Saturday - 3.16.2013 - The ECB and its partners have forced Cyprus to accept a "bailout" regime that includes forced purchases of bank shares by mandatory deductiongs from all existing bank accounts in Cyprus.
"In a statement on Saturday, President Anastasiades described the deal as choice between the "catastrophic scenario of disorderly bankruptcy or the scenario of a painful but controlled management of the crisis". He said that thousands of small businesses would have gone banrupt without the agreement. The Cypriot leader, who was elected last month on a promise to tackle the country's debt crisis, is due to address the nation later on Sunday. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21818598
"In a statement on Saturday, President Anastasiades described the deal as choice between the "catastrophic scenario of disorderly bankruptcy or the scenario of a painful but controlled management of the crisis".
He said that thousands of small businesses would have gone banrupt without the agreement.
The Cypriot leader, who was elected last month on a promise to tackle the country's debt crisis, is due to address the nation later on Sunday.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21818598
Nicholas Papadopoulos, who heads the parliamentary financial committee, said his initial reaction to the bailout deal was "shock" ... People in Cyprus with less than 100,000 euros in their accounts will have to pay a one-time tax of 6.75%, Eurozone officials said after agreeing the deal. Those with greater sums will pay 9.9% in tax. Depositors will be compensated with the equivalent amount in shares in their banks." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21818598
Nicholas Papadopoulos, who heads the parliamentary financial committee, said his initial reaction to the bailout deal was "shock" ...
People in Cyprus with less than 100,000 euros in their accounts will have to pay a one-time tax of 6.75%, Eurozone officials said after agreeing the deal.
Those with greater sums will pay 9.9% in tax.
Depositors will be compensated with the equivalent amount in shares in their banks."
In a move suggestive of precedents from the history of European socialism (both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia come to mind) EU financial agencies are imposing "forced savings" requirements on Cyprus bank depositors.
From an Austrian school viewpoint, of course, savings are a key to economic recovery... forced "savings" not so much!
Confiscating money from its owners and giving them "shares" in the bailed-out banks is a novel form of statist theft that may become a feature of future "bail-outs" in a strange type of admission that the mimicing, at least, of Free Market mechanisms may be necessary to resolve the crisis of crony corporatism.
Ralph Fucetola JDwww.GlobalHealthFreedom.org
This is a symptom of two diseases.
The first is officials in Brussels and Franfurt are quickly running out of options to prop up the faltering European bank system, which is still loaded to the brim with bad loans and toxic assets (and is presently piling more). Also, due to the recent drop in bond yields throughout the Continent (which banks brought upon themselves by clamoring for low interests "in perpetuity" and rubberstamping every decision originating in Frankfurt), banks are effectively encouraged to increase their portfolio of "risky" investments to keep on paying dividends to their own shareholders, which in countries such as Italy include a large number of depositors.
The second is how incredibly easy manipulating people has become, in spite of the Internet. All recent measures in Europe have been aimed at saving the banks' skins: a Greek, Spanish or Portuguese default would have meant serious troubles for large banks, especially French and German ones, which are loaded to the brim with Club Med bonds (relatively high yields and as good as Dutch and German ones as collaterals for loans from the ECB). Yet the same people who usually hate banks with a passion are easily swayed into thinking the latest "reverse Robin Hood" scheme was aimed at saving their precious public services. Complete economic ignorance (the result of decades of near-Socialist ideologies and Fascist-like crony capitalism) will do this to you.
This isn't 'Socialism' or 'Fascism'. It's just Neoliberalism.
Consumariat: This isn't 'Socialism' or 'Fascism'. It's just Neoliberalism.
To paraphrase Marc Faber: We're all doomed, but that doesn't mean that we can't make money in the process. Rabbi Lapin: "Let's make bricks!" Stephan Kinsella: "Say you and I both want to make a German chocolate cake."
DanielMuff: Consumariat: This isn't 'Socialism' or 'Fascism'. It's just Neoliberalism. Then why do the anti-capitalists call Ron Paul a neoliberal?
I think an explanation of the use of the term "neoliberalism" is in order may be in order.
I was reading about this last night while working on a grad school assignment. Cypriot banks are locking down accounts to block fund transfers within and out of the EU zone.
"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree." -James Madison
"If government were efficient, it would cease to exist."
Then why do the anti-capitalists call Ron Paul a neoliberal?
Well firstly I think it's important to understand Neoliberalism, not simply on theoretical terms as advocating 'free-markets' and anti-state ideals, but as a political project with a historical record of usurping state functions under the guise of 'privatisation', only to maintain those power structures in ways that are not subject to democratic accountibility. In other words, the contracting-out of government functions to Quangos and private entities. It's much larger than this, of course, and is in my view a political project designed to reinforce the power of a dominant class.
On the issue of whether or not anti-capitalists are correct in labling Ron Paul a Neoliberal, I could not comment as I am not familiar with his views enough to say. By the way, are you equating Neoliberalism with Capitalism? Are you equating Capitalism with free-markets in their idealised form? Just so we don't end up talking past each other.
An interesting article here on 'the rise of the shadow state', and the growing power of government service companies such as Serco.
Serco, operates: prisons and young offenders institutions. The National Nuclear Laboratory. Transport services like the Docklands Light Railway and Barclays Cycle Hire. Security services for the National Borders Agency, and maintenance services for missile defence systems. Air traffic control services. Leisure services. Management for hospitals and pathology services. Waste collection for local authorities. Education services for local authorities. Government websites.
All for lots of lovely profit, of course.
@ Consumariat
Is Neoliberalism just contracting/privatization of industries usually performed by the state (utilities, prisons, etc.)
The Anarch is to the Anarchist what the Monarch is to the Monarchist. -Ernst Jünger
Wow.
Neo liberalism is opposed to neorealism. Does anyone in here study politics?
Neoliberalism is the advancement of the sovereignty of the MNC through multilateral international organizations (WTO, WHO, IMF, WB, BIS, FAO, etc.) Ron Paul is hard to lump into one of these (NeoL or NeoR) because, in the academic world, he is called a 'non-interventionist' or an 'isolationist' (they mean th same thing, one is pejorative). Neorealists are like Cheney and nationalist politicians. Neoliberals are like Krugman and the internationalist politicians. Neorealists see the world in terms of nation states existing in a state of anarchy. Neoliberals see the world as a giant market that has boundaries in nation-states that should be cooperating instead of working for thier own national interests.
Whoever is calling Ron Paul a neoliberal is ignorant.
The polarizing terms (socialism, democracy, capitalism) are myths. they are idealized theories. Fascism is just an advanced stage of Mercantilism and it is the only economic system that has ever really existed.
Seriously: Does anyone study politics at all? Or do people really just come here to make ignorant assertions?
I was reading about this last night while working on a grad school assignment.
Statements like those I do not buy. The poster that said that is likely about 16-18 years old.
Actually, what you're talking about there is Neoliberalism and Neorealism as the terms are used in the study of International Relations, as opposed to Political Economy, which is the context in which most anti-capitalists would be applying the term.
No, not at all. The contracting out of government functions is just one of the many ways in which profit can be extracted from spheres of public life that previously were closed off to monetisation.
Aristophanes has one thing right when he points out that all these terms are just theoretical constructs, but in terms of the actual practices carried out under the banner of Neoliberal rhetoric, so-called privatisation is one aspect that has played a major role. The ultimate outcome of actually-existing Neoliberalism has been to consolidate class power. The breaking of the unions, the deliberate creation of a pool of unemployed labour, the gradual dismantlement of the welfare state, the imposition of Structural Adjustment Programmes abroad (and now at home under the guise of 'austerity'). A whole host of things such as this have been used as a tool to concentrate wealth into the hands of a small number of people.
Bear in mind, this is not the same as the 'free-market' in the theoretical, stateless sense of the term; it is a reconfiguration of the state in a way that works to the benefit of inevested, private interests. All of the above measures were only made possible because of the heavy hand of the state, not by allowing the state to retreat (Both Thatcher and Reagan increased the size and power of the state, despite claims to the contrary).
Neoliberalism (international relations)
Neoliberalism
Corrupted neoliberalism
Don't blame me, blame academics and their obsession with terminology.
the IR theory encompasses the economic doctrine. In fact, it is incorporated into the political anaylsis. Saying they are not the same is misleading. They are related, intimately. As per the Ron Paul reference, the split in the IR theory and the economic doctrine is slim and Ron Paul can easily straddle both without committing to either. Realists are the more naked nationalist mercanitlists. Liberals are the more international mercantilists. (Good ) IR theories don't forget either aspect. Good economic theories shouldn't either.
Viva la Politicia Oeconomia
They aren't the same. They're related, of course, but not the same.
The first two posts in this thread are off-topic. Maybe they can be given their own thread.
Let's add another twist to the story. Russian companies, banks and citizens have been using Cyprus as a banking hub for their transactions inside the EU. How much do they stand to lose? About 32 billion euro, which is over three times the bailout. The Russians are obviously enthusiatic about this, and they have already called the Cypriot Minister of Finance to Moscow for "consultations". Now, Russia has been so far very generous to Cyprus. Apart from billions worth in bank accounts (which generated income in form of taxes), the Russian government gave Cyprus a 2,5 billion "emergency loan" in 2011. The EU (seriously, do these guys ever know when to quit?) have been lobbying long and hard for Moscow not to only to lend more money, but to lower interest rates. I suspect Mother Russia's patience is wearing thin at this point.
Practically all that's left of manufacturing in America goes on in the Prison Industry Gulag. More and more imprisoned "lower class" men working cheap. More prisoners in America than anywhere else on Earth.
Othe the other hand, if you are part of the underclass and you join the military (not much different from the PIG) you will be drugged and used until thrown away (more US soldiers, by far, die from suicide than battle).
Well, the Thirteenth Amendment apparently did not outlaw slavery; it just nationalized it. That's what the military and the PIG are all about...
And they call this a "capitalist" country!
Whether, as other commenters questioned, Ron Paul is a "neoliberal" or a libertarian, he has been correct about so much, including this:
"All empires end badly."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbBngknGk54
@ Aristophanes:
1. I didn't call Ron Paul anything, I was just trying to get people to define some terms that they are throwing around.
2. I did study politics. I have a BA in Political Science, a BA in Economics and a Certificate in Political Economy.
3. I am in grad school. I'm currently enrolled in a part-time MS in Applied Economics program.
4. I just celebrated my 35th birthday.
5. Sorry for the internet necromancy, I have been busy the past few weeks.