternative financial and economic opinions. Last time I checked that what the democratisation of information is all about. There is also democracy in the tolerance of comment and whilst some of them are highly irritating and even offensive I usually find myself sniggering at the outstanding level of humour here. Let it be remembered simply about freedom of expression, "Yer pays yer money, yer takes yer choice".
IMF said to consider Greece most unhelpful client in history
Oh you mean like the MSM does?
No need Cooter - the government is here to help. They're going to take your IRA and your 401K and put them intro Treasuries for you!
I never expect to get 401k and the like back. I don't even look at the statements and do not contribute if I don't have to. With 401ks, it is gated from the get-go and designed to create bag holders. I get that. I am talking about my money.
If I buy into the idea it will be a slow burn, I can
This works well if I lose my job and have a nice queue of bonds, I can just start pulling funds as it rolls over and have income for a year. This is standard advice from finance professionals, just not they way they sell it to you.
While I am not nimble, I still have the ability to walk away within 30 days, assuming brokers are going "YOU SANK MY BATTLESHIP!" all over everywhere.
And if the US govvy is going to default, well, then I have bigger problems.
If these things happens, let's not pretend options are plentiful and guaranteed and pleasant.
Regards,
Cooter
It comes down to the quantity that you are talking about. Below 50k...keep it at home..above that...yeah..you should pursue other measures. Like you wrote if the USA defaults you will have other concerns.
Anyone that keeps cash like that at home is an idiot. I keep a little cash in a safe deposit box, but I would never keep that kind of roll at home. What the hell for?
I am asking about the TreasuryDirect idea because that is where I want to keep "more than petty cash" and specified a 30 day panic redemption accordingly.
I did a lot of digging on safe deposit boxes and I have a real hard time finding hard data where folks lost their shit. The times that happened was court order type stuff. I can wait until Monday to get emergency funds, thanks.
If a bank goes tits up, or closes, or transfers ownership (e.g. FDIC takeover), the leases for safe deposit boxes are intact and folks can get their shit. It just requires more officers present and might be a scheduling headache.
Regards,
Cooter
> If a bank goes tits up, or closes, or transfers ownership (e.g. FDIC takeover), the leases for safe deposit boxes are intact and folks can get their shit
According to the current rules, yes.
There were a couple of raids in London a year or so back. Safe Deposit Box,private premises, raided, power drills, Police warrants, you name it. Last time I read, piles of jewellery still awaiting return.
Well, that was London, eh. Not too significant, maybe.
Bit pushed for time right now but if links needed, please ask or PM me.
M
If you "never" expect for your 401k to be honored, why not just take your beating now and cash it out. That gives you a little something when you say you expect nothing in the future.
I'm always a little worried about investing in vehicles that I have no trust or confidence in. And that is why I no longer have any money in the banks or investments in he markets.
Of coruse, I went out and spent it all-- so that factors intto the equation as well.
I was speaking in genralities so other ZHers might follow along and not mince details. As I said, if I don't have to contribute, I do not. If I had the option to cash out, I already did so and would have paid off debt.
Congrats on your spending!
Regards,
Cooter
I cashed out of my 401(k) in 2007 when I changed jobs, took the tax hit and bought gold at $655 and silver at $14.85.
Everyone advised against it, but I've never regretted it, despite silver being barely above that now (and having briefly dropped to $9 and change in the interim).
If I get wind folks are going to be required to "invest" a certain percentage in Treasurys, I'll either take a permanent loan from my current 401(K) - which is currently 100% in losing miner stocks - or cash out completely if I have to. Under no circumstances am I going to be forced into Treasurys, despite their recent success.
I started to wise up in 2008. I have some gold. I have some silver. I have some guns/ammo. I sold my junk silver. I have been through all of this.
I totally get the notion that spreading it around is a good idea. I am cool with that. But my question as posted is "if I want to keep a year of salary in the system for liquidity, what are the snags with TreasuryDirect?"
My 401k is gone (cashed out and applied to debt) and I do not contribute anything I do not have to contribute. I save my own dollars on my own terms. If I had a retirement benefit, it would be 100% treasuries, but that isn't the scope of my question up thread.
I don't mean to bicker, I am just trying to narrow this down so that folks in the ZH crowd who might know something I do not might share so I am a bit wiser.
Regards,
Cooter
Nobody knows, Cooter. Anyone who says they do is lying.
If it's deflation, you want cash and short term treasuries. Anything guaranteed in the nominal.
If they go to outright monetization, you want gold and nothing else (stocks come in second, but they won't keep up in real terms, even if they do well nominal terms).
You could say that the Fed will NEVER allow deflation (a common meme), but that's what's happened in Japan for 25+ years despite the BOJ's best efforts and 13 rounds of QE. BUT JAPAN IS NOT A PERFECT ANALOGY.
No easy answers.
Totally get it.
I have been worried about a US Banking freeze for a while. The typical big banks holding deposits hostage for a derivative bailout sort of thing. It will destroy businesses with short term borrowing for payroll and that sort of thing, so I see that "cost" as their leverage.
With TreasuryDirect, my funds sit in a CoI (Certificate of Indebtedness) not earning any interest if they roll over and an auction isn't at the same time. This is cash money NOT IN THE BANK. In a crisis, I leave it there. I can roll it. I can pull it and transfer it ot my bank.
But the operative meme is that I HAVE CONTROL, so when things go bad, I can pull my shit, stick it into my CoI account, and fuck the bank.
The crisis will pass, I will get my money, real value destroyed or not, but I never had control of that anyway.
Does that make sense?
I get the cash, gold, guns/ammo, junk silver barter, etc thing, and those are good tools as well. But let's realize we need a lot of tools in the tool box when we don't know what will break.
I am curious what you think given my comments. Thanks for responding. ZH has gone down hill in the comment section in recent years, but I know a lot of good folks still hang out. I think they read more than they post.
Regards,
Cooter
"ZH has gone down hill in the comment section in recent years, but I know a lot of good folks still hang out. I think they read more than they post."
"No Cooter. You are wrong. We are all gone"
Bullshit. We are here and we read all this crap on a daily basis.
Fucking guy asks a fucking question and bitches about the answer. Fuck him.
Dude, you totally answered my question! I love fight club!
Thanks!
Cooter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5hWWe-ts2s
Fight club is the best! Thanks for the insight! You know so much shit!
Do you have a hedge fund?
Regards,
Cooter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrOZllbNarw
I call your bluff and raise you Monty Python!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y
You still didn't tell me about your hedge fund. Folks here need investment options!
Regards,
Cooter
Oh well, I will be the one to say it and get the kicking..
Also have a small percentage (like physical gold) of Bitcoin.... held in cold storage paper wallet(s) - plural.
Why? - Even though Bitcoin is the new kid on the block, as long as you hold the private key(s), there is only systemic risk, and no counter party risk. Exactly the same as physical gold, but the security aspect is better once you understand it, no possibility of counterfeit, and portability is unbeatable.
It also has the lovely attribute of being complete invisible if held in a 'brain wallet' - let the storm troopers turning over your house find that stash!
Note: I said a small percentage. Diversification being the key recommendation.
Not any of the 'alt' coins - only Bicoin has sufficient mind share to offer reasonable liquidity. It is' the' brand for crypto currencies.
Food > gold in outright monetization no?
For monetization/high inflation:
PMs would be your wealth preservation vehicle. High quality stocks (stocks with genuine growth, or earnings potential) would be your long-term investment. Food and water would be your life boat.
As long as governments can continue to borrow or at least not default, it will be deflation over inflation, though of course some items (like food) are subject to price rises regardless. This could be due to erratic weather patterns, currency exchange risk (though in the US' case imports would be much cheaper.)
AFTER a sovereign debt crisis, with creditor's confidence in tatters, and existing financial infrastructure in disarray, hyperinflation is a real possibility. Right now, a liquidity crisis seems to be on the cards. You hear that vacuous sucking sound? That's governments sucking cash out of the economy to try to pay down interest (and in some cases principal.)
The paradox of thrift is a real issue in a debt funded ponzi monetary scheme, even for nations.
In other words: Keynes is actually right (I hate to say it. I really do.) in his assessment of HOW the monetary system functions in the short-run. Though I disagree with the notion that you keep the ponzi ticking over to infinity. When (local) currency can no longer be tethered to a debt instrument, Austrian models come into play. That is the "fire up the printing presses" moment.
Edit: I suppose that the risk is that a stealth-default occurs behind the scenes, and the governments switch from the deflationary model to the inflationary without the average guy knowing.
Greece is a hyperinflation risk at some point in the future. If they exit the Euro they will be shit on by creditors. Japan is probably a hyperinflation risk in the future too. I cannot see how they will convince international creditors, or their own populace that they are good for more debt in the middle of an international debt crisis. Possible that they manage it though, who knows?
RE: Treasury Direct
From Treasury Direct FAQ:
How can I participate in an auction?Simply submit a tender with a bid for the security you would like to purchase. You can bid either noncompetitively or competitively, but not both ways in the same auction. In TreasuryDirect, you can only bid noncompetitively.
"If you bid noncompetitively, you'll be awarded the full amount of the bid at the high rate, yield, or discount margin determined at the auction close. Therefore, you don't have to specify the discount rate, yield, or discount margin with your bid. Noncompetitive bids are limited to $5 million per auction. Most individual investors bid noncompetitively.
If you bid competitively, you have to specify the return - the discount rate for bills, yield for notes, bonds, and TIPS, or discount margin for FRNs - that you wish to receive. Depending on the high rate, yield, or discount margin determined at auction compared to your bid, you may be awarded the full amount, a portion, or none of the security for which you bid. Competitive awards are limited to 35% of the total offering."
I considered much the same strategy that you are proposing, but I was deterred by the non-competitive bidding. It seems to me that there is a risk of negative yield. Look at the auction data for 1/14/15 at the TreasuryDirect auction query:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/annceresult/annceresult_query.htm
just a matter of time - the europeans would hope that a cyprus type "solution" can be implemented to get them out of the current predicament but the point of greek public opinion moves away from their europhile tendencies is approaching - grexit (syriza is working to make this appear inevitable and even patriotic)
There's capital still in Greece?
Sure, lots of little old man money. The kind that the little old man needs to feed his cat.
The only way to make certain they're not stashing any capital is to go door to door.
That is what the new EU Army will be for. Going door to door in Greece, and executing the whole household whenever hidden gold is found.
You really shouldn't give all those jerkwads ideas.
The whole EU is a gangrenous body worrying about losing the pinky........
Year after year the same stories, the same comments....
Yet the world has failed to go down in flames :)
Depends where you live. Don't be impatient, you'll get it too.
I think you would agree to the following:
1. 2008 was a disaster interrupted by nothing but bail-outs and massive liquidity hose-downs.
2. Nothing was done to address the underlying problems.
3. People are psychologically scarred and have barely made a dent in that massive debt pile they accumulated (while the government has only increased theirs).
This has been a nice DELAY in the collapse, not a fix. Reality is a nasty bitch and she will get her pound of flesh sooner or later. We're 6 years into later.
Embrace the delay. Kiss it on the cheek when you awake.
And after the delay?
Regards,
Cooter
Compare notes.
Heh.
I guess I will delay the embrace and awake the cheek you kiss.
Regards,
Cooter
To many the delay was welcome to get prepared. Every additonal day should be used.
I'm betting this can go on for quite a while (despite having virtually everything in physical gold and silver).
I hope I'm wrong.
Ha.
Putin has an atom bomb wid your names on it. Freedumb123, Viedolikeas, and some other idiot I can't remember
YOU ARE ALWAYS WRONG.
...but it's definitely feeling like it has almost reached a critical velocity. I think they'll fight it off for a little while, but it's definitely ripe for a blowout.
Buy a bunch of long-dated (as long as possible), out-of-the-money puts and physical gold. Sit back and relax...
I know right? Just embrace the suck.
Historical Analogies:
1954 Vietnam
1991 Somalia
2014 Ukraine
2016 Greece
Netanyahu Leads in Israeli Elections, Claims Victory
Michele Chabin and William M. Welch, USA TODAY 10:52 p.m. EDT March 17, 2015
Israelis voted Tuesday in an election expected to be a close-fought battle between the centre left and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who ruled out a Palestinian state in a last-ditch appeal to the right. Duration: 01:19 Video provided by AFP Newslook
JERUSALEM -- Benjamin Netanyahu's conservative Likud Party held a clear lead over its major opposition party in Israel's elections Tuesday, boosting the prime minister's hope for a fourth term.
Nearly complete results showed Netanyahu's party leading the center-left opposition Zionist Union, which is headed by Isaac Herzog, giving Likud a strong position to try to form a coalition government.
Netanyahu's Likud party appeared on track to win 30 seats in the 120-seat Israeli parliament, to 24 for the Zionist Union, Israeli media reported early Wednesday.
Netanyahu, who lagged in pre-election polls, declared an early triumph. "Against all odds: a great victory for the Likud, a major victory for the national camp led by the Likud, a major victory for the people of Israel," he tweeted in Hebrew.
With more than three-quarters of ballots counted, raw vote totals showed Netanyahu's Likud ticket with about 23% of the votes, and Zionist Union at 19%.
Opposition leader Herzog did not concede and said he will try to form a governing coalition.
"I intend to make every effort to put together a true social welfare minded government for Israel ... that will seek peace with our neighbors,'' he said.
The close results, if upheld when the vote count is complete, will touch off a scramble to build a coalition government and increase chances a national unity government could be formed.
The outcome could give leverage to Moshe Kahlon, leader of a new centrist party that could deliver support toward a majority. Running in third place in the incomplete results, as well as in TV exit polls of voters, was the United List, a coalition of four small Arab parties that could try to block Netanyahu's return to office.
Exit polls of voters by two Israeli TV outlets showed his party tied with the center-left opposition Zionist Union at 27 seats each in the next Knesset, or parliament. A third station showed Netanyahu narrowly ahead, 28-27. Those polls showed the Arab coalition could win 13 seats.
The exit poll results suggested Netanyahu's party was doing better than pre-election polls indicated. and that a substantial share of voters were willing to give their prime minister another term despite a public feud with President Obama over Iran's nuclear program.
"The atmosphere at the Likud HQ is electrifying," said Avi Hyman, a Likud field coordinator, speaking from Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Voter turnout was 71.8%, up from 67.8% in the 2013 elections.
Opinion polls before the election had shown Herzog with a small lead. The last available poll was published Friday, when a significant number of voters were still undecided, meaning the race was still too close to call.
Under Israel's complicated electoral math, the party with the most seats short of a majority does not necessarily get the prime minister's post, and instead the elections begin a period of negotiations with smaller parties toward building a governing coalition of at least 61 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.
Without a decisive outcome, it will be up to the Israeli president, Reuven Rivlin, to decide who to call on to attempt to form the next government. Traditionally that task has gone to the leader of the party that receives the most votes. It could require weeks of political negotiations.
In the closing days of the campaign, Netanyahu moved farther to the right to solidify support among splintered hard-right voters and to galvanize his Likud base.
He pledged to block establishment of a Palestinian state, a reversal from past statements and at odds with much of the international community's support for a two-state solution to the issue. He also tried to rally supporters by warning his leadership was in jeopardy because Israeli Arab voters were turning out "in droves'' to oppose him. Arabs make up 20% of the Israeli population.
But after nine years in the prime minister's job, the election was a referendum on Netanyahu, who angered Obama and jeopardized the bipartisan support Israel has long enjoyed in the United States by speaking to Congress at the invitation of majority Republicans. During his speech, he clashed with Obama over U.S. talks with Iran on curbing that country's nuclear program.
Netanyahu announced his opposition to a Palestinian state Monday and reiterated that pledge early Tuesday after casting his ballot.
His reversal marks a second flash point with the Obama administration, which has been prodding Israel and Palestinians to make progress in peace talks on creation of an independent Palestinian state.
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man selects his ballot during Israel's general election on March 17 at a polling station in Bnei Brak, Israel. (Photo: Gil Cohen Magen, AFP/Getty Images)
Netanyahu also blamed "foreign funds that flow in vast quantities" to groups supporting the opposition for his party's tough race. It was a veiled reference to the role U.S. donors and a former campaign aide to Obama have played in helping a non-profit group that opposes Netanyahu's policies. His party has been aided by U.S. Republicans.
In a phone interview on the Channel 10 TV, Netanyahu had ruled out forming a coalition government with Herzog saying he would seek an alliance with the ultra-national Jewish Home party, which also opposes Palestinian statehood.
This commentary belongs in some other topic blog, not this one.
Perhaps one of Israel's cyber-commandos in training got lost on the internet.
Who the fuck still has money in Greece? Thats what I want to know.
Citizens(Sheeple & Fools, the ignorant and the stupid)of Greece.
I liked the guy who said he carried a platinum good luck charm on every flight out of the country, because nobody knows what platinum looks like.
watch key chain good luck charm, check, next passenger please
Anyone in customs, if they are worth a pinch of coon shit, knows all the tricks.
Seriously, people have been trying to move money in/out of countries through customs for decades. Anyone that pretends they have a "trick" is an idiot or just setting some idiot up for failure.
In the US, you can carry 10k in cash I believe. Works for working class folks (if they have somewhere to go - which isn't the norm). Or one could just wire the damn money out of the country. If you paid taxes, who gives a shit.
Carrying PMs between countries is just stupid.
Regards,
Cooter
It is too late for it to do any good; but capital controls could have worked had they been put in place immediately by the new government.
"We are all in this together. We must stick together in order for us to get out of this mess together." This should have been the mantra put forward by the new government in order to rationalize and to justify this move.
If the Greek government could assure that the money in Greece would stay in Greece, it would then have some reserves to work wwith and something to allocate or reallocate on the way to reform and recovery.
Now, with virtually all the money unaccessible to the government, there is nothing to work with.
There are effectively capital controls everywhere right now, it is just a question of degree and when the more draconian controls will be implemented.
The reality is if we all want our bank deposits withdrawn, there are not sufficient funds to satisfy the claims.
Many ZHers are ahead of the game and have largely completed their bank run. That will soften the blow. But if there is a wealth tax or other draconian confiscation, one cannot completely protect oneself.
Unless you have physical gold. I don't want to buy more of it, but it's easy to transfer between countries once capital controls are in place.
Markets have their own capital controls. This is why interest rates are high in Greece. This is also why there is very little foriegn investment (capital inflows) in Greece.
Iceland still has capital controls and doesn't know how to get rid of them.
Capital controls on what? 90% of Greek deposits range between 0 to 2.000 Euro. They're going to haircut exactly what?
FRANCE already announced that transactions in excess of 1000Euro in cash will now be illegal after Sep 1
Capitals controls ?
Doesn't works, black markets, Precious Metals, Bitcoin and even sometimes collectibles will take care of the rest...
Even 200 years ago peoples smuggled Gold to avoid those same controls...
It's also a bad signal to the economic actors (meaning: we don't control anything and we are going in the toilet for sure now).
Ask Venezulians how it works.
I brought a couple of gold coins through Moscow and then through JFK. Moscow saw them but the girl only commented that she saw them. JFK just took my declaration form and noted that i declared them as the law requires.
Curious on people saying take gold out of the country. To where if SHTF? Not sure if gold will suddenly be taxed heavily.
If it goes to 7K an oz. 7K of what; the new , all new, improved fiat money? And where is safe now?
That's why I believe more in Crypto currencies such as Bitcoin when it come to move money incognito.
Any object/money who worth more than 7,500-10,000 Euro/USD equivalent must be declared to customs.
Capital controls is about purely and simply forbidding you to cross the border with money/goods (or a ridiculous amount).
I don't understand how you can cross the border if SHTF with severals kilo of gold without being noticed by customs (unless you know a smuggler) !
http://www.focus.de/finanzen/banken/ticker-zur-ezb-eroeffnung-blockupy-r...
---------
Police do not allow RT-Germany to make their work in Frankfurt.
The police only allow the Rothschild Main-Stream-Media to make their work.
https://twitter.com/LeaFrings/status/578117708165730304
Capital Controls were standard practice after World War II. They allowed countries to retain their currencies and thus maintain overall economic sovereignty. That they were abandoned baffles me.
The destruction of national souvereignity is the money master's old dream and goal. Making currencies "freely convertible" was the international parasites biggest victory over productive nations.