Not only can it happen here, but Stephen Harper’s Conservative government is making it explicit that it will happen here:
The politicians of the western world are coming after your bank accounts. In fact, Cyprus-style “bail-ins” are actually proposed in the new Canadian government budget. When I first heard about this I was quite skeptical, so I went and looked it up for myself. And guess what? It is right there in black and white on pages 144 and 145 of “Economic Action Plan 2013″ which the Harper government has already submitted to the House of Commons.
This new budget actually proposes “to implement a ‘bail-in’ regime for systemically important banks” in Canada. “Economic Action Plan 2013″ was submitted on March 21st, which means that this “bail-in regime” was likely being planned long before the crisis in Cyprus ever erupted. So exactly what in the world is going on here? In addition, as you will see below, it is being reported that the European Parliament will soon be voting on a law which would require that large banks be “bailed in” when they fail. In other words, that new law would make Cyprus-style bank account confiscation the law of the land for the entire EU.
I can’t even begin to describe how serious all of this is. From now on, when major banks fail they are going to bail them out by grabbing the money that is in your bank accounts. This is going to absolutely shatter faith in the banking system and it is actually going to make it far more likely that we will see major bank failures all over the western world.
What you are about to see absolutely amazed me when I first saw it. The Canadian government is actually proposing that what just happened in Cyprus should be used as a blueprint for future bank failures up in Canada.
Incredible, isn’t it? I had earlier noted the inflated banking system in Cyprus and smelled trouble. When I read that they had invested in Greek bonds – even before these bonds actually failed – I said “Well, this is the next trainwreck”. However, never in my wildest dreams (nightmares?) did I think that Eurocrats would threaten the very basis of western banking. The whole purpose of insurance was to prevent runs, to allow the depositors to know that whatever happened, their money was guaranteed – after the bank runs during the great Depression. When the first proposal came through, that the insured would be stiffed, I was dumbfounded. How in the hell could anybody come up with so stupid and ham-handed a program; especially since we were already being told that we had to worry about our own retirement, that the government couldn’t be expected to provide for us through government pensions.
Now that only the richer are going to take a haircut, (as though 100,000 euros is rich – it isn’t much of a retirement fund) it looks to guarantee that anybody with significant funds in a bank is, in an attempt (what other explanation is there) to force them to invest in the stock market or real estate, being told that the only true security is to be found in privately held bullion.
Comment by Richard Smiley — April 3, 2013 @ 00:08