Preparedness for when

westcoastscot

Does anyone know from a reputable source whether in Cyprus they taxed deposit accounts of current accounts, or both? I'm imagining a scenario where this happened the day after payday, and trying to assess the potential impact if it were to happen here.

Thanks, WCS

Sunshine4

Mardatha,
I am the same about watching the news, I have even stopped reading some of the newspapers online. It is getting quite scary out there.


I dont know anyone in RL who worries what is going on.
They are more concerned about what colour the curtains are or what shoes to buy.

So its nice to beable to come on here and talk to all you lovely people.:)

Sunshine4

westcoastscot wrote: »

Does anyone know from a reputable source whether in Cyprus they taxed deposit accounts of current accounts, or both? I'm imagining a scenario where this happened the day after payday, and trying to assess the potential impact if it were to happen here.

Thanks, WCS

Westcoastscot,
Some people were talking on the radio yesterday they said it was every saver with a deposit account.

GreyQueen

:T On the plus side, I had a LBM in the witching hour and have identified a new prep-hiding opportunity. Which I shall keep schtumm about but work on later today.

****************

On the downside, the news is full of the Great Cyprus Bank Heist.

My thoughts on it are simple; if this goes ahead, it will cause a banking crisis of unimaginable proportions. It will send a message to everyone with half a brain that money in the bank isn't yours to lay hands on when you will. That it can be confiscated at will. That your money isn't safe in a bank.

That politicians can direct private banks to steal a proportion of your deposits and can freeze accounts, manipulate public holidays to keep banks closed, can freeze bank transfers etc is something which we of the tinhat persuasion might have understood, intellectually, but now it's right out there in the public domain.

Banks do not, and never have had, had all our money available at any given time. Which is why they have a daily withdrawal limit. No bank can produce all our money if we should demand it all at once. It's not sitting in a vault in the basement waiting to be loaded into the ATMs. "Our" money is a figure on a computer until we have it in our hand, and then, being a fiat currency with no intrinsic value, it's just pretty pieces of paper until we can turn it into something tangible like food, water, shelter, fuel, transport etc etc.

I've known this for 30+ years, since studying O Level economics. Even as a teen girl, I can recall my disbelief and horror that adult ecomomic life was a series of bluffs, a conceit which worked as long as no one challenged it. I think that is a feeling which has never truly left me.

This is about more than some dodgy depositers from Russia getting their just desserts, it's about more than "our boys" getting compensated for their losses by the rest of us, or the ex-pat Brits and indigenous Cypriots being stung. It's about TPTB taking the gloves off, very obviously, in front of Jo(e) Consumer and saying we can do what we like with your personal money and there's nothing you can do to stop us.

And if that doesn't have you worried, then you're probably reading the wrong thread.........

westcoastscot

Hi GQ that's what's troubling me- if it can happen in any other country it can happen here - its an outrageous move but now the precedent has been set i'm concerned about my own (small) finances. Banking regulations, like most regulations, only apply so long as tptb agree that they do. Going to have to have a good think about this.

Sunshine I understand your point, but I think anyone who has anything to do with the benefits system is fully aware of how dire things are.

thriftwizard

It's about TPTB taking the gloves off, very obviously, in front of Jo(e) Consumer and saying we can do what we like with your personal money and there's nothing you can do to stop us.

Utterly agree, GQ. And as our banking system and our entire political & financial world are built on trust, which has been massively damaged over the last few years by successive scandals & constantly-emerging evidence of impropriety, blatant corruption and worse, anyone who thinks it can't happen to the rest of us is simply pulling the wool over their own eyes.

Off to the mill this week to ramp up my stocks of flour, and the farm shop for poultry feed, and filling the mini-greenhouse with seeds... Which feels a bit like pulling up a deckchair and starting a rousing chorus of "Nearer My God To Thee," but never mind!

pineapple

I saw a report that they believed current accounts weren't affected - but they weren't completely sure.
Note there is revised proposal on the table today - hitting the bottom end with a lower percentage loss and those with higher deposits, a higher rate.
I think this could go through.
With my tin foil hat on, I'm wondering if this was the plan all along. This way, people will believe they are getting a deal/compromise.
But even if they were to deduct at just 1%, in fact even if it doesn't happen, a line has been crossed. This is a clear demonstration that legislation and promises mean b* all. Plus they had been told their savings were safe, so the bit about it being a 'one off' tax could equally turn out to be false. Who's to know it couldn't happen again - and again? Who's to know it couldn't happen elsewhere?
I don't believe this is coming to us any time soon, but the fact is a run on the banks could spread, it could take down banks. And quite simply they would not be able to pay out if eveyone panicked at the same time.
I've got an old ISA that I'm going to start drawing on. There are things that I need (as opposed to want) and getting them now would probably 'earn' me more money than the derisory interest. Plus a 'bird in the hand' and all that...;)

Popperwell

pineapple wrote: »

With my tin foil hat on, I'm wondering if this was the plan all along. This way, people will believe they are getting a deal/compromise

I've been thinking along those lines too and another reason could be that even though the outcome is bad...it allows for the leader of the country(in this case Cyprus)to save face and look as though he/she has won some kind of concession and the hope is he/she looks stronger and the population will fall behind them.

In other words it is stage managed to some extent. The older I get I am more cynical, more disillusioned, less trusting and looking for hidden agendas(even when occasionally)there may not be one. Whats that line in the Eurythmics song Sweet Dreams "Everybody's looking for something!"

esmf73

If they are talking of reimbursing troops and diplomatic staff then it will probably be any monies in a Cypriot bank. We certainly didn't have a savings account when we were there, just one that the greater part of OHs wages were paid into by the MOD. This we used to live on. Have spoken to OH this am about keeping a stash of cash at home, but he says what happens in Cyprus will not affect us - not convinced, so will be keeping a small stash!!!

maryb

I hope no-one thinks I'm being self pitying posting this but I'd appreciate opinions. I say opinions because I'm not asking for medical advice. I had a cold last week, which I know was only a cold, because DH caught it and he only felt a bit rough for a couple of days. But I could barely get out of bed for about five days, it hit me much more like flu. And I have a cough which is really rattling and wheezing deep in the depths. My sense of taste has completely disappeared - I literally cannot taste anything, or if I can it tastes disgusting. I had something similar at Christmas and it took me about six weeks to feel better.

When I was working silly hours in the City about 15 years ago I had a cold which developed into ambulant pneumonia through neglect. I had something similar a couple of years later, again when I was under huge stress. But now I eat well, get a reasonable amount of exercise and I'm lucky enough not to have any major stress in my life at present. I've had two minor operations since October, but only one of them was a general anaesthetic and I felt fine afterwards. So why is my immune system letting me down like this?

I know it's self limiting and I think by looking after myself rather better than I did when I was working I will avoid having to have antibiotics for the chest infection. But I wonder what I can do beyond that to boost my immune system. Keeping as healthy as possible seems to me to be one of the most important preps you can make.