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The Situation Escalates – Greece Is Now Taxing Cash Withdrawals
The saga (or drama, if you like) in Greece is continuing and even though the country was able to make a 200M EUR interest payment to the IMF earlier this week, markets shouldn’t be too optimistic just yet as that payment is less than 5% of the total cash amount it has to pay in the next 4-5 weeks.
Indeed, Greece has just 3 days left to find 750M EUR to meet the requirement of a principal payment to the IMF which is due next Tuesday, and we consider it to be quite impossible for the country to meet this demand without finding additional sources to generate cash from.
There’s little doubt the 200M EUR was mainly funded by Athens’ radical request whereby the public agencies were ordered to wire the majority of their cash resources back to the central government in Athens. This was a very clear indication the Greek treasury was running on fumes as it could not afford to pay the salaries of government employees so there’s little hope the country will be able to repay the 750M EUR to the IMF next week without reaching a new bailout deal with its lenders.
The the population of Greece is understandably getting nervous as the negotiations between the Greek government and the European Central Bank, IMF and the European Union are still ongoing. Prime Minister Tsipras already had to remove his Finance Minister Varoufakis from the negotiation table as he was despised by the other side. Additionally, Varoufakis is also taking a lot of heat inside his own country after revealing how rich he really is. Whilst the Greek population is very clearly suffering, Varoufakis thought it was a good idea to show the French magazine Paris Match how rich he really is.
The banks in Greece once again feel a lot of pressure as thousands of people have started to withdraw cash. The European Central Bank once again had to step in by increasing the Emergency Liquidity Assistance to the Greek Banks as it had to raise the ceiling by another 2B EUR. The banks are still trying to pretend there’s no bank run going on, but all other evidence suggests the opposite is going on.
The Greek government is now proposing to instate a tax on withdrawals from ATM’s in the country and aims to raise 180M EUR in additional fees due to this measure. This is clearly aimed at containing the current ‘soft’ bank run that’s going on in the country. Additionally, all wire transfers of in excess of 1,000 EUR will also be subject to the tax.
With this idea, Greece is effectively introducing a capital control in the country, and it obviously would not do that if the situation didn’t demand for drastic measures to be taken. The clock is ticking, and Athens only has a few days left in its negotiations. Someone will have to crawl through the sand to make this story have a happy end (until it starts all over again in a few months)
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Again with the mis-leading headlines.....
"The Situation Escalates – Greece Is Now Taxing Cash Withdrawals"
and the body of the article (brackets are mine)
The Greek government [is now proposing] to instate a tax on withdrawals from ATM’s in the country and aims to raise 180M EUR in additional fees due to this measure
What's more fun than watching aging hippies starve to death?
Greece is on the final stages of life upport. Itwill END when a million people start demonstrations in Athens, and then they RIOT. The current Greek Govt is only a transtion government ... I hope that they grasp this. Whiever takes over will be a lot more radical. But the country will be lucky if they don't descend into some form of hyperinflation, once they get their own currency, nobody wants it, and the Government prints billions of "New Drachmas" to pay the government servants and retirees.
This is WHAT is coming to Greece.
I hope a few people still own cows so they can get fresh milk. Varofakis will be off water skiing in the Riviera - living off all the money that he skimmed out of the acounts.
THIS WON'T END until Greece is taken off life supprt. Which means an EXIT, of course. Is there any opther option?
Apparently the Troika is willing to keep talking, and to bleed Greece dry for as long as it takes. Therefore a Greek Exit is only likely to come when half-a-million citizens stage protests and riots in Athens. This probably will happen!
Thanks for pointing out that Varoufakis is one of the "rich elite" inside Greece. So apparently the elite still have a hidden controlling interest in this Greek Government. This will soon change!! When the prevailing political senitment inside Greece becomes nasty, then some new Coalition will take power that is much more radical. Then the European Union will finally toss them out. And NATO will wash its hands of Greece as well.
The ultimate consequence of failed economic policies in the world, and the REFUSAL of Central Banks to return to sound banking policies - Is Riots, Civil Unrest and War! Hasn't this ending played out in the history books countless times? WHY do we imagine that our own society is exempt from the same behavior?
Have no fear! YV is NOT playing game theory....
He is playing chicken.
The Greek government should be taxing the banks and not the people.
The banks need to pay for all of the harm they have caused. Theft and fraud should not go unpunished.
Government is the problem, not the solution. The only difference between Government and Mafia is the public confidence, nothing else.
Country with entitlement mentality goes broke? No surprise there (don't believe me, check out their attitude towards paying that "inconvenient" income tax and what age they expect to retire at.). The math don't work folks.
The real template:
Youtube "the haircut" for a 30 min video on how cypress got screwed by their goverment. Now imagine that on a scale 1000 times larger as people start to notice the value of their [insert your country here] peso decline ever faster (thanks to all the interest we now have to pay on the formerly unimaginable debt levels that we & government all have). People decide they would rather buy stuff... Anything other than holding a currency that devaluing just fast enough for people to now notice. Stage set for an interesting next decade.
"cypress got screwed by their goverment"
slow down cowboy ... they pulled the trigger at gunpoint ... they are not heroes, however, masterminds are elsewhere .... diesselbloom and company
Good thing they voted in a new government. Who knows what could have happened if they didn't vote.
Greece is out of cash and California is out of water. Sweet.
No country has ever run out of politicians, or criminals. Both need to be thinned out periodically.
This should be happining in Illnois shortly ......
Someone deposits their hard earned money in a bank. The bank steals the deposit. The bank then "prints" up counterfeit money, fiat, based on that stolen deposit and then loans it out to some unsuspecting sap as a fiat-loan with usury attached. The bank's counterfeit is additional theft, but from the economy, the people, as a whole, by way of the borrower. The borrower then deposits the fiat-loan in his bank, which then also promptly steals it, and "prints" up more theft from the economy. And so on, and on, and on...
Now, after all of that grift, the banks in question then have the gall to charge "fees" on deposit accounts that they have looted. Then they charge "fees" for you to access your own money. And what if you have the temerity to request funds from your account that are beyond what your bank's "ponzi statement" says? Yup, more egregious "fees."
Now, when all the counterfeiting weakens the economy, the banks, who printed the counterfeit in the first place, come a knocking, and a taking, of the borrowers' collateral. The banks then have traded nothing for something while using the borrower as a "fence." But then the banks will then still hold the borrower liable for any value difference between the fiat-loan amount and THEIR valuation of the collateral they have taken.
Ultimately, when all the bank "printed" counterfeit finally destroys the economy, the banks will then use their violence-puppets, government, to make official their original thefts of the deposits--a "bail-in."
Banksters are like cockroaches--They eat your food, and then shit on the rest.
Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission.
When TEOTWAWKI comes, the banksters, all banksters, of all stripes, will have no quarter with me. None. Zero.
And lets not forget the other way we all get robbed called 'taxes'. If one adds up all the direct and indirect taxes the average Joe pays it amounts to slave labor. Federal income tax, sales tax, inheritance tax (money that already had taxes paid on is scalped again), state tax, etc. I would be surprised if that all does not amount to at least 70 percent or more. But then again, we get sports TV and beer in return.
Very nice coment except for calling bank credit, the means by which the banks steal, "fiat". Bank credit can be based on the government's money (fiat) but it can and has been based on gold and silver too.
In any case, banks should be 100% private with 100% voluntary depositers and then their ability to steal will be greatly limited.
ZATO invasion of Greece,and/or false-flag, in 3..2..
Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission.
Save the world, guillotine the banksters, and their violence-puppets, government.
" and their violence-puppets, government."
But what about redistributing wealth first? Or shall we then have de facto rule by those who got unjustly wealthy under the previous system?
That´s where the guillotines come into play--Retribution.
The key is to stay focused on ending the tyranny, then we, the American people can move to the next steps.
Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission.
The Four Rs
Rejection: Stop Paying, Stop Obeying, Stop Playing
Revolution: It is inevitable, so prepare, as they are.
Restoration: Restore the American people, country and Constitutional republic.
Retribution: The guilty must answer for their crimes against the American people and the Constitution.
regarding ATM fees:
lots of bank in the US charge $2.00-$3.00 for out of network withdrawals and in foreign countries many US banks charge $5.00 for a foreign withdrawal fee plus the local bank's fee, it is quite possible to get stuck with a 10% withdrawal fee!
Also in certain foreign countries the banks give a very bad exchange rate on debt cards at local ATM machines
1 Euro out of 1,000 Euros (0.001%).
That's not bad considering the alternative.
That would be 0.1%, not 0.001%, Mr. Idiot.
I hope Greece has a strong underground economy. They're going to need it.
There is plenty of barter going around where you trade products and services for other products and services or where they are converted in local currency. Also there are 'markets without intermediaries' where producers and costumers are directly trading without the middlemen. Previous government tried to forbid these kinds of markets. That for sure will take off if Greece would default.
www.badassoftheweek.com/paleokostas.html
Not to worry...
It's amazing how certain men (and women) can lie, cheat and steal from their own countryfolks.
Psychopaths don't care about others--by definition.
Zionists have no nationality only connections--by default.
Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission.
This should be interesting.
Apply say a 1% tax on ATM withdrawals.
If that was me I would remove every euro the next day taking the loss but aplying it to everything.
The reason is once a tax like this is implemented when do you think it will be removed and do you think it could get far worse? NO and YES are the resepctive answers.
BANK RUN BLOWOUT.
"Prime Minister Tsipras already had to remove his Finance Minister Varoufakis from the negotiation table as he was despised by the other side."
Dear ZH - you might want to double check on this information. As of now, Mr. Varoufakis is still the chief negotiator for greek side and will represent the country tomorrow in Brussels.
Disselbloom is pressing for retirement age to increase at 72 years from 2018 on. In addition, all pensions to be cut from currently 1000-2000 to less than 300.
I dont see how a deal can be achieved. If greeks agree to 72 years retirement Diseelbloom will ask for 75 and so on ... it is obvious there is no deal.
Agreed. But if there is no deal, then Greece will not be able to pay pensions. This will alter the political situation in Greece, though i won't try to predict the outcome.
perhaps, peut etre, Diesselbloom has already a template ready of what happens next ...just a guess
One question that I don't think that has been answered satisfactorily, at least not by my standards...
Where did the Greek people and media think all this money they were borrowing was going to?
Did anyone ask? Did anyone care? I don't remember seeing protests against borrowing to keep the banks and the country from defaulting by the previous Govt.'s
No offense meant, Greeks, but you guys look just as fucking stupid as Americans who Govt. borrows to pay bills that never should have existed in the first place.
And we can monetize our debt to boot. The suckers line up for it.
What were you guys thinking?
The answer to your question lies in who controlled the flow and outlets of the information that would need to be utilized to induce that question in, much less enable a populace to answer it.
I have experience with this, as, starting in December of 2002, I warned all comers of the unsustainability of the housing bubble, and what the results would be. They ALL regurgitated noiZ-media tripe. Most ultimately got burned, but because the banksters bought off the inevitable, none of them learned a thing, as "it's just temporary...green shoots...come back..."
Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission..
These convos led me to seek more info, and that is when I discovered the Austrian School, and Mises.org. Like breaking free of the cave wall and seeing the real world beyond the shadow characters for the first time...
from here Greek look pretty smart to me !! They're basically running the EU at this point-every time they jerk the chain all of Europe looks up
When counterfeiters are lending, the choices are borrrow or be priced out of the market by those who do borrow.
The banks are a government-enabled counterfeiting cartel. The Austrian Economists are quick to note that savers are victims but fail to recognize that borrowers are too.
Should Greece officially default, then that may well mark the start of the end of this 44 year old "temporary" experiment, started by Nixon on 8-15-1971. May we live to see interesting times.
I would say that it started on December 23, 1913. Better yet, February 14, 1896, in Leipzig, Germany, and Vienna, Austria.
But, in any case, it was, and is, not an "experiment" or "temporary," but an ongoing professional grift and ponzi operation.
Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission..
"Better yet, February 14, 1896, in Leipzig, Germany, " kchrisc
In the US, it was earlier when the US Constitution did not establish a Postal Savings Service (that was forbidden to make loans or pay interest) thereby leaving the population at the mercy of private banks.
The monetary sovereign (eg. US Treasury) is the ONLY proper provider of a risk-free storage and transaction service for its fiat.
So, it sounds to me like you're whining that the reason we have all these problems with our current central bank fiat scheme is because the founders didn't set up a central banking fiat scheme. LOL!
Btw, inexpensive fiat is the ONLY ethical money form for government debts. Otherwise, the taxation authority and power of government is misused to benefit some private interest such as gold owners.
And, paradoxically to some, a true free market in private money creation REQUIRES that government money be inexpensive fiat. Otherwise some private money form (eg. commodity monies) is privileged by government.
Not a bank since it would make no loans and pay no interest. Instead, a Postal Savings Service should merely be a risk-free storage and transaction service for fiat, the government's money.
I consider Japan and Greece as blueprints for what will happen in the United States. We have already duplicated Japan's commercial property meltdown complete with bank failures. At some point soon enough, we will also see our banker controlled government start taxing and seizing everything they can get their greedy hands on.
It will begin in earnest after bond yields soar and the market collapses. I can hardly wait.
My lawyers at AK, AR, and Glock say that power can "tax" all they like, but it is the taking that they, my lawyers, are going to "object" to.
Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission..
The lesson is now clear to all. We have been warned.
Don't keep any money in banks other than a minimum needed to get by with online bill paying.
"I, [Some Zionist Puppet], President of the United States of America, do declare that said national emergency still continues to exist and pursuant to said section do hereby prohibit the hoarding of gold coin, gold bullion, gold certificates, and cash and coin of all kinds within the continental United States, and where ever else they might domicile, by individuals, partnerships, associations and corporations, unless granted a SAC and Corzine exemption, and hereby prescribe the following regulations for carrying out the purposes of this order:...
Whoever willfully violates any provision of this [Unconstitutional] Executive Order or of these regulations or of any rule, regulation or license issued thereunder will have their door kicked in, their dog shot, kids tazed, and all their property seized for the good of the nation and those doing the seizing..."
Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission..
That mantra. You keep using it, but it does not mean what you think it means.
Liberty is not a demand. It cannot be. It is an immanent aspect of natural law.
One does not demand liberty, as one do not demand a thing already possessed; rather, liberty is affirmed, as the very nature of sovereignty.
For liberty to be a demand implies a viewpoint within which liberty can be taken away, withheld by some external agency. This is a deviation which pre-empts the essential understanding / perception of the fact of liberty... truly, as no temporal authority can take away the reality of freedom, neither will any State ever be able to hand it out.
Do agree with the second part. Tyranny indeed is submission.
Well said, Henry. I've told people I know over and over again to get your cash out and turn it into something you can totally control. Have they? Nope. You and I both know that so many people will get caught with their pants down on this that the whole country will look like a nudist colony.
Curious if you have actually had enough money in the bank to make pulling it out a somewhat complicated matter and if so what advice you had? My company only does direct deposit; live checks ended years ago and that is common these days. I worked very hard over the last 30 years and managed to save up a few coins but trying to pull it out without tripping SARs and MANTIS alerts which then get fed to the local police department for civil forfieture....dicey. Last time I walked into a bank and asked for $5k the manager got involved; I can't image what happens if I asked for $50k...not to mention they have to make special arrangements for the delivery. Like marriage banks are a bad idea, I get it but the sepparation can be unpleasant and difficult.