C-I-L-L The Landlord

Great Problems: The Rent Seeking Economy

Past writers who imagined the future thought that as machines saved our time, we would have more time for leisure. That has not happened. Instead, since no one is self-sufficient, we must work in sales and marketing to convince someone with money to trade cash for our trinket, so that we can have purchasing power to access the natural bounty of the land. Average work hours declined for a century — and then started curving back upwards as the everyone switched the zero sum battle of sales and marketing. The future is here, and it is the sales desk at Dunder Mifflin.

I don’t think anyone else understands landlords as acutely as a native New Yorker.

And after the break, Eddie Murphy.

Cyprus: The Machine Begins To Consume Itself

Here We Go Again: EU Lawmaker To Push For Bail-In Resolution Law For Deposits Over €100K

Cyprus is no “one-time thing.” It’s their template for the future.

Imagine saving all your life and having 110,000 Euros in a Cyprus bank. Up to forty percent (if not more) of that is going to be wiped out. Stolen!

They can spin this as “dirty Russian Oligarch money” all they like. All that does is disguise the truth of everyday people who will suffer.

Having never let the crooked banks collapse back in 2008, they’re now going to come for everyone’s money.

Previously here:

The Definition Of “Cyprus” Is “Screw You”
Cyprus Looks Like Toast
Cyprus: No Cash Until March 26th
Are You Paying Attention Yet?
The Financial Monkeywrench Of Cyprus
Cyprus Launches Financial Andromeda Strain
The Day The ATMs Stopped Working

The Definition Of “Cyprus” Is “Screw You”

Cyprus Said to Reach Tentative Deal to Avert Default

Deposits below the EU deposit-guarantee ceiling of 100,000 euros will be protected, and a loss of no more than 40 percent will be imposed on uninsured depositors at the Bank of Cyprus, two EU officials said. Uninsured depositors at Cyprus Popular would largely be wiped out, two other officials said.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

And so with a wave of a wand — this isn’t even going up for a vote because it’s been framed as a bank resolution — in the Iron Fist of the State, POOF!, your money disappears.

Russian Oligarchs did not get to be Oligarchs playing nice or recognizing rules. There will be vengeance.

Having now created this loophole scheme that “absolves” the politicians, how long before it’s applied in other countries?

Previously here:

Cyprus Looks Like Toast
Cyprus: No Cash Until March 26th
Are You Paying Attention Yet?
The Financial Monkeywrench Of Cyprus
Cyprus Launches Financial Andromeda Strain
The Day The ATMs Stopped Working

Cyprus Looks Like Toast

Exclusive: Euro zone call notes reveal extent of alarm over Cyprus

Quoting the Chairman of the Eurogroup Working Group:

The economy is going to tank in Cyprus no matter what.

Surprisingly, the ATMs have been restocked for a few days and people were allowed to withdraw up to six hundred Euros a day. At forty Euros at a time. The last word is that they’ve dropped the daily limit to two hundred and forty Euros.

How soon before the ATMs stop working again?

Previously here:

Cyprus: No Cash Until March 26th
Are You Paying Attention Yet?
The Financial Monkeywrench Of Cyprus
Cyprus Launches Financial Andromeda Strain
The Day The ATMs Stopped Working

Are You Paying Attention Yet?

Cyprus banks to remain shut Tuesday and Wednesday: government source

The consensus of opinion among financial observers can best be summed up as this:

Just what the fuck are you doing, EU?!!!?
Have you all gone insane?!

How To Do A Mass Killing Correctly

Followers on Twitter know I am (in)famous for giving this advice to potential mass killers:

If you’re going to kill a lot of people, shoot yourself first!

And now this:

UCF death: Male commits suicide at dorm, police find guns, improvised explosive devices

Police found the male dead from what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It was not immediately clear if the male is a student.

In addition to the handgun, police also found an assault weapon and improvised explosive devices in the room, Heston said.

Clearly he had plans that did not include just his own death.

But he did the right thing.

I feel sorry for whatever pain drove him to create that stockpile, but he did not disgrace himself by taking it out on others. May he rest in peace.

Previously here:

Do You Have This Wicked Urge To Go Shoot Many People? I Have Some Advice For You.

The Financial Monkeywrench Of Cyprus

Cypriot Bailout Sends Shivers Throughout the Euro Zone

The government also extended a bank holiday that was put in place to try to stop a run on the banks. The holiday was supposed to end Monday night. Now, banks will not be opening their doors Tuesday, as planned. There was talk that they might not open Wednesday, either.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

Why is that a surprise? They can’t open without withdrawal limitations, further eroding confidence in the corrupt system.

Cyprus Launches Financial Andromeda Strain

The Botching of the Cyprus Bailout: Worse Than Lehman Brothers

[T]hey have opted for a “solution” that amounts to probably the single most inexplicably irresponsible decision in banking supervision in the advanced world since the 1930s.

Boldfaced red emphasis added by me.

The Day The ATMs Stopped Working

I warned about this starting in 2008. Now it’s happened. In Cyprus.

Cyprus Bank Deposits to Be Taxed in $13 Billion Bailout

The tax on deposits, as well as hurting wealthy Russians with money in Cypriot banks, will also sting ordinary citizens. Some ATMs in the country ran out of cash, Erotokritos Chlorakiotis, general manager of the Cooperative Central Bank, told state-run CYBC.

Funds to pay the levy were frozen in accounts immediately, ECB Executive Board Member Joerg Asmussen said. The levy will be assessed before Cypriot banks reopen on March 19 after a March 18 national holiday. Sarris said electronic transfers will also be limited until then.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

Let’s cut to the damn chase: That’s not a tax. That’s a confiscation of the hard-earned money of working people to restore the losses of the idle betting classes (what are laughably called “investors” — but who aren’t).

We’re in the fifth year of this slow-motion collapse. And it’s not over yet.

Additional:

The madness of the bailout in Cyprus

Correcting Another Drudge Headline

This is today:

This is what it should have been:

Previously here:

Correcting A Drudge Headline