Panic in Cyprus

OP

Original post by Aliccam

I wonder if this will start a run on the banks throughout the eurozone. Everyone will be wondering who is next. With interest rates so low people have nothing to lose by keeping their cash at home.

They have all their cash to lose, even a fortified safe does not guarantee safety, although they can rent a safe deposit box in a bank and keep most of their cash there, preferably transferred into gold/diamonds.
I think that only those in southern europe should worry, germany/france/britain/benelux are more or less safe.

Reply 3

sugar-n-spice

1

Hey guys, time to withdraw all your money from the bank in case that happens here.

Reply 4

OP

Original post by sugar-n-spice

Hey guys, time to withdraw all your money from the bank in case that happens here.

Wouldn't do that, Cyprus was on the verge of bankruptcy, Britain is far from it.

Reply 5

I can see a lot of pain ahead for the Greeks yet. Shame that it might take decades for them to pull themselves out of the hole they're in.

Reply 6

Harry Callahan

14

Original post by Pedd

I can see a lot of pain ahead for the Greeks yet. Shame that it might take decades for them to pull themselves out of the hole they're in.

They should leave the euro and devalue to the drachma as soon as possible. Remaining in the EU will only cause more heartache.

Reply 7

OP

Original post by Pedd

I can see a lot of pain ahead for the Greeks yet. Shame that it might take decades for them to pull themselves out of the hole they're in.

This hole is a largely self-inflicted misery as it is a direct result of an attempt to build a prosperous welfare state with inefficient workforce and high levels of corruption.

Reply 8

OP

Original post by Harry Callahan

They should leave the euro and devalue to the drachma as soon as possible. Remaining in the EU will only cause more heartache.

I'm afraid they won't be able to escape their debts if they leave the EU, defaulting would be the only way.

Reply 9

Original post by Harry Callahan

They should leave the euro and devalue to the drachma as soon as possible. Remaining in the EU will only cause more heartache.

Either way the EU is going to have a massive say on Greece's future - either as currency regulators or debt-collectors. Perhaps a split from the EU will help qualm civilian rebellion at the very least, as it wouldn't be doing much for their economy.

Reply 10

Original post by CEKTOP

This hole is a largely self-inflicted misery as it is a direct result of an attempt to build a prosperous welfare state with inefficient workforce and high levels of corruption.

True indeed. Still, most of the economic issues in Europe are not the fault of the people, but the faults of those they trusted. Just like us, regardless of who's to blame, Greece will have to pay back every penny that they owe. It's a self-inflicted ailment. It's hard to not feel sorry for the nation when considering the painful economic surgery and re-construction that it will undergo before this whole ordeal ends.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 11

OP

Original post by Pedd

True indeed. Still, most of the economic issues in Europe are not the fault of the people, but the faults of those they trusted. Just like us, regardless of who's to blame, Greece will have to pay back every penny that they owe. It's a self-inflicted ailment. It's hard to not feel sorry for the nation when considering the painful economic surgery and re-construction that it will undergo before this whole ordeal ends.

Considering the fact that most of the Greeks had nothing to do with the current crisis it can be indeed acceptable to feel sorry for them.
We still should not forget that the politicians they elected were the ones who contributed the most toward the crisis, poor judgement of the general greek population.

Reply 12

Aliccam

9

Original post by CEKTOP

They have all their cash to lose, even a fortified safe does not guarantee safety, although they can rent a safe deposit box in a bank and keep most of their cash there, preferably transferred into gold/diamonds.
I think that only those in southern europe should worry, germany/france/britain/benelux are more or less safe.

I wonder if the IMF are using Cyprus as a test case to see if they can get away with it. I think if I had savings in Portugal, Spain, Italy or Ireland I would be very nervous. If all those countries banks have their money withdraw, it will have a knock on for the rest of Europe and even the UK. Could this be the beginning of the end?

Reply 13

Harry Callahan

14

Original post by CEKTOP

I'm afraid they won't be able to escape their debts if they leave the EU, defaulting would be the only way.

Obviously they'd need to default. Regardless of what they do, there's no easy way out, and it'll be several decades of pain.

Reply 14

Original post by CEKTOP

Considering the fact that most of the Greeks had nothing to do with the current crisis it can be indeed acceptable to feel sorry for them.
We still should not forget that the politicians they elected were the ones who contributed the most toward the crisis, poor judgement of the general greek population.

At the very least, it should serve a purpose of reminding us why governments need to be kept in check by the people, why we should be knowledgeable in what they're doing on our behalf. A message that I think is ignored all too often in this age of political apathy.

Reply 15

Kibalchich

Original post by Aliccam

I wonder if the IMF are using Cyprus as a test case to see if they can get away with it. I think if I had savings in Portugal, Spain, Italy or Ireland I would be very nervous. If all those countries banks have their money withdraw, it will have a knock on for the rest of Europe and even the UK. Could this be the beginning of the end?

They're doing it to bailout the Russian mafia who had been laundering money through Cypriot banks.

Reply 16

OP

Original post by Kibalchich

They're doing it to bailout the Russian mafia who had been laundering money through Cypriot banks.

Money-laundering does not damage the economy of the state where the money is laundered, that's why Cyprus jumped on this bandwagon of accepting money from sources that are unclear to say the least. They failed to benefit from it thought too, obviously and now ordinary Cypriots have to answer for their government's poor performance.

Reply 17

ATAL96

Original post by Pedd

Greece will have to pay back every penny that they owe

I really dislike that quote, yes some Greek bankers and politicians made stupid mistakes by lying about their debts to get into the EU and by generally spending more than they were collecting in taxes.

But why do you not care about Germany paying back the money that they owe to Greece? Greece never got reparations after WW2 (I know I'm going to get negged to hell for this but I dont think this is irrelevant) which is a joke when you consider the damage done to Greece in WW2. I'm not talking about human suffering because you can not put a price on that but the damage done to the infrastructure for example almost every single bridge was destroyed entire towns were burned to punish and stifle the Greek resistance and also on a whim. Also Hitler forced the Greek national bank to lend Germany 476 million reichsmarks. It has been calculated that with the lowest estimate of what could be owed to Greece in reparations with the interest of all the years since the war Germany would owe Greece enough to pay off all its debts twice.

I know the OP was about Cyprus but you were discussing Greece and I know what I said does not change the fact that some Greeks acted stupidly in more recent years but I still feel very sorry for Greece and Cyprus not just because of their economies but because of their modern histories both being completely screwed over by Britain and the US (and obviously for Greece Germany and Italy in WW2).

Reply 18