From Detroit to Cyprus, Banksters in Search of Prey

[xchrom]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/03/22


“Detroit and the people of Cyprus share the same enemy.” The Lords of Capital, who are preparing to snatch chunks of cash straight out of ordinary people’s accounts in Cyprus, to pay for a bank bailout, are the same class that has “devalued the franchise of the 49 percent of Michigan’s Black population that live in municipalities and school districts under the thumb of outside financial managers.” (Image via Black Agenda Report)

From Nicosia, Cyprus, to Detroit, Michigan, the global financial octopus is squeezing the life out of society, stripping away public and individual assets in a vain attempt to fend off its own, inevitable collapse. The bankers “troika” that effectively rules Europe prepares to reach into the individual accounts of ordinary depositors on the island nation of Cyprus to fund the bailout of their local banking brethren. Across the Atlantic, a corporate henchman makes arrangements to seize the assets and abolish the political rights of a Black metropolis. The local colorations may vary, but the crisis is the same: massed capital is devouring its social and natural environment. Either we liquidate the banksters, or Wall Street will liquidate us.

The proposed seizure of a big chunk of every ordinary Cypriot depositors’ accounts, in the guise of a one-time “tax,” was shocking even by the standards of the Euro Zone’s overlords: the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Commission. The original diktat to finance new lines of credit for Cyprus’s over-extended banks called for snatching 6.75 percent of the cash of customers with balances below 100,000 euros ($129,500), and 9.9 percent above that threshold. When the public went berserk, it was proposed that depositors with 20,000 euros or less be spared – but Cypriot lawmakers balked. The banks are now closed, to prevent people from withdrawing their money. But Europe’s ruling triumvirate at the bankers’ lair in Brussels continues to demand that the public-at-large pay to keep the global criminal financial enterprise humming, or be starved out. “In the absence of this measure, Cyprus would have faced scenarios that would have left deposit-holders significantly worse off,” they said – disaster banksterism.

A rapscallion Black lawyer for the notorious corporate law firm Jones Day delivered the bankers’ ultimatum to Detroit. Emergency financial manager Kevyn Orr, anointed by Michigan’s Republican governor, is a bankruptcy specialist whose mission is to liquidate the assets of the 82 percent Black city, especially the revenue-producing Water and Sewerage Department. Orr’s firm’s clients – which, according to their website, include “more than half of the Fortune 500 companies” – have plenty of experience at liquidating in Detroit. Butch Hollowell, general counsel for the local NAACP, says Wells Fargo has “done more foreclosures in Detroit and the state of Michigan than any other firm,” and is Detroit’s number one property tax scofflaw. Jones Day also represents Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and CitiGroup.

“These are firms that not only got billions in TARP bailouts, but they’re also the same ones that defrauded people into signing these predatory leases which cause the crash of the housing market,” said Hollowell. “Detroit has been hit harder than anyplace in the country on that score” – hugely aggravating the city’s money problems. Financial manager Kevyn Orr’s job is to extract more booty from Detroit for the bankers’ vaults.

[Kurovski]

1. Are you people aware that

xchrom is one of the greatest DUers ever?

Well, are you? You damn well better be.



K&R

[xchrom]

2. ...

[Kurovski]

3. oh gosh.

I hope I didn't kill the thread! thanks for years of terrific posts.

[Demeter]

15. Second That!

X is the one for news.

[Kurovski]

16. Always with the worthwhile links.

Yep.

[bemildred]

4. Yep, the Crisis of Capitalism.

What do you do when you are sitting on huge piles of cash and all the easy money is gone? How long can you cannibalize and parasitize the economy before it bites you in the ass?

[idwiyo]

5. Fucking vultures. They all should be in prison labour gangs, rebuilding by hand what they helped to

destroy and paying retribution to their victims.

[pampango]

6. Deposits under $100,000 are protected. Those above that amount are taxed.

Rich folks are not happy (many of them Russians who saved their money in Cyprus to escape regulation, corruption and taxes in Russia). Making rich people mad about having to pay taxes can be painful because they can take their money elsewhere and find a new tax haven, but what is the alternative?

The banksters had taken over Cyprus' economy turning it into a banking haven for foreign money as they had done in Iceland and Ireland before Cyprus. Just as Iceland and Ireland had go through the painful process of reigning in the banks in and restoring balance to their economies, Cyprus has to do the same.

[fasttense]

7. Did you know that currently US banks can take your deposits.

Yes, right now, if the banks think they need your deposited money they can close your account and take all your money. That''s what they did during the 1st Great Depression and despite having FDIC, the banks can still shut down and take all the money you have deposited.

In Cyprus they have a similar FDIC program and it did not protect them.

How long before our banksters simply reach into our accounts and just take what the want most in life - our money?

[Flatulo]

8. If you follow the links in the story, you'll see that the US gov't has been considering

annuitizing a portion of people's 401k accounts, using the money to buy US treasuries.

In the comments section, one poster notes that we're already being robbed by the Fed keeping interest rates near zero percent. Think of how many trillions are not being accrued by having our money just sit there earning essentially no interest.

[marmar]

9. k/r

[Flatulo]

10. Another case of banks getting caught up in Greek bond market derivatives and getting

scalped. Now they need to be made whole again.

Note that it's not the Cypriot banks that are calling for this - it's the EU. The money ministers demand a certain level of capitalization of member states' banks.

So far the Cypriot parliament has rejected this measure, but it's not going to go away.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

11. DU Rec

thanks.

[socialist_n_TN]

12. A worker's revolution........

These people need to be brought down.

[cbrer]

13. Great post

Until we get off our collective asses and seize power back from the psychopaths that have grabbed it, it's NOT going to happen.

The planet is dying. Our children face a bleaker future than we had to look forward to. Wealth is being concentrated in fewer hands. The police state beckons from the horizon.

WHAT'S IT GOING TO TAKE?

[tpsbmam]

14. Just came on to see if this had been posted.....it deserves more notice than it's gotten

so here's a K&R to maybe bring it to more DU attention.