angelchemuel wrote: Perfectly sensible precaution you took, in my opinion.pheony wrote: I don't know if you saw elsewhere, but Germany and the IMF originally went into the meetings demanding 40%.

Who says its not for my business?
I have a tax clearance cert and have had a tax audit you know, no problems at all.
Once again, I pay exactly what I am asked to pay, no more, no less.

Wanna bet?
They'd do the same thing again tomorrow given the opportunity.

Software actually does most of the trades now not traders.
Again that harks back to technological unemployment.
The guys who are making billions from all this are indeed the ones at the top and who do indeed hold a gun at the politicians who in turn hold one at us.

Or suffering pointlessly, I did link some houses that were half the UK rent, sod all council tax and 6 bedrooms, private water supply and even private driveway etc not long ago

Capitalism/socialism/communism etc etc
None of these things have ever actually existed the way they were intended to on paper.

Correct, public spending has little to do with this crap.
What has happened to us now started in the 80's with what ronald reagan and margaret thatcher kicked off at the birth of the digital age.
There are numerous references and facts that back this up, probably in itty bit pieces and posts on various forums (incl this one) with some very good stuff from jiffy who left DIF unfortunately.
WUB has taken up the mantle quite well though.

andyh wrote:
You're dodging the issue Andy. Why, I do not know.

Sure. And why not? The telly is full of shows about people buying homes abroad and wotnot, you're constantly told to desire new toys, you're programmed to aspire to be this sophisticated middle class superbeing. If that seems within your grasp, you're going to try to grab it. Everything is geared towards getting people to buy into this capitalist dream as it's collapsing around us'. It's all over the fucking place. I can barely turn the telly on these days without wanting to throw it through the fucking window it gets me so mad.

Getting all high and mighty because you happen to think differently and see through it is frankly elitist. It lays open the danger of retreating into an ivory tower and sitting there smugly thinking millions of ordinary people are a bunch of thick twats for the heinous crime of not launching into a searing critique of contemporary society. You can't start looking down on people for just behaving how the society they lived in told them was normal. You may as well say I'm alright - so everyone else can fuck off - which is basically how the people in government think.

Do you think this is why the banks like hiring people with firsts in maths? These banking algorithms don't write themselves you know. Apparently one of these magical algorithms some very hard working, very well paid eggheads came up with deemed Black Monday as being the most unlikely event in the whole of human history (see Whoops! by John Lancaster) - but apparently reality was wrong, not the algorithm.
All these bankers are not making "billions". They is an army of very well paid, very up their own arse people working their nuts off in the fantasy zone, with barely any concept life exists outside The City. My sister - a very different sort of person to me - works (in a PA capacity) for one of THE major investment banks. She works in a very big building full of lots and lots of people working very hard, many of whom are what might be called "fucking loaded" but are by no stretch of the imagination billionaires. She's worked for millionaires, but I don't think she's ever met a billionaire. It's not just some billionaire sat in a big leather chair while a bank of computers does all the work you know. Go into The City and hang around some prime spots at rush hour. It's a cunts circus.
My sis is ok though. Remains down to earth. Just blindly apathetic and isn't arsed as long as she's ok.

In Ireland? That's the answer? Run away?
That's not the answer - the whole UK cannot move over there can they?
I certainly can't - I have elderly parents with health problems I do not wish to abandon. Beyond that, I care about here. I'm not fleeing like some refugee unless I really have to.

Has anything? The only one of that three that's never properly existed is communism. Though that's assuming "Socialism" means Old Labour socialism, not "Socialism" as in communism.

I agree Thatcher and Reagan are the real culprits.
When Thatcher finally dies, her corpse should be dragged naked through the streets and her head put on a spike. Though I kind of suspect she's a vampire and will live forever.

Cyprus's cash machines run dry after savings tax announcement – video

People in Nicosia, Cyprus give their reactions to news the government is imposing a tax on bank savings as part of its bailout deal. Aside from the long-term financial implications, the levy announcement sparked a rush on cash machines, meaning many are unable to withdraw money. The levy – 9.9% on savings over €100,000 and 6.75% on savings below €100,000 - is expected to raise €6bn (£5.2bn) as a condition for the bailout

Thats because you have some brains, they don't.

[quote="andyh" post=109966
Too late to respond properly now Andy, but just to say - if there came a point where I was elevating myself above tens of millions of people and thinking they're all, thick and I'm better, that day I think I'd need to take a long hard look at myself. Or try to get myself in the cabinet.

Let's try to get back on topic:

www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/mar/...chines-dry-tax-video
You can see the video on the Guardian website.

I suspect thats turned off rather than dry

The joke is that our politicians up until 24 hours ago were assuring us that there is absolutely no possibility for any levy on our deposits.

The whole thing looks like a plot. The previous government didn't take a decision, so as not to take the blame. The new government makes a decision and blames the previous government and will say "sorry people we had no room to negotiate, but it's not our fault" and everything is thrown upon us on the Friday night before a three-day weekend.

It feels like the people have to pay for the mistakes of the politicians and the banks. We work hard and earn our money and are forced to make up for the mistakes of others.

The feeling within the Cypriot people is that the game is about who is going to get hold of the natural gas resources that have been found in the Cypriot sea bed.

EDIT: The guy at the end is an interesting situation, he got a loan of 12 grand recently and just deposited it...ewwww

The feeling within the Cypriot people is that the game is about who is going to get hold of the natural gas resources that have been found in the Cypriot sea bed.

Innit. Here's 12 grand, now we'll lop a chunk off but you still owe us for the full amount plus interest. Nice.

Yeah, I would say this is brinkmanship between the EU, Turkey and Russia in no small part.
The UN have UK troops on the ground there.

All that said though I think this is about multiple objectives. They want banking disaster throughout the EU to bring in their new world order.

oioioi wrote: That's pretty rough, isn't it? It doesn't get much worse than that.andyh wrote: There's a lot more to it than that guy is aware of IMHO, but it's interesting that he recognised quite clearly that it's a plot. This is a lot more than the BBC would usually print, and goes against the entirety of the rest of their coverage of the situation.

Cyprus bailout: 'people are panicking, they're afraid of losing their money'

Cypriots tell of shock finding government had seized up to 10% of savings – despite promise deposits would be safe

Under the palm trees of Larnaca's waterfront promenade, George Kyprou was staring out to sea and scratching his head. "I don't know what to do," he said. Like most Cypriots, he was astonished to wake up one bank holiday weekend morning to discover the government had seized up to 10% of everyone's savings from their bank accounts without warning.

Kyprou, 62, born in Larnaca, had worked most of his life as a chauffeur and driver in England, proudly buying his London council flat and scrimping to put aside money in Cyprus for when he returned for holidays and eventually to retire. "I'd put aside £50 here, £20 there, all my life," he said. Over decades, he had built up around €6,000 (£5,200) in a Larnaca account. "It was a state building society; I assumed it was safe."

But now, as depositors holding less than €100,000 are made to pay 6.75% and those with more than €100,000 9.9% as part of a €10bn (£8.7bn) bailout agreed in Brussels, Kyprou stands to lose €400 overnight. "That's a lot for someone like me," he said.

When he heard the news on Saturday morning, he rushed to the cashpoint and queued with others who were panicking and trying to take out as much money as they could. The media reported a run on ATMs that were depleted by mid-afternoon. But with Cyprus taking immediate steps to prevent any money transfers over the weekend, ordinary savers realised there was little they could do to lessen the blow.

On Sunday the parliament of Cyprus postponed a crucial debate and vote on the move until Monday, without giving a reason. Banks will remain closed for several days because of the holiday.

In Larnaca, the third largest city on the tiny eastern Mediterranean island, the queues at cashpoints had shrunk by Sunday night but the mood was one of shock, anger and injustice. Only three weeks ago, Cyprus voted in elections where, for once, the island's defining issue of its 40-year-old division into the Greek-speaking south and the Turkish north was overtaken by more urgent worries. The country of 1.1 million people had been ravaged by its worst economic crisis since the 1970s, with unemployment at a record high of 15% and fears of meltdown in a bloated banking sector which was more than eight times the size of the nation's economy. The Conservative winner Nicos Anastasiades promised at least that savers' deposits were safe. This weekend he accepted bailout terms that turned that promise on its head.

Stelios Zinga, a truck driver in his late 50s, had joined the cashpoint queues. "People are panicking, they're afraid of losing their money, they don't feel they can trust banks anymore," he said. "The problem with this levy is that it is the cautious, working-class people who are being made to pay."

His work as a driver had already suffered from the economic downturn, and he now felt it would plummet. The classic Cypriot education ethic, where hard-saving parents supported their children studying abroad, would feel the strain, he said. "My son is studying chemical engineering in Edinburgh. I'm worried I won't be able to get money to him."

Christiana Konteati, 26, a lawyer, who finished a degree in London three years ago, said: "We're really worried that this is only the beginning: next will come salary cuts, austerity, rising unemployment and very likely people going abroad to work."

She said the younger generation didn't have savings to fear for but a large part of her graduate friends were unemployed including a translator, a marketing graduate, a physicist and an accountant.

One flabbergasted Larnaca bank employee, 28, was grabbing a coffee before returning to the rolling TV news he said the nation was glued to. He found the bank levy an "extraordinary" surprise. "Are we the guinea pigs? There's a feeling they are trying this out on us before they do it elsewhere. Let's see how the markets react."

Italy has no debt crisis (with net assets at 173% of GDP) - significantly more than the Germans at 124% - "so it would make sense, in Italy a one-time property tax levy," he suggested. "A tax rate of 15% on financial assets would probably be enough to push the Italian government debt to below the critical level of 100% of gross domestic product." So there you have it, the 'new deal' in Europe, as we warned, is 'wealth taxes' and testing the "capacity of Cypriots" appears to be the strawman on what the public will take before social unrest becomes intolerable

And so it spreads......
www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-03-17/german...ealth-tax-italy-next

Jane

angelchemuel wrote:
A 15% one-off property tax? LMAO!!
There's no way loads of people will manage that ffs.

andyh wrote:
Yes, agreed, but did you read zero's article....it also includes the theft of their deposits too!

Jane