Courtesy of Mish.
There are plenty of news headlines rattling Europe today. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Severe Capital Controls in Cyprus
In spite of the fact the Maastricht Treaty under which the eurozone was formed mandates a free flow of capital, Cyprus unveils severe capital controls.
“Cyprus is the first eurozone country ever to apply capital controls, with limits on credit card transactions, money transfers abroad and the cashing of cheques. Depositors will be limited to credit card transactions of up to €5,000 per month and will be able take a maximum of €3,000 of bank notes out of the country per trip.“
Capital controls are said to expire in seven days. So, don’t worry, its only temporary.
Hopefully everyone understands the implied theory: “You have to Destroy the Maastricht Treaty to Save It.”
Top Orwellian Comments Of All Times
- An American major after the destruction of the Vietnamese Village Ben Tre: “It became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it.”
- Vice President Joe Biden: “We Have to Go Spend Money to Keep From Going Bankrupt.“
- President George W. Bush: “I’ve abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system.”(For a discussion please see The Most Redeeming Feature of Capitalism is Failure)
- Nancy Pelosi said “We have to pass the health care bill to see what’s in it.” (YouTube Video)
- Larry Summers says “The central irony of financial crisis is that while it is caused by too much confidence, too much borrowing and lending and too much spending, it can only be resolved with more confidence, more borrowing and lending, and more spending.” (Reuters)
But What about those advertised losses of 30% on large Cyprus depositors?
Glad you asked. “Laiki depositors holding more than €100,000 may lose up to 80 per cent of their funds, and only get the remaining 20 per cent back over a period of years, Cyprus’s finance minister said on Tuesday.“
Italy Industrial Orders Sink
Dow Jones reports Italy Industrial Orders Fall in Jan on Declining Internal Demand…
