The Banks Are Coming for Your Savings and Digital Money Is Going to Make It Easier

[Ferd Berfel]

http://www.alternet.org/economy/banks-are-coming-your-savings-and-digital-money-going-make-it-easier

Ellen Brown -

The bombshell publication of the "Panama Papers" has triggered both outrage and skepticism.

Exposing tax dodgers is a worthy endeavor, but the “limited hangout” of the Panama Papers may have less noble ends, dovetailing with the War on Cash and the imminent threat of massive bail-ins of depositor funds.

The bombshell publication of the “Panama Papers,” leaked from a Panama law firm specializing in shell companies, has triggered both outrage and skepticism. In an April 3 article titled “Corporate Media Gatekeepers Protect Western 1% From Panama Leak,” UK blogger Craig Murray writes that the whistleblower no doubt had good intentions; but he made the mistake of leaking his 11.5 million documents to the corporate-controlled Western media, which released only those few documents incriminating opponents of Western financial interests. Murray writes:

Do not expect a genuine expose of western capitalism. The dirty secrets of western corporations will remain unpublished.

Expect hits at Russia, Iran and Syria and some tiny “balancing” western country like Iceland.

Iceland, of course, was the only country to refuse to bail out its banks, instead throwing its offending bankers in jail.

(snip)

Postscript: Bail-ins under the new 2016 European Recovery and Resolution Directive began officially today, April 10, in Austria. Ominously, it was in Austria that a major bank bankruptcy triggered the Great Depression in 1931.

[Rex]

1. Bank local.

No wonder they wanted to get the TPP a done deal in secret. This will tick up the global unrest factor by a lot. If I was on that list, I would be looking over my shoulder from now on. Well, since some of the people on the list are cartel kingpins...some already do that all day and night!

But hey, being uber rich and crooked as a mesquite tree must eventually have a downside. Who knew it would be Panama?

[Ferd Berfel]

3. Use a Credit Union

for the moment Credit Unions operate under different regulations that are more strict and user friendly.

I pulled out of Banks around 2007

[Rex]

7. I've been banking with the same local bank almost all my life.

There is only one, no branches or shell accounts offshore. However, my new car is being paid through a credit union.

[gladium et scutum]

9. Credit Unions are the way to go

Haven't used a bank since 1976.

[jg10003]

2. In 1971 a savings account paid 5%

When I was 13 in 1971 my mother took me to the bank to open a savings account with $50 I received as a gift from my grandparents. The interest rate was 5% and no monthly fees. Today you are lucky if you get even 1%, and of course there will be fees.

[whatthehey]

4. And in 1971 mortgage rates were 7.5% and 0.0% loans for cars were nonexistent

The whole point of low interest rates is to incentivize both C and I segments to spend, increasing demand and thus economic growth. If they had high savings rates and low borrowing rates everybody with decent credit could retire and live off credit arbitrage.

[Hotler]

5. Kicking this..... Print this out and...

pass it to all your neighbors.

[Holly_Hobby]

6. Savings? What savings?

Our $$$ is gone by the 3rd week of the month.

[whatthehey]

8. Buried in the Chicken Little populism

...after several purple patch paragraphs of concern for the poor shouted at high volume, is that even if all their Kunstlerite nonsense comes true, they see some risk for people who have more than 100,000 Euros in a single bank in an era of negative interest. In other words not just the well to do, but well to do idiots.

If, and Christ I hope when, cashless banking finally gets here, they do realize it will still be possible to invest that money instead of just sitting on it, right? And to forestall the silly 'casino' cliches, I should point out that investing also includes rental homes, bonds, small business, etc. Or do they think the global oligarcho-corporatist-whatever elites are going to outlaw the asset ownership on which they make their own money?