Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The markets are trying to ignore this, but trouble is brewing big time over in Europe.

ATM's on Cyprus are low on cash, and credit card payments are beginning to be refused.


   "In the meantime, retail depositors have had their withdrawals limited through a form of capital controls, allowing them to pull only as much as the daily limit is on given ATMs. So far the banks have had enough cash to keep ATMs stocked up to the daily required minimum, but that may soon be ending. BBC's Mark Lowen, in Nicosia, reports that "Cyprus' banks are still giving out cash through machines - although with limits, and some are running low." Ironically, as physical cash becomes ever scarcer, merchants are now clamping down on electronic payments unsure if they will ever be able to convert electronic euros into actual ones: "Some businesses are now refusing credit card payments, our correspondent reports."
This just will not end well.  I wonder seriously whether the banks there can ever be re opened without stringent capital controls, and even then, there will still be a huge hit on their economy and trust in banks.  

How long until this starts in the rest of Europe, and then will it come here?

Update: Leave it to the Spanish, someone there has now marketed a mattress with a built in safe! 

Myself, I prefer the mayonnaise jar filled with money buried in the back yard!

2 comments:

  1. When obamacare was passed we started slowly, methodically and casually withdrawing all our savings.

    Maintain just enough to cover the bills and avoid fees. Walking a tightrope there. At least we won't get clipped much when something similar this way comes.

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    Replies
    1. Wise strategy. It's truly a shame that the productive now are reduced to the necessity to engage in this kind of behavior, is it not?

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