We have a special report for you on the situation in Cyprus!
So let’s talk about what is happening in Cyrus. You must have seen it
trending on Twitter by now and have probably looked it up on the map
already, but if not HERE it is. So basically Cyprus went down the drain
financially because it was holding a lot of Greek Government Bonds and
by now we all know what happened to Greece. So now Cyprus, a little
island with less than 2 Million inhabitants, needs a 13 billion Dollar
Bailout! As this is the Eurozone’s 5th Bailout, you can imagine
Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel’s wheels are reeling, and so on March
16th, Euro finance ministers agreed to force Cypriot bank depositors to
share the cost of rescuing the country. Cyprus would get the 13 billion
dollar bailout, under one condition, if it could raise 5.8bn euros
through a one-off tax on bank savings. The initial plan was altered on
Tuesday to exempt savers with less than 20,000 euros, but a 6.75% charge
on deposits of 20,000-100,000 euros and a 9.9% charge for those above
100,000 euros was to be implemented. Using this controversial method
Cyprus was expected to raise 5.8bn euros.
So imagine you have your savings, at your Chase account and suddenly the
US president says that almost 10% of your hard earned cash is now in the
possession of the government. We would all run to the bank to get our
money out wouldn’t we?! Well that’s exactly what Cypriots were trying to
do, but now imagine the banks are closed, while the government keeps
arguing about what to do with your savings. In the meantime cash
machines stop working and you are slowly running out of money to eat.
Scary right!? You might be wondering why would Euro Finance ministers
target a little island like Cyprus in such a let’s say rude way?! Well
one of the explanations is probably because Cyprus is a very popular
destination for Russian Money! Through lower tax rates, Cyprus has
attracted a total of $30 billion dollars in Russian private and
corporate deposits, that’s a third of all Cypriot deposits!! So
basically Cyprus accummulated tons of investment through lower tax
rates, and now suddenly needs a bailout! So in a way the solution that
the EU finance ministers proposed is to temporarily, in a one time deal,
reverse the lower tax rates on Russian money, and buy itself out of the
misery, Greece did upon them…instead of making hard working and law
abiding Germans pay for their lazy and greedy neighbours’ sins.
But now comes Putin to the rescue of his citizens off shore accounts, he
calls the proposed one time levy on Cypriot banks: “unfair,
unprofessional and dangerous”. He has a point, but desperate times
require desperate measures, and why not make rich Russians pay for once,
you know just for fun and to satisfy German Schadenfreude? Look that
word up guys, it’s really cool and doesnt excist in any other language
but German. Cyprus rejected the bailout, and is now in Russia to strike
a deal over there, because guess what, Cyprus desperately needs the
bailout, otherwise it will go bankrupt. To sum it up: The question is,
can Putin save his citizens money? And will the EU be able to buffer the
repercussions of a Cyprus bankruptcy?
The silver lining on this EU disaster horizon is that, historically the
EU has a tradition of pressing smaller countries to vote again until
they achieve the desired outcome.
We have a special report for you on the situation in Cyprus!
So let’s talk about what is happening in Cyrus. You must have seen it
trending on Twitter by now and have probably looked it up on the map
already, but if not HERE it is. So basically Cyprus went down the drain
financially because it was holding a lot of Greek Government Bonds and
by now we all know what happened to Greece. So now Cyprus, a little
island with less than 2 Million inhabitants, needs a 13 billion Dollar
Bailout! As this is the Eurozone’s 5th Bailout, you can imagine
Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel’s wheels are reeling, and so on March
16th, Euro finance ministers agreed to force Cypriot bank depositors to
share the cost of rescuing the country. Cyprus would get the 13 billion
dollar bailout, under one condition, if it could raise 5.8bn euros
through a one-off tax on bank savings. The initial plan was altered on
Tuesday to exempt savers with less than 20,000 euros, but a 6.75% charge
on deposits of 20,000-100,000 euros and a 9.9% charge for those above
100,000 euros was to be implemented. Using this controversial method
Cyprus was expected to raise 5.8bn euros.
So imagine you have your savings, at your Chase account and suddenly the
US president says that almost 10% of your hard earned cash is now in the
possession of the government. We would all run to the bank to get our
money out wouldn’t we?! Well that’s exactly what Cypriots were trying to
do, but now imagine the banks are closed, while the government keeps
arguing about what to do with your savings. In the meantime cash
machines stop working and you are slowly running out of money to eat.
Scary right!? You might be wondering why would Euro Finance ministers
target a little island like Cyprus in such a let’s say rude way?! Well
one of the explanations is probably because Cyprus is a very popular
destination for Russian Money! Through lower tax rates, Cyprus has
attracted a total of $30 billion dollars in Russian private and
corporate deposits, that’s a third of all Cypriot deposits!! So
basically Cyprus accummulated tons of investment through lower tax
rates, and now suddenly needs a bailout! So in a way the solution that
the EU finance ministers proposed is to temporarily, in a one time deal,
reverse the lower tax rates on Russian money, and buy itself out of the
misery, Greece did upon them…instead of making hard working and law
abiding Germans pay for their lazy and greedy neighbours’ sins.
But now comes Putin to the rescue of his citizens off shore accounts, he
calls the proposed one time levy on Cypriot banks: “unfair,
unprofessional and dangerous”. He has a point, but desperate times
require desperate measures, and why not make rich Russians pay for once,
you know just for fun and to satisfy German Schadenfreude? Look that
word up guys, it’s really cool and doesnt excist in any other language
but German. Cyprus rejected the bailout, and is now in Russia to strike
a deal over there, because guess what, Cyprus desperately needs the
bailout, otherwise it will go bankrupt. To sum it up: The question is,
can Putin save his citizens money? And will the EU be able to buffer the
repercussions of a Cyprus bankruptcy?
The silver lining on this EU disaster horizon is that, historically the
EU has a tradition of pressing smaller countries to vote again until
they achieve the desired outcome.